Sandblast Question - Is This A Huge Flaw In The Briar?

misterlowercase · Dec 24, 2014

I saw this pipe on eBay and was intrigued.
At first I thought it was rusticated, but the more I looked it seemed to be almost natural.
Is this a huge flaw/inclusion/whatever in the briar?!?!?!?
Can pits be that massive?
Hopefully, the answer will be that it's actually rusticated and I am mistaken.
If such huge pits do exist in briar blocks, well then that just ups my respect for all the pipemakers.

8O

peckinpahhombre · Dec 24, 2014

Jesus, that is hideous. I would stay away. Looks like a burnout waiting to happen.

papipeguy · Dec 24, 2014

I'm with peck on this one. There are a couple of areas that look like potential trouble plus the finish looks like paint to me.

misterlowercase · Dec 24, 2014

8O

Yikes!
How can y'all question my fine taste?

LOL
I wouldn't touch that thing with a ten-foot tamper!
But,

I am intrigued if it is actually a natural sand pit that was exposed during the sandblast,

if so,

damn!
I didn't know such big pits could exist.
:
No surprise it's listed "right as rain",

the very same seller is discussed here:

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/warning-fraudster-on-ebay-selling-counterfeit-eltangs-possibly-castellos-etc
I haven't come to a form solid moral opinion as far as the pipes that seller hucks being total replicas of famous Danish and Italian pipes that he continues to sell (wisely dropping the counterfeit line LOL), but my gut tells me it's a pretty yucky affair.

8O
A faux Castello...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HS-Studio-Pipe-unsmoked-/221634386541?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339a705a6d
...sitting next to an $11,500 Kent Rasmussen is quite insane,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kent-Rasmussen-pipe-Butterfly-unsmoked-/221401703831?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338c91e597
The knock-offs may look nice, but I highly doubt that they're actually quality pipes.
Who knows?

I could be wrong.

But I'm not interested in investigating any further.

phxrock · Dec 24, 2014

To me those pits/holes look like termite damage in the wood. the sandblasting exposed them.
John

misterlowercase · Dec 24, 2014

John,

I think you're right,

insect damage is what it looks like.
Wonder what it looked like before blasting?
Did it look like a "normal pipe" with those bug trails hiding a couple of mm under the surface?
Wow.

8O

sablebrush52 · Dec 25, 2014

Interesting how the stem on the Rasmussen doesn't quite line up with the shank. Methinks it's a fake, like the fake Nordh that this seller sold for $8300 to some gullible schmuck.

darthcider · Dec 25, 2014

Looks a bit like insect damage and I agree that the colour seems off, almost solid, rather than being used to highlight the grain.

Chasing Embers · Dec 25, 2014

Have made a few pipes myself, and have yet to see pitting like that. Damn! 8O

desertpipe · Dec 25, 2014

I have seen briar with that kind of damage, but most end up as cross section cut-aways when discovered by a carver. That, or the end up as firewood. First finished (and for sale, no less)pipe I have seen with this kind of damage.

virginiacob · Dec 25, 2014

I'd have to agree with the others on this one that I'd be very leery that this pipe would be a good candidate for a burnout. As a pipemaker myself, I couldn't see selling a pipe to my customers if they have any obvious imperfections. It may be in this case that the pipemaker thought that the damage (looks to me like insect damage as well) actually added a unique look to the pipe or perhaps he finished it off as a conversation piece not intending to sell it but it eventually wound up on eBay any way. I actually toss out a lot of cob bowls due to discovering a minute flaw in the bowl. I also run into some that have gouges in the cob from the harvesting/shelling process or holes from insect damage and while the cob bowls themselves may be structurally sound, they just aren't aesthetically pleasing and these usually end up being discarded or smoked by myself.

adam12 · Dec 25, 2014

That is close to being the (least aesthetically pleasing) pipe I've ever seen...

woodsroad · Dec 25, 2014

pipebaum81 · Dec 25, 2014

Here is a pipe where the holes were made on purpose for some reason...

misterlowercase · Dec 26, 2014

This thread is a good illustration of what happens to a crappy block of briar when a real pipemaker encounters the problem,

in this case,

Mr. Rad Davis.

http://www.pipemakersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6917
:

:

:

:

:

:lol:

Welldone!

LOL

Shake 'n Bake for the win!

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

huntertrw · Dec 26, 2014

Methinks that the same bugs which chewed on the Kerry S. Wathen pipe featured in mcitinner1's thread titled "Too Weird for Me" attacked this pipe, too. I wonder if either comes with its own Sentricon system?

mso489 · Dec 26, 2014

The puzzle is why, once discovered, the pipe carver kept working on this briar and put a finish on the

pipe, and a stem. I suppose he/she took it as a challenge and thought they might end up with something

really interesting and one of a kind. Correct at least on the second part. Without the insect holes it is not

an especially fetching pipe. With them, it is a kind of horror story. For me, it is kind of a sensibility problem,

like a somewhat mean bid for attention. Okay, the carver succeeded in that. Now I hope I'll forget I saw it.

misterlowercase · Dec 27, 2014

The pipe sold for $65.
Captain pipe,searock deep rustic，---- unsmoked
8O
That seller has "huge stones" !

:lol:

laytonpipes · Dec 31, 2014

Ive never seen a flaw like that. It looks like there was a large flaw and then this person used a dremel on it to make it look like he planned it that way.

acutabovebriar · Jan 2, 2015

Briar some times is home to larvae of beatles that eat their way out of the burl. On the way out the larvae cover their " traces" with the digestion byproducts that also look like soft spots in the wood. These pieces are pieces that the mill through away with no second thought. Well in this case the mill sold that piece! The main issue is tha some wood worker, not pipe maker, made a pipe out of that piece and decided to blast it in order to cover the flaw. Well the blasting washed out the soft material that was deposited there by the insect and that only made things worse. In my opinion no pipe maker would ever choose to make a pipe out of that wood in the first place. By the way what is the brand of this pipe?

Sandblast Question - Is This A Huge Flaw In The Briar?

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