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Which Pipes Are Best?

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merterje

Lurker
Dec 9, 2017
1
0
I wonder what pipes are the best, think about wood? I look 4 different, it's ebony, sandalwood, briar and black / red wood. Ebony is a hard tree, sandalwood is very expensive woodland, briar is very solid to process and black / red wood I know little about. But which are the best pipe wood of these? I see that someone is sandblasted and some are handmade.
Edited by jvnshr: Title capitalization (please check Rule #9)

 
alan73

alan73

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 26, 2017
666
653
Wisconsin
Briar all the way. Why f with tradition . beautiful grain, leads to spectacular smooth pipes and some carvers can make awesome sandblast pipes, that highlight different grain patterns. But as In life, try many things , choose what you like or don’t like.

 
mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
Briar is the standard and difficult to beat. The best closest that I have on my racks are Mountain Laurel, but you have to find them. They have their own subtle beauty, but not the lavish (or subtle) grain briar can have. So in the array of woods, it is briar, no contest.

 
6

64alex

Part of the Furniture Now
May 10, 2016
566
339
Leaving cosmetic considerations aside and considering only smoking qualities briar is not the only material and there other materials you would like to consider, some of then potentially even better. In the high price range I would consider meerschaum and morta, in the low price range clay and corn cob pipes.

Keep in mind until the second half of the 19th century pipes were made of clay and meerschaum. Briar was started to be used at that time mainly because with the introduction of cigarettes and cigars pipe smoking was disappearing and briar came in place as it is more robust and less fragile than many other materials and cosmetically beautiful. But as smoking properties the other ones I mentioned can be equal or better than briar and worthwhile exploring.

 
M

mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast

Guest
Billiards made of briar with ebonite stems. :D

 
jpmcwjr

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,748
27,349
Carmel Valley, CA
Briar.
Start with that, and after you've learned more, you could branch out. But many of us are happy-very happy- with briars and meerschaums. A few are fan of corncobs, too.

 
newbroom

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,133
6,846
Florida
I've been intrigued by the (Tom) Spanu Lemon wood pipes.

Not the BEST example, but:

Tomasso_Spanu_Italian_Handmade_Lemonwood_Smoking_Pipe_01.jpg


Here's another Spanu made of zebrano (?)

zebranots1a.jpg


 
5star

5star

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 17, 2017
727
2,018
PacNW USA
The General’s cob is the best of course ! ( wink )
Actually there are many good pipes and a wide range of preferences that are worth some personal exploration to see what You personally prefer.

- Mac

 
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