$43 Muxaing Poker 9mm Filter Pipe

[Briar Lee]

Just to see what $43 delivered buys from Muxaing, I bought this Poker 9mm filter pipe.





There’s not a chance this is made from ancient, oil cured, aged, unvarnished, unstained, unpainted Algerian briar—-

But no other brand new factory pipe on the planet is either.

The checkout said the importer is paying any extra import fees (tariffs).

Grabow, Peterson, and Savinelli will not be able to compete with Muxaing.

That model is the cheapest briar pipe from Muxaing.


Sing one Willie-

The Party’s Over

 

[agogo513]

Really fantastic songs, love it.
Briar Lee, thanks so much for sharing, pipes and the wonderful music.
I want to share this song to my father, it's so nice.

 

[agogo513]

Really fantastic songs, love it.
Briar Lee, thanks so much for sharing, pipes and the wonderful music.
I want to share this song to my father, it's so nice.

Time crawls so slowly, yet the world shifts and stars drift.

 

[mingc]

Just to see what $43 delivered buys from Muxaing, I bought this Poker 9mm filter pipe.

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There’s not a chance this is made from ancient, oil cured, aged, unvarnished, unstained, unpainted Algerian briar—-

But no other brand new factory pipe on the planet is either.

The checkout said the importer is paying any extra import fees (tariffs).

Grabow, Peterson, and Savinelli will not be able to compete with Muxaing.

That model is the cheapest briar pipe from Muxaing.


Sing one Willie-

The Party’s Over

I'd love to see a picture of the actual pipe when it arrives, to see how well it matches the stock photo on the website.

 

[Sig]

The one thing that makes me uneasy about this brand is many reviews say you absolutely do not get the pictured pipe.
They show beautiful straight grain in the picture, but you get...um....something else.
They obviously show the finest specimen, or an AI version of what it COULD be.
Other than that, people say they smoke great for the price.

 

[mingc]

The one thing that makes me uneasy about this brand is many reviews say you absolutely do not get the pictured pipe.
They show beautiful straight grain in the picture, but you get...um....something else.
They obviously show the finest specimen, or an AI version of what it COULD be.
Other than that, people say they smoke great for the price.

They are clearly stock photos and not pictures of the pipe that you'll receive. It's not that unusual for online vendors to use stock photos for cheap pipes. P&C does it and so did COJ and TP when they were still in existence. SP became the success that it is because they made the point of posting many good photos of the pipe you'll actually receive back in the early days. They really set the standard for high end pipe vendors on line.

 

[telescopes]

Personally, I would skip buying the 5 or 6 low end duds in a row you so clearly enjoy and get yourself a brand new Sea Rock like you've discussed for years. Just my 2 cents.

Pick your own music video and enjoy, LOL.

 

[Briar Lee]

Personally, I would skip buying the 5 or 6 low end duds in a row you so clearly enjoy and get yourself a brand new Sea Rock like you've discussed for years. Just my 2 cents.

Pick your own music video and enjoy, LOL.

If I had enough sense to come in out of the rain, I’d quit buying pipes and just enjoy what I already have.

This Bertram 40 cost $50 delivered.



When I see how Sid Bertram used only ancient, secret third generation oil cured processed, aged by now over fifty years; unstained, unvarnished, and unpainted Pre Algerian Indepence briar made by crippled soldiers in the shadow of the Capitol dome as part of a Veteran’s Administration rehabilitation school,,,,

That’s a pipe for those righteous souls that follow the Master, you know?

We should not place worldly treasures here above treasures in heaven.

Sing one Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys

One Drop of Water

 

[SSGT.]

Being a "Cheap Bastard", I have 3 Muxaing pipes a bent billiard, a sitter and one poker. The general consensus is correct you do not get the pipe that is pictured. I guess they smoke ok, my complaint with the ones I have is the bowls get so hot you damn near blister your hands if you're someone who holds the pipe by the bowl.

 

[Briar Lee]

Being a "Cheap Bastard", I have 3 Muxaing pipes a bent billiard, a sitter and one poker. The general consensus is correct you do not get the pipe that is pictured. I guess they smoke ok, my complaint with the ones I have is the bowls get so hot you damn near blister your hands if you're someone who holds the pipe by the bowl.

The pipes are exactly like pipes were from the Golden Age of pipe smoking when about one hundred times more pipes were made than today except—-

The very best pipes then were made from the highest grades of very old, oil cured, aged Algerian briar.

I have two plastic Rubbermaid tubs full of those, and none of them get hot.

And the more I smoke those, the more they color a certain shade of oxblood and they get better.



That magnificent, perfect, barely smoked Marxman Big Boy cost me less than $43, I forget now if it was $25 or $35.

Tomorrow my wife has a medical treatment and afterwards, when I get us something at the drive through the bill will be close to $43.

There’s no more Algerian briar but there’s still the best of the best of Italian briar, also recognized as good briar.

The Chinese pipes cost ten or twenty times less.

I just want to own one, to see how they smoke.

 

[SSGT.]

The pipes are exactly like pipes were from the Golden Age of pipe smoking when about one hundred times more pipes were made than today except—-

The very best pipes then were made from the highest grades of very old, oil cured, aged Algerian briar.

I have two plastic Rubbermaid tubs full of those, and none of them get hot.

And the more I smoke those, the more they color a certain shade of oxblood and they get better.

View attachment 402060

That magnificent, perfect, barely smoked Marxman Big Boy cost me less than $43, I forget now if it was $25 or $35.

Tomorrow my wife has a medical treatment and afterwards, when I get us something at the drive through the bill will be close to $43.

There’s no more Algerian briar but there’s still the best of the best of Italian briar, also recognized as good briar.

The Chinese pipes cost ten or twenty times less.

I just want to own one, to see how they smoke.

Knock yourself out, wasn't trying to talk you out of it. I was just relaying my experience with the brand. Which is it's a decent smoker it just gets hot. No need for a history lesson in pipe smoking.

 

[Piping Abe]

BriarLee went from only buying PipesByLee for less that $30 to buying $43 Chinese Pipes. We are really in the End Times.

 

[Sig]

They are clearly stock photos and not pictures of the pipe that you'll receive. It's not that unusual for online vendors to use stock photos for cheap pipes. P&C does it and so did COJ and TP when they were still in existence. SP became the success that it is because they made the point of posting many good photos of the pipe you'll actually receive back in the early days. They really set the standard for high end pipe vendors on line.

But nowhere does it say you aren't getting that pipe. There are hundreds of reviews complaining about this. So the company obviously knows it's an issue. Sp and P&C clearly say your actual pipe will have cosmetic differences.

 

[Briar Lee]

BriarLee went from only buying PipesByLee for less that $30 to buying $43 Chinese Pipes. We are really in the End Times.

Before that I was buying $20-30 Kaywoodies.

What I think I’ve learned is this—-

Before the early fifties—when the Kaywoodie still had a four hole stinger—-when a Lee still had real jeweler’s gold inlaid stars—when a Betram did not have a grade number—when a Marxman was made by Bob and Helen Marx—

The briar smoking pipe was totally perfected.

They were like Model 12 Winchesters and Ithaca Model 37 and Belgian Browning Round Knob Long Tang Auto Five shotguns. Perfect.

Another example is the last steam powered locomotives and the Hamilton 992B railroad watches the engineers used. Beyond improvement.

The Chinese today have manufacturing costs maybe like the free world had in the fifties.

If they can get ahold of equal quality briar, they’ll make equal pipes to the classic era American factory pipes.

$120

 

[Mike N]

I bought a few of those cheap Chinese pipes. I accidentally dropped one. The “briar” shattered. I got what I paid for, I guess.

 

[Briar Lee]

I bought a few of those cheap Chinese pipes. I accidentally dropped one. The “briar” shattered. I got what I paid for, I guess.

Again, there isn’t any ancient, oil cured, aged Algerian briar for the Chinese to buy today.

They could carve a Marxman 400 but they can’t get the briar.

But even Dunhill ran out of Algerian briar about sixty years ago.

I shattered a brand new old stock Pipe Maker once, but only because I dropped it on a hard floor.

I’ve dropped a few others, but they bounced.

$60



The briar Chinese pipes cost several times what the same pipes do in olive, rosewood, pear, or ebony. And the briar ones are no doubt better polished by more experienced hands.

But in theory they should shut down every other factory pipe maker on this earth.

Any briar pipe, has always been and will always be, a hunk of wood fastened to a piece of rubber or acrylic.

Not just Chinese labor is cheaper, every other cost to produce one is a fraction of the free world price.

This is a huge Marxman Big Boy square polished panel pipe that didn’t grade to a 400. It was made of centuries old oil cured and aged Algerian briar. All that dark color is from smoking, it was sand colored tan when new.



That Marxman cost $15, let’s guess 1940.



The Chinese could make a stunning masterpiece for $344.

$140



$180



Kaywoodie went bankrupt about 1952, and somebody else took over.

Custom Bilt went broke.

Bob and Helen Marx sold out in 1953 and that ended the 400s and the Big Boys and the real hand made Jumbos and Benchmades.

Lee’s turned into drug store pipes.

Even Bertram, had to raise prices and eventually went broke.

A true, honest, top shelf factory pipe has been unprofitable to make in the USA for about seventy years now.

I just missed going to Bertram’s in 1977 just before they closed. If I’d have known about them then I’d have gone there and bought a hundred dollar pipe, which would be like $530 today.

In 1977 a good CB radio cost $200, and every one I ever saw was made in Taiwan or Japan—-then.

America (also other English speaking nations) have a wonderful problem the rest of the world envies.

Our standard of living is so high we cannot afford hand crafted luxury goods made here.

I don’t know the solution but it’s a good problem.

 

[Peter Turbo]

I try to avoid china made anything where I can (hard to do given their manufacturing is off the charts) and definitely avoiding it when it comes to pipes.

 

[Briar Lee]

I try to avoid china made anything where I can (hard to do given their manufacturing is off the charts) and definitely avoiding it when it comes to pipes.

I much prefer buying American to support my own people in my own, native land.

But the average American worker earns these wages.

Xxxxx

The average annual salary for an Industrial worker in the US is $83,498 as of June 25, 2025. This translates to roughly $40.14 per hour, $1,605 per week, or $6,958 per month, according to ZipRecruiter. However, salaries can range from $36,000 to $116,000, with the majority falling between $70,000 and $94,500.

Several factors influence the specific salary, including skill level, location, and years of experience. For example, an Industrial worker in Chicago, IL, earns an average of $86,015 annually, which is slightly above the national average.

Here's a breakdown of the average industrial wages by industry, based on recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (.gov) data:

• Mining and Logging: Average hourly earnings of $40.26.
• Construction: Average hourly earnings of $39.44.
• Manufacturing: Average hourly earnings of $35.23.
• Wholesale Trade: Average hourly earnings of $38.75.
• Retail Trade: Average hourly earnings of $25.26.
• Transportation and Warehousing: Average hourly earnings of $31.39.

Xxxx

And although I’ve been a lawyer since 1983 American lawyers are the worst in the world at suing those manufacturers, plus we have the worst do gooders on earth after them, and the list goes on and on of the obstacles to making products here.

This iPhone was made in China and it cost $1,200.

It could be made here, for about $3,500.

There would still be iPhones at $3,500.

But only the well off and privileged like me would own them.

After my father died in 1971 my mother took me to a long closed store in Humansville Missouri and she bought me two pairs of whatever the latest style Levi jeans were in the fall of 1971.

(We were not poor—but the issue was in doubt that winter. )

Nick Palmer apologized they cost $15 a pair.



A widowed schoolteacher raising a thirteen year old boy can still buy him two pair of brand new $15 jeans today.

Walmart


Do we want well off old men like me to buy $120 pairs of blue jeans or young mothers to go on buying $15 jeans?

Again, it’s absolutely a first world problem.

Nobody really needs a fancy new pipe. It’s strictly a luxury. A good (but not fancy) Dr Grabow Omega is $46.



What worries me is a brand new home is about $400,000 average, or about ten times what the average Missouri school teacher earns, or five times what the average factory worker earns.

We cannot import cheap new homes, at least not ones like we have, you know ?

 

[agogo513]

The one thing that makes me uneasy about this brand is many reviews say you absolutely do not get the pictured pipe.
They show beautiful straight grain in the picture, but you get...um....something else.
They obviously show the finest specimen, or an AI version of what it COULD be.
Other than that, people say they smoke great for the price.

Out of curiosity, I also bought a Muxiang pipe. Indeed, I didn’t get the exact one shown in the picture, but the item I received doesn’t look bad either. I’ve used it once so far, and everything seems fine—no drawbacks noticed yet.

 

[mingc]

Out of curiosity, I also bought a Muxiang pipe. Indeed, I didn’t get the exact one shown in the picture, but the item I received doesn’t look bad either. I’ve used it once so far, and everything seems fine—no drawbacks noticed yet.

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That's not bad at all.