A Closer Look at Briar Grain

[Briar Lee]

Literally all briar darkes with smoking, like that.

This is fun, keep going!

Not as fast and not as dramaticly.

Wax dramatically accelerates the coloring.

And it’s a particular reddish brown hue that I can spot in a bucket full of pipes of all brands.




There’s not a huge difference in taste but I compare it to being used to a little pepper on your food.

They need to be clean, the tobacco should be a Virginia or Va Per, and the spicey taste is like roasted cinnamon after they heat up.

I can see where not everyone would like it.

Once you get a taste for that, you want more.

 

[Briar Lee]

This “Big Boy” has been on eBay for months.

This pipe wasn’t stained. It has colored this shade after long use. I have a Tom Howard this color and some of my Marxman pipes are getting close to this one. A Custombilt, Edwards, amd old Dunhill or Parker sandblast get the same color.

And look how, the cake was completely removed leaving brown briar in the bowl. When cake forms on Algerian briar it’s soft and flakes right off.



Tom Howard Aged Algerian


Either that’s tannins or oil, or maybe the tobacco smoke coloring them like meerschaums, only more evenly.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Wax dramatically accelerates the coloring.

This happened in the first month of owning it. No stain, no wax.

 

[telescopes]

Literally all briar darkes with smoking, like that.

This is fun, keep going!

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Briar Lee]

When you read about Algerian briar back in the day nobody said much good about it. It was soft, it was waxy, it was hard to work with.

Except by general agreement they liked how it smoked.

That rapid coloring would not have been desirable.

 

[Briar Lee]

This happened in the first month of owning it. No stain, no wax.

View attachment 273918View attachment 273919

Algeria was not the only source of extremely dense briar. That pipe has very tight spaces between growth rings, wherever it came from.

Yes, they’ll all color.

But my Marxman pipes tend to color evenly. And when you can see growth rings they are incredibly close together.

Look at this Jumbo C for sale on eBay.

This is typical, except that one is far along, and it has extremely nice figure for a Marxman.

BTW, like pre war Kaywoodies I think the earliest Marxman pipes used more highly figured grained briar.



Looking at my stash, highly figured Marx pipes weren’t common. If it’s a Benchmade, Jumbo, or gnarly and carved Big Boy, he seemed to pull briar from the same bag.

But there were Super Briar pipes with better grain figure. Here is a Royal, a $7.50 Super Briar. There was a $10 Deluxe I don’t have yet.

 

[Hillcrest]

I have a french Algerian briar sitter and a Comoy London Pride billiard (purportedly made of algerian briar per old print adv.) ... while the birdseye and grain do darken with smoking, only by a shade or two over time. These pipes are over thirty years old and no where near the rapidly accelerated colorization you are getting. I am wondering if this is not the result of your Linseed Oil coatings; Linseed oil does turn wood a yellowish amber color with repeated use. Its also supposed to be cured between 2 to 10 weeks to fully dry.
Maybe you should look at studying the effects of Linseed oil on wood. I do not believe Algerian briar has all of the attributes nor defects you ascribe to it. Just my two cents. YMMV.

Also, I have above average taste ability and have never tasted cinnamon in either pipe.

 

[Briar Lee]

I have a french Algerian briar sitter and a Comoy London Pride billiard (purportedly made of algerian briar per old print adv.) ... while the birdseye and grain do darken with smoking, only by a shade or two over time. These pipes are over thirty years old and no where near the rapidly accelerated colorization you are getting. I am wondering if this is not the result of your Linseed Oil coatings; Linseed oil does turn wood a yellowish amber color with repeated use. Its also supposed to be cured between 2 to 10 weeks to fully dry.
Maybe you should look at studying the effects of Linseed oil on wood. I do not believe Algerian briar has all of the attributes nor defects you ascribe to it. Just my two cents. YMMV.

Also, I have above average taste ability and have never tasted cinnamon in either pipe.

I’ve never put linseed oil on any of my pipes, but Marx may have.

Marx quit making his pipes sometime around 1953. And after November 1, 1954 the export market in Algeria was a war zone.

We’re discussing a dead briar source, as for commercially graded briar.

I dug out an Edward’s, likely the last Algerian briar pipes made in large quantities.

It colors about the same as a Marx but it has very much fancier birdseye grain.

And it made Prince Albert zestier, more spicy, and it’s hard to describe it. Cinnamon is as close as I can get, but not a cinnamon roll. It’s subtle and not obvious, but it’s there for me.

There was something special about Algerian briar before 1954. Marx didn’t stamp Algerian on his pipes but most pipe sellers like Wally Frank and Lane were sure to say if the pipe was Algerian.

I suspect it was the cheapest.

Most people then and now want beautiful pipes, and they are hard to find made with Algerian briar.

 

[burleybreath]

This is funny. I'm sitting here reading this entire thread, smoking a cob.

 

[OzPiper]

@Briar Lee ,
SmokingPipes have Algerian briar Ropps made from 50 year old stummels.
I’d be very interested to hear your opinion of the smoking quality of those

 

[gervais]

This is funny. I'm sitting here reading this entire thread, smoking a cob.

Kernal orientation affects smoking quality.

 

[anotherbob]

I for one do think briar affects flavors and no I don't know how. Just know every pipe I've had tasted different.

 

[Briar Lee]

I for one do think briar affects flavors and no I don't know how. Just know every pipe I've had tasted different.

We are in the same camp!

I have five good meerschaums and they smoke close to the same, and neutral. My two clays are the same way.

I have a dozen fancy cobs and a dozen plain cobs and they have a sort of sweet cob taste and each one slightly different, and less “pipey”.

I can’t count all my briars and only have one bad one, I keep to remember there are bad briars. The rest are all good, a little different, have a whiff of “briar taste” but not a lot different,,,, except old Algerian briar. All those are varying shades of dynamite good smokers.

And Algerian briar to me has about the same degree of extra “spicy” taste as a cob is lighter, and has a tiny bit of sweet cob taste. It’s not much.

The biggest difference in pipes i own are Pipes by Lee. When you break in a Lee it’s sweet as sugar, and sort of overwhelms the tobacco. That doesn’t last. After break in they have a little bit of sweeter briar taste indefinitely, and each develops a bit different flavor.

I’m smoking a MM Diplomat right now and it tastes like a Prince Albert hamd rolled cigarette smoked in a good cob.

 

[Hillcrest]

I’ve never put linseed oil on any of my pipes, but Marx may have.

Marx quit making his pipes sometime around 1953. And after November 1, 1954 the export market in Algeria was a war zone.

We’re discussing a dead briar source, as for commercially graded briar.

I dug out an Edward’s, likely the last Algerian briar pipes made in large quantities.

It colors about the same as a Marx but it has very much fancier birdseye grain.

And it made Prince Albert zestier, more spicy, and it’s hard to describe it. Cinnamon is as close as I can get, but not a cinnamon roll. It’s subtle and not obvious, but it’s there for me.

There was something special about Algerian briar before 1954. Marx didn’t stamp Algerian on his pipes but most pipe sellers like Wally Frank and Lane were sure to say if the pipe was Algerian.

I suspect it was the cheapest.

Most people then and now want beautiful pipes, and they are hard to find made with Algerian briar.

Sorry ... I stand corrected. I meant Grapeseed oil. I think the oil, which does go rancid after six months, may be causing your rapid colorization. Your opinion may vary.

 

[Briar Lee]

Sorry ... I stand corrected. I meant Grapeseed oil. I think the oil, which does go rancid after six months, may be causing your rapid colorization. Your opinion may vary.

I don’t grapeseed oil my Marxman pipes, but I do Lees. I don’t use much and I wipe them dry, and I don’t think the oil stays on six months.

I use wax on a Marxman. Either carnauba or a chunk of pure beeswax.

Algerian briar soaks up wax like a sponge.

Whatever wax does, they’ll get that reddish brown hue quicker.

 

[anotherbob]

We are in the same camp!

I have five good meerschaums and they smoke close to the same, and neutral. My two clays are the same way.

I have a dozen fancy cobs and a dozen plain cobs and they have a sort of sweet cob taste and each one slightly different, and less “pipey”.

I can’t count all my briars and only have one bad one, I keep to remember there are bad briars. The rest are all good, a little different, have a whiff of “briar taste” but not a lot different,,,, except old Algerian briar. All those are varying shades of dynamite good smokers.

And Algerian briar to me has about the same degree of extra “spicy” taste as a cob is lighter, and has a tiny bit of sweet cob taste. It’s not much.

The biggest difference in pipes i own are Pipes by Lee. When you break in a Lee it’s sweet as sugar, and sort of overwhelms the tobacco. That doesn’t last. After break in they have a little bit of sweeter briar taste indefinitely, and each develops a bit different flavor.

I’m smoking a MM Diplomat right now and it tastes like a Prince Albert hamd rolled cigarette smoked in a good cob.

that said I do think in general all briar nearly will be great if carved right.

 

[Hillcrest]

I don’t grapeseed oil my Marxman pipes, but I do Lees. I don’t use much and I wipe them dry, and I don’t think the oil stays on six months.

I use wax on a Marxman. Either carnauba or a chunk of pure beeswax.

Algerian briar soaks up wax like a sponge.

Whatever wax does, they’ll get that reddish brown hue quicker.

I have only waxed (lightly) my algerian briar once and after 35 years it is only a shade darker than when I bought it new. But then again, perhaps I don't smoke as much as you do.

 

[Briar Lee]

that said I do think in general all briar nearly will be great if carved right.

The demand for briar today is maybe only one per cent of what it was in the thirties and forties.

There can’t be all that many dealers in wholesale briar.

It stands to reason the quality standards for briar burls today are extremely high. The dealers in substandard briar went away first.

If a burl today makes the grade it still needs cured and seasoned. Then it’s cut and sorted and shipped. Again, there’s less demand for the lesser grades.

By the time it’s made into a pipe, there are no bad ones left today,

 

[Briar Lee]

I have only waxed (lightly) my algerian briar once and after 35 years it is only a shade darker than when I bought it new. But then again, perhaps I don't smoke as much as you do.

No, my Marxmans will color in a half dozen smokes.

This one was an extreme example.

I refreshed it and it came out white, so I applied grapeseed oil.

After five smokes:



Also, I’ve noticed only a little cake stops the coloring. They need reamed to brown briar bowls and only a slight resin to color faster.

And I don’t spare the wax. I prefer beeswax because it melts better.

 

[Briar Lee]

Look at the slight color difference just one smoke made on this fancy grained Edward’s. It has lots of wax.



One smoke



That one isn’t very red, but it will get almost black if I keep smoking it.

Algerian briar was extremely porous.

They feel light for the size.

Something inside is trying to get outside as they color.

And not every smoker would like that Edward’s. It’s extra strong, robust, heavy, and hearty tasting, not so spicy though as most Marxman pipes.

They all are a little different smokers.