A Rumination on the Fungibility of Briar Pipes

[Briar Lee]

As I sit on my deck in the gloaming, today I came to realize that briar pipes may well be fungible.

I don’t want them to be fungible, like a bushel of wheat or a sack of sugar.

I made a low offer on a Marxman B Jumbo that still shows a lot of raw briar at the bottom of the inside of the bowl. It’s coming for the price of $20.

That Marxman cost $7.50 in 1946, and by 1952 there may not have been any more Marxman pipes. Marxman used Algerian briar, he claimed, and since my pipe is 75 or so years old, and may have been made with a 75 year old chunk of root from a heath tree that germinated during the siege of Paris in the Franco Prussian War, that is a large piece of very old briar I have coming to me, for $20.

The inflation calculator tells me $7.50 in 1946 is like $105 today.

I can buy a Nording pick axe freehand today brand new on eBay for $105. It won’t be Nording’s finest work, but it will have a large 75 year old chunk of Mediterranean raised briar fashioned into a jumbo sized pipe.

Once both are completely broken in, if I smoked them in a cave, would I know which was which?

And, if pipes can communicate between each other, by some process we cannot be aware of, would those chunks of old briar fashioned into smoking pipes be arguing between themselves which was best, or would they be swapping stories about how some guy dug them up and then after that they get stuffed with burning leaves, and they must be in some sort of briar hell.

Probably all old Mediterranean briar is fungible, except for what Lee used to make Pipes by Lee.

That surely, had to be special, don’t you think?

 

[verporchting]

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the use of rumination AND fungibility in one sentence.

No small feat, that.

But to your point, everything in this life either has a price or at least you’ll end up paying a price for it in the end - one way or another. I just always chalk it up to the old adages like: nothing is ever free, pay me now or pay me later, or maybe just that you get what you pay for (although I have my doubts about that particular old saying - I distinctly recall several times when that was demonstrably false).

Anyway, just my (somewhat random) thoughts on the subject.

 

[Jacob74]

It's an interesting question. From a utility based perspective, pipes are absolutely a fungible item. From an aesthetic standpoint though (and I believe that much of any pipes value is purely aesthetic), pipes are essentially unique.
Much like electric guitars, even mass produced models produce exceptional examples that aren't fungible, for a variety of reasons.

 

[captainsousie]

It's an interesting question. From a utility based perspective, pipes are absolutely a fungible item. From an aesthetic standpoint though (and I believe that much of any pipes value is purely aesthetic), pipes are essentially unique.
Much like electric guitars, even mass produced models produce exceptional examples that aren't fungible, for a variety of reasons.

Then there are the concrete guitars, the pencil guitars and the cardboard guitars which are essentially non-fungible at this point.

Yeah, pipes are generally though of over time as fungible goods with exceptions as @Jacob74 writes. We all want a "unique experience" but most of us tend to have the standard one in life and goods.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

It depends on the individual. Fungible for some,not for others. They're not fungible for me.

 

[bullet08]

Not fungible at all to me. Every one of them are unique. Briar being an organic natural material grown in wild, the grain in two pieces will never be identical. Its function can be duplicated by others like it, but as to that individual pipe, it can not be completely replaced. As to your ruminations, at least try using occasionally different vocabularies.

 

[ashdigger]

Get some Dr. Scholl’s that’ll clear that fungible right up.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Get some Dr. Scholl’s that’ll clear that fungible right up.

I was thinking Lotrimin.

 

[sandollars]

You have a unique thought process.....

No, my pipes are not fungible and I would never buy pipes that would be considered fungible.

Plastic forks are fungible.

 

[didimauw]

Still haven't looked up the word fungible. It's much more interesting this way!

 

[Briar Lee]

I was watching YouTube and there’s this pretty girl with a British accent (because she’s British) making money digging up relics from the River Thames (pronounced Tims).

She explains that the clay pipes she collects from the Thames range in dates and the newer they are usually the bigger, and fancier, but a clay pipe is I suspect is about basically the same as another clay pipe.

If you dig around the shore of the Hudson, or the Rhine, or the Po, or whatever river you’ll find old clay pipes made by local clay pipe makers.

Yet sometime, long ago, a pipe maker used a piece of heath root, to make a smoking pipe. The result was such a great and good pipe that all wooden pipes of quality today are carved from old Mediterranean rim raised briar roots.

There has to be something special about that, or they’d use the entire heath tree, from anyplace,

Havana cigars have an enviable reputation.

Back when the pipe makers could buy Algerian briar, they were sure keen to brag about it.

Maybe all good, old, Mediterranean briar is the same thing.

I sure hope not.

I want to think some briar, gives a better taste than other briar.

I’ll keep puffing on all my pipes to see if I can tell the difference.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Steel pipes of the same diameter and quality of steel are fungible.

Smoking pipes are not fungible in this household.

 

[OzPiper]

The advent of machinery and the Industrial Age meant that goods/objects could be reproduced in quantity, uniformity and at lower cost.

I see the resurgence in demand for artisanal bespoke and on-off pieces as a reaction against uniformity and a desire to have something unique.

That said, the majority of my pipes are "factory" pipes. My Comoys, BBBs, GBDs, Barlings, Dunhills, Stanwells, and Savinellis smoke as well as my commissioned or one-off pieces and I wouldn't be without them. As are countless members with their cobs.

You may well argue that no two pieces of briar are identical - and they can't be, being of organic origin. Just as no 2 loaves of bread or 2 carrots can be despite being baked by the same baker or coming from the same patch of dirt.

In my opinion that is just (being a lawyer and) splitting hairs. Just as much fun pondering on the chances of finding 2 identical snow flakes.

And if found, what is the value of that profound revelation ?

 

[mortonbriar]

YOU'RE a fun guy.

 

[telescopes]

.

And if found, what is the value of that profound revelation ?

how sad it would be not to be

unique.

 

[OzPiper]

@Briar Lee
I do thank you for adding a new word to my vocabulary

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

What could be more non-fungible than an air guitar .?

 

[Chasing Embers]

YOU'RE a fun guy.

 

[Cappy]

As I sit on my deck in the gloaming, today I came to realize that briar pipes may well be fungible.

I don’t want them to be fungible, like a bushel of wheat or a sack of sugar.

I made a low offer on a Marxman B Jumbo that still shows a lot of raw briar at the bottom of the inside of the bowl. It’s coming for the price of $20.

That Marxman cost $7.50 in 1946, and by 1952 there may not have been any more Marxman pipes. Marxman used Algerian briar, he claimed, and since my pipe is 75 or so years old, and may have been made with a 75 year old chunk of root from a heath tree that germinated during the siege of Paris in the Franco Prussian War, that is a large piece of very old briar I have coming to me, for $20.

The inflation calculator tells me $7.50 in 1946 is like $105 today.

I can buy a Nording pick axe freehand today brand new on eBay for $105. It won’t be Nording’s finest work, but it will have a large 75 year old chunk of Mediterranean raised briar fashioned into a jumbo sized pipe.

Once both are completely broken in, if I smoked them in a cave, would I know which was which?

And, if pipes can communicate between each other, by some process we cannot be aware of, would those chunks of old briar fashioned into smoking pipes be arguing between themselves which was best, or would they be swapping stories about how some guy dug them up and then after that they get stuffed with burning leaves, and they must be in some sort of briar hell.

Probably all old Mediterranean briar is fungible, except for what Lee used to make Pipes by Lee.

That surely, had to be special, don’t you think?

View attachment 100800View attachment 100801View attachment 100802

That ad is cool.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Which ad?

And, please:

Please put your location in your Profile, as people are forgetful.
Why:
That will save questions in the future as to where you live when you later mention local stores, weather, tobacco prices, availability, regulations, location of photos, wildfires, air quality, etc. In many instances that saves time for those who read your posts.
How:
Under your avatar, (top right, left most of three symbols) you choose "Account Details", which brings up "My Account". "My Location" is halfway down. Whatever you're comfortable with- town, city, county, state. Just country if you must.