A Rumination on the Superiority of Good Briar

[Briar Lee]

And except for Pies by Lee, Briar Lee, and Pipe Maker pipes, all magically cured with a secret bite removing potion.

The OP seems to be selling pipes.

None of my Lees are for sale, get your own!

Lee was the Lincoln to Kaywoodie being a Cadillac. Lee pipes don’t have collectors clubs nor do they command high prices on eBay.

In theory there was a one star Lee that cost the same $3,50 as a Kaywoodie Drinkless in 1946. I think they are unicorns. I’ve never seen a one star Lee.

But I own quite a few two star Lees that sold for the same $5 as a Kaywoodie Super Grade, and by far the most Lees are the ten dollar Three Star grades, same as a Kaywoodie Flame Grain.

A pipe that cost ten dollars in the late forties was Dunhill grade, or even better.

Lee’s secret had to be in the curing. I’ve smoked at least a dozen NOS Lee pipes and they simply don’t need break in.

There are three eras of Lees. The first has a brass seven pointed star, one per grade, on the stem. Those are arguably best.

Then in the fifties Lee switched to a five pointed star. I can’t see any decline in quality, but five points on the stars means it’s worth less.

The first two Lee series pipes had a removable Kaywoodie type stinger, and a screw on stem exactly like a Kaywoodie except you can synchronize them much easier.

The last Lees had a push stem that accepted the old stinger, and stars with gold foil that rub off quickly. They also may have a few fills, on two stars.

The prize are the Briar Lees.

My theory is, a Briar Lee was intended to be a four star ($15) or five star ($25) Lee but they have fills.

The reject Two Star and Three Star Lees were sold under the Pipe Maker sub brand. They were stained brown, and have fills.

I’ve heard of Lee Stroller sub brands, but never have seen one.

 

[gamzultovah]

You will always find that the people here with the strongest opinions are the ones who contradict themselves the most. So, you have the same person saying "drying briar is needed" saying "aged briar is a myth". The same with "water doesn't have any effect on briar" saying "if it's old and too dry it'll crack when smoked". If you're looking for scientific work when it comes to wood, look to someplace other than this site. Most don't even know what "janka scale" means.

By the way, grain is nice but doesn't IMO have any effect on the smoking quality. More the quality, cure, age, location, luck and carver.

More like life experience than scientific knowledge. And life experience does go a long way with both opinions and accrued knowledge. Take it from me, codger extraordinaire.

 

[Briar Lee]

You will always find that the people here with the strongest opinions are the ones who contradict themselves the most. So, you have the same person saying "drying briar is needed" saying "aged briar is a myth". The same with "water doesn't have any effect on briar" saying "if it's old and too dry it'll crack when smoked". If you're looking for scientific work when it comes to wood, look to someplace other than this site. Most don't even know what "janka scale" means.

By the way, grain is nice but doesn't IMO have any effect on the smoking quality. More the quality, cure, age, location, luck and carver.

He’s long gone to pipe smoker heaven, but once upon a time right before the war KBB was a huge outfit and they had a man in charge of procuring briar.

A conversation with that man about briar quality would be like discussion about rocket science with Werner Von Braun.

I own three Kaywoodie four hole stinger pipes, all #72 Dublins, all in excellent condition.

The presumably pre war Flame Grain has grain beautiful beyond words, it has a large ball, it’s perfect, it never gets hot, it sold for ten late Depression dollars, and such a pipe simply will never again be mass produced. It would be difficult for an artisan to equal it now.

Then there’s my $5 Super Grain, same pipe, less pretty briar, not as great a smoker but still excellent, and the poor boy’s $3.50 Drinkless that’s a meh smoker with not much in the way of grain to brag about.

The day somebody paid $3.50 for the Drinkless there were excellent dollar pipes right there in front of him to buy.

The construction on all three of my Large Dublin Kaywoodies is the same, except the Flame Grain has slightly thicker bowl walls.

I really hate it, but in this old sin cussed world you get exactly what you pay for.

When Kaywoodie made millions of pipes, the price difference was briar quality, and there had to have been one man responsible for briar quality who knew his business well.

His name could have been Lee.

 

[Briar Lee]

I dout my three identical #13 Kaywoodie #13 Dublins and confess the lower end Drinkless is the oldest (Pre 36 #8713 and Aged Bruyere marked with huge ball) and shows the most use, but the Flame Grain sold for $10, the Super Grain for $5, and the Drinkless for $3.50. Briar quality was THE deciding difference.

The Flame Grain is a better smoker than the Super Grain which is a much better smoker than the Drinkless.

Flame Grain is on top, then Super Grain below, and last the Drinkless.

 

[sasquatch]

That's briar for sure.

 

[sasquatch]

I've used these pictures before, elsewhere, to the same effect.

Pick the "good" briar.

Here's a pre-trans Barling:

And here's a pipe made a couple years ago.

So, which is it? Which is the "quality" briar?

 

[Briar Lee]

I've used these pictures before, elsewhere, to the same effect.

Pick the "good" briar.

Here's a pre-trans Barling:

And here's a pipe made a couple years ago.

So, which is it? Which is the "quality" briar?

There’s much advertising and bluster made over flame grain briar, Birdseye, and cross grain but the most expensive briar has always been perfect straight grain, as seen on the new artisan pipe.

And then there’s the consideration of how wide and far apart the mineral stripes are in the straight grain briar.

My five star grade Lee has perfect straight grain, with the stripes so thin and close they seem bland.

I think the jazzy wide zebra stripes are more attractive, but my Lee five star cost more than any Dunhill on the day it sold.

I cannot honestly say my Five Star Lee smokes any cooler or sweeter or better than many others of my best pipes.

But it’s a medium Bullcap, and the biggest diameter artisan and Danish pipes I own, huge things, are no cooler to hold while smoking. My five star Lee seems to be made of asbestos, as far as how hot the outside gets.

I’ve read that before the Flame Grain, even before the Super Grain, that Kaywoodie advertised a Straight Grain for $10. Straight grain briar is the rarest, perhaps, but the tightest straight grain briar doesn’t sell as well to the masses as the fancier briar.

The same tobacco wizards that sold thd finest Pre Castro Havana cigars decided that the best pipes had straight grained briar, long before our fathers were born.

There has to have been a reason.

And that reason was, the better the briar, the better the smoke.

 

[captainsousie]

I've used these pictures before, elsewhere, to the same effect.

Pick the "good" briar.

Here's a pre-trans Barling:

And here's a pipe made a couple years ago.

So, which is it? Which is the "quality" briar?

Great post. One of them sure has nice grain though...?

 

[sasquatch]

Briar's briar, it has no idea if it's straight grained or not. My best smokers are rusticated Castellos, I have no idea what the grain was like. Straight grain is pretty, but for 100 years of pipe making basically no one cared about it except as a fluke that came out of the frasing machine once in awhile. There's all kinds of written "authoritative" sources that claim the heart of the burl is vastly better briar, and of course, the straight grain is never found there. It's all marketing bullshit. I know guys that swear birdseye smokes better. Whatever. Carry on.

 

[Chasing Embers]

decided that the best pipes had straight grained briar

No kidding, they knew they could charge more money for them.

I've got a few straight grains, and while they smoke great, they smoke as well as any of my other well drilled pipes.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It's all marketing bullshit.

Yep.?

 

[hauntedmyst]

Just to take some fun out of this conversation re violins:

Million-dollar Strads fall to modern violins in blind ‘sound check'

Living violinmakers score a win over Stradivari in double-blind test

www.science.org

The irony of Stradivarius is that scientific research found out they used Brylon, cheap bastards.

 

[Chasing Embers]

The irony of Stradivarius is that scientific research found out they used Brylon, cheap bastards.

To be fair, some were made of briar.?

 

[sablebrush52]

I actually had that happen with a 100 year old unsmoked KB&B.

Yep. George Dibos, who knows a lot about old wood, applied a silicate coating to the chamber walls of my 1883 magnum to help protect it from that possibility. Old briar that has never been smoked can be more fragile. It depends on the conditions under which is has been kept. Smoking a pipe also exposes the pipe to steam, which will penetrate and help keep the briar from drying out.
Since it's been brought up, cleaning with water, which a lot of people here, myself included, have used, works with no ill effects. The few critics here have no actual experience with doing it, and somehow think that a pipe, which cah withstand 30 minutes to an hour of superheated steam, can't withstand 30 seconds to a minute of warm water being trickled through it, are perfect examples of contradictory thinking. It's even more ludicrous when one considers that part of the process of curing briar consists of boiling the burl in water to remove the sap.

 

[warren]

"It is pointless to argue with a fanatic since a dim bulb can't be converted into a searchlight. - Jesse Silver"

I've always admired Jesse's signature line.

 

[sablebrush52]

Briar's briar, it has no idea if it's straight grained or not. My best smokers are rusticated Castellos, I have no idea what the grain was like. Straight grain is pretty, but for 100 years of pipe making basically no one cared about it except as a fluke that came out of the frasing machine once in awhile. There's all kinds of written "authoritative" sources that claim the heart of the burl is vastly better briar, and of course, the straight grain is never found there. It's all marketing bullshit. I know guys that swear birdseye smokes better. Whatever. Carry on.

Straight grain was a "thing" for a while in the 19th century. Jon Guss found trade ads extolling straight grained pipes from the 1880's. They are pretty, but more than one restorer has told me that they are also weaker structurally than mixed grain pipes. I like grain as much as anybody, but at the end of the day what matters to me is how well the pipe smokes.

 

[captainsousie]

Not sure who is arguing. Sure, an old pipe can be damaged by smoking it. It does have a lot to do with storage condition as well. I have had the good luck of breaking in four pipes which were 75 years old or older. I'm actually holding off on my Kaywoodie Ninety-Fiver as I am a bit nervous about smoking it.

 

[sablebrush52]

Not sure who is arguing. Sure, an old pipe can be damaged by smoking it. It does have a lot to do with storage condition as well. I have had the good luck of breaking in four pipes which were 75 years old or older. I'm actually holding off on my Kaywoodie Ninety-Fiver as I am a bit nervous about smoking it.

If you're concerned about it you can apply a thin silicate coating to act as an insulator. If I remember correctly, George made a video about how to do it. After that it's a break in period of a different sort, slow smoking the pipe, a few sips at a time, then letting it go out, repeat, so that the bowl barely gets warm, until you build up a thin layer of carbon over the silicate. You do that for awhile until the layer is developed and then the pipe should be good to go as long as you slow smoke it.

 

[captainsousie]

If you're concerned about it you can apply a thin silicate coating to act as an insulator. If I remember correctly, George made a video about how to do it. After that it's a break in period of a different sort, slow smoking the pipe, a few sips at a time, then letting it go out, repeat, so that the bowl barely gets warm, until you build up a tin layer of carbon over the silicate. You do that for awhile until the layer is developed and then the pipe should be good to go as long as you slow smoke it.

Thank you sir. Still struggling with whether I want to fully chance it and "lose the taste of the pipe" or apply a coating. I'm not sure how much I believe that quote which is why I'm struggling.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yep. George Dibos, who knows a lot about old wood, applied a silicate coating to the chamber walls of my 1883 magnum to help protect it from that possibility.

Talked to him about it. It split vertically along the shank. Said it was irreparable and unavoidable.