Bowl Material or Engineering?

[Briar Lee]

And that is your reality/truth. Good on you!

And also at my mother’s feet, she balanced Cromwell’s Plea with Pilate’s Query:

—

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.

—

The reason I think briar matters, is because it’s true.

 

[Grangerous]

“Then, according to legend, a traveling nobleman broke his meerschaum and to replace it, the first briar pipe was born. Whether true or not, there had to be the first briar pipe, somehow.” - Briarlee 29 Dec 2022

*****************

The year was 1852 and along an established trade route, where noblemen oft gathered. The meer, my sole pipe, had survived countless journeys, no less harrowing than thus, when suddenly thine pipe met horses hooves, I cried. Yes, I am that nobleman! Discoverer of Briar.

Days passed and though in a fog, I’d convinced myself, that upon my return to England —that within my corner shop of Turkish wares, I’d select a meer with…. a more robust case, nay, two meers and two cases- for thine is a clumsy nobleman.

I dreamt of my Lady Nicotina. I Joneseth hard. Until one fateful morning, fallen from saddle and striking my head upon a burled root of some magical, yet unknown smoking properties— I slipped into unconsciousness.

That eve, by light of a warm fire I carved a crude bowl. I pocketed it and slept a weary sleep. At dawn, whilst enriching the soil with nitrogen, I’d noted a Vulcanite bush and gleefully selected a stem!

Hastily polishing with obsidian and fine paper to a rich, blacketh shine- I assembled my new pipe and loadeth using the Frank method with Supervalue Chocolate Cavendish. Wretched, Vile Root! Tasted like…. Granger.

 

[K.E. Powell]

I think, personal prejudices aside, that most of us can agree that these singular attributes of the tobacco pipe that we are discussing, such as the diameter of the draft hole or the quality of the briar itself, do have an impact in just how enjoyable the smoking experience is. I don't think it is objectionable to assert that it is preferable to have a pipe whose briar is of good quality rather than poor, for instance. The issue as I see it is that all of these many variables are damn near impossible to test in isolation from their other constituent parts, and that is to say nothing of the quality of the tobacco itself or the technique of the smoker!

I think a reasonable person could state that the way a draft hole is drilled and sized does have an impact on the smoke. Indeed, it borders on tautology, because as Chasing Embers pointed out, the whole apparatus is akin to a straw, and being able to draw smoke from the pipe is the point. I also think most people could agree that a draft hole can be too big or too small. But what constitutes the extremes of that binary is up for debate, and it is hard to isolate that particular element from other factors that also impact the smoke, such as the materials used or the quality of the stem.

If I were to offer my personal opinion--and it would just be an opinion and nothing more--I would say that most pipes, provided they are drilled well and have a good stem, will smoke at least fairly well regardless of other factors, all other things being equal, of course. It's a pipe, not a nuclear reactor; it is a very simple tool. I will also say that the weight of these other factors is determined principally by personal prejudice more so than empirical measures. Finally, as Warren has said elsewhere, you really don't know how good a pipe smokes until you smoke it yourself.

 

[georged]

Now is a good time to mention that this thread's question was the subject of an entire BOOK a while back, by a guy named Fred Hanna.

Fred is what today's under-30's call an "OG" in the PipeWorld, plus is a disciplined researcher and thinker by trade. (He's a professor at Adler University)

The title of the book is The Perfect Smoke --- Gourmet Pipe Smoking for Relaxation and Reflection

ISBN 978-0-692-01713-5

Highly recommended. Everything discussed in this thread is covered---and more---in a highly organized way. It's also entertaining and easy to read.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Fred is very tongue in cheek and also authored this.

Pipe Brand Myth

 

[bullet08]

Problem as I see it is, the damned pipes we smoke are too inactive to have any specific attributes to cause much of a subjective difference.

If we are talking about wooden flutes or bagpipes, even penny whistle, the material makes some what of difference in how they sound. And trust me, there are tone deafs who will say it doesn't. But there is more than just sucking smoke out of those instruments. Depend on reed being used, embouchure being employed, materials of the instruments.. The vibration of air being passed through will sound different.

But with smoking pipes? What do we do to it to actually make it behave differently than "sip" the smoke out of it? Does that sip actually change any properties of wood? Do we suck it like $30 dollar whore to get whatever she's hoping for? No. There really isn't any action on our part or part of the pipe to change anything but pass the smoke.

@Chasing Embers famously indicated pipes are just straws, and I almost agree with that opinion.

 

[Briar Lee]

Fred is very tongue in cheek and also authored this.

Pipe Brand Myth

I just love his summation!

—
Anyone who is educated enough to buy a reasonably well-made pipe with well-cured briar has a great chance of finding a pipe whose smoking quality reaches the status of legend, even though the nomenclature is considered boring and mediocre from a collecting standpoint.

Pipes are not like cars. A Chevy cannot drive like a Mercedes, but the lowly Stanwell can smoke like the lofty Chonowitsch, even though the latter far exceeds the Stanwell in beauty, grain, and craftsmanship. It is the briar and not the brand. There is no place for elitism among pipe smokers.-

—-

I just bought my last pipe of 2022:

Marxman medium Rhodesian (or ringed Apple?) $15 delivered




When I clean it up, it stands a chance of being an extraordinary smoker.

But since it’s a Marxman it was made to smoke, and somebody did smoke it quite a bit.

Where brand matters, is the maker cares enough about engineering and construction to brand it with their name.

 

[K.E. Powell]

That essay by Fred Hanna was excellent, and I'd love to read his book for a deeper dive.

But his summation raises obvious questions: what, exactly, is good briar? Is it something that can be easily ascertained by the average person? If so, how, and is it possible to do this consistently?

 

[sasquatch]

Good briar is briar that grew 2222 years in an Elvin forest protected by beautiful Dryads. The briar cutters do a dance known as the "Mamushka", prior to attempting to harvest any wood. Ritual sacrifice, prayer, displays of bravado, etc. When they find the 2222 year old plant, they dig it up, cut it in five equal pieces, and go home. It's a very strange thing. But miss any step, or issue the wrong chant, and the briar goes bad.

For real, here's the best "process" video I know, from and featuring the Greek Devil himself, Makis Minetos. Video starts with freshly harvested burls, which have been selected off the mountainside of protected/controlled areas in Greece. Burls old enough (which is simply to say large enough) and of sufficient physical qualities (lack of cracking, insects etc) have been chosen. After that, it's up to the mill.

And this process is repeated at every mil, there's really no variation I know of, some guys might swap the water out more often, but the answer is briar is harvested, cut, boiled, graded, and put aside.

Just what makes "good" briar might depend on a more specific purpose. If you think light briar smokes better than heavier briar, then there's your answer. If you want incredible striated grain, then there's your answer. If you want briar that sandblasts a certain way, which is to say, the rings are a certain distance apart because of growth conditions, there's your answer.

I buy lots of briar from all over, I've had wood from Spain, Italy, Algeria, Greece, Albania.... and there's better and worse pieces, some have cracks, some have no grain, mostly you get what you pay for in terms of grain (and that's what cutters charge for, grain density, how flashy is this piece going to be). But in terms of other mystical characteristics, how "good" it smokes etc, I don't really think anyone has a firm, non bullshit answer about that. If I could buy only "good smoking" briar I suppose I would, but a better way to state it is that I've bought all kinds of briar and find it all "good smoking" with only really marginal differences to demarcate different provenance.

If someone says "I want a pipe to smoke Virginias" I have no secret supply of tried-and-true virginia smoking briar.

Bad pieces of briar look like this, for example... look at all the cracks running through it. And the color variation kind of freaks me out too, like what mineral did this plant grow on? That's a fail.



Good briar is .... not like that.

That's a nice clean piece, I don't care if it's Spanish or Greek, or if it was picked at midnight or if a unicorn pissed on it. It's not the straightest grain I've ever seen, but it's a good quality of wood.

 

[K.E. Powell]

Thank you for that useful info, and I got the YouTube video bookmarked for future viewing. You helped me learn something new today, and I am very grateful for that!

 

[sasquatch]

You're welcome. There's lots of great videos on briar and pipe making on youtube.

 

[Briar Lee]

Here’s an upcoming chance to see if brand makes any difference.

For about a year now, since I found out about the brand Loewe, I’ve sorta felt kinda sorrowful like for myself not having one. I had fences to build at the farm, and a Loewe pipe was a luxury I declined.

Then last night about 3 am, I won a genuine Loewe and a sub brand GBD stamped Theydon, both for $22.50, delivered.




I can rest easy I’ve not wasted eleven dollars on any pipe made by Loewe or by GBD in London, England. The construction and engineering will at least be “adequate”, as Rolls Royce used to claim for horsepower.

But one has briar quality high enough to be stamped Loewe, and the other not high enough to earn a full GBD stamp.

What makes all this fun, is my wife and I spent three times $22.50 going out on New Year’s Eve to a little tavern for a meal.

Pipe accumulating is the cheapest vice I have.

My bet is, each will be an excellent smoker, but by the odds neither will smoke exactly the same, and neither will smoke as well as this no name Author, which is a dynamite good smoker, a rare jewel.