Briar Bird Commissioned Billiard With Tamper

[layinpipe]

I recently commissioned a billiard and tamper from Jason Cochey, aka Briar Bird Pipes, as a late birthday gift from my girlfriend. I own 4 of Jason's pipes currently and absolutely love his craftsmanship as well as his superb customer service. After some basic and semi-specific details/dimensions i plugged in to him, i told him to take the reigns and do his thing. His "thing" was one of the better blasts i have seen to date and it really brings the ring grain relief to life. I absolutely love the natural finish (per my request) he did on it as i prefer the "less is more" concept and don't like overly glossy finishes where the shellac shines more than the craftsmanship of the pipe. The stem is cumberland with a horn insert, which also IMO flow with the pipe and compliments the briar. The tamper he made is pretty cool and unique as well, sticking the all cumberland ebonite and horn at the bottom. I really dig the artistic flair he did with the waves in the tamper and think they look pretty good as a matching set. Jason said this blast turned out to be one of the best he has done to date, which makes me all the more proud to call this pipe mine.
I think Jason's Briar Bird pipes are one of the best values in the artisan pipe market right now and that dollar for dollar, there are few other better deals for the product you receive. I consider what i paid for the pipe a steal, and feel a little bit guilty...just a tiny little bit, lol. If you are looking for a commission, hit Jason up, the work speaks for itself and his pipemaking just keeps progressing at a high rate, while charging a VERY fair price for his talents. This makes Briar Bird #5 and you can bet your ass there will be a #6 and beyond. A big and hearty THANK YOU to you, Jason, you're the man!
The pipe should be here Monday according to USPS, so i will update accordingly once i receive and smoke it with my thoughts.
Cheers,

Corey
Here's a few pics Jason snapped and sent me of the pair:

 

[cortezattic]

Wow! I'm not much of a tamper guy, but that billiard is to die for. Nice work! :clap:

 

[greyfoxactual]

Great work. Looking forward to the update.

 

[okiescout]

Love that tamper and the pipe is gorgeous. Beautiful blast.
It would be cool to have have a tamper with that pattern repeated on a pipe stem, with that blast pattern.

 

[ejames]

I like both! Very nice!

 

[jkrug]

Wow, that is a beautiful pipe and tamper. Good call keeping the pipe natural, it looks great! Enjoy. ::

 

[weezell]

I'm looking at 5 of Jasons earliest works that I own. I mean from the start! Good person, great carver(by the way, I think we had a deal about a 7 day set!) Think I need to put together a #6...

 

[beefeater33]

What a SWEET pipe! I love the blast on that, and I'm really, really warming up to these natural finishes. I've yet to own one, but I understand they "color" like a meer over time. That's my favorite shape, a classic billiard, I like the inward beveled rim too. Enjoy that one Corey! Its a Beauty!!........... ::

 

[danielplainview]

Nice!! That's a classy billiard. The stem is a nice touch. Congrats.

 

[alexnorth]

Very nice, I've been following his work for sometime and I really like his pipes too!

 

[allan]

Congrats on this commission.
I'm not much of a straight billiard fan myself, but this one looks very fine.
Good luck with it.

 

[pipesdownunder]

Jason does some real great work. It's been fantastic to watch his pipe making progress over the last 2 years. He really is progressing quickly and is such a great guy to communicate with.

 

[layinpipe]

Thanks for the kind words fellas, much appreciated.
jkrug, yeah i think the au naturale is my favorite finish on a pipe and Jason literally made my vision of this pipe a reality, like to a T. He originally had an orangish tan stain on it to begin with, but we both agreed it didn't fit so he reblasted it and left it natural.
Here is a shot of its first stain:

Weezell/pipesdownunder, i have one of his earlier works as well which is still a wonderful pipe and smokes great, but it is crazy to see his level of progression in the past couple of years. And yes, he is one of the nicest guys you could ever deal with and truly cares about satisfying the customer 100%.
beefeater, you really should acquire a natural finished pipe, they do color somewhat comparably to meers to a certain degree. The beveled rim was a must and something i insisted on, as i think they look great with billiards and even better on a naturally finished pipe. Just gotta be extra careful when lighting, lol.
USPS made me wait all weekend, but the pipe should be waiting for me when i get home from work. I'll update the thread accordingly.

 

[layinpipe]

So the Briar Bird pipe and tamper arrived earlier this week and it looks and smokes beautifully. Jason really did a phenominal job on the blast and execution of the pipe overall. The stemwork and button are on point and the draw is excellent and wide open, just like i prefer. The drilling is spot on and the draft hole is dead center of the bottom of the bowl, as it is supposed to be. The tamper looks great as well and matches the pipe to a T. Bravo J, on a job well done and a very satisfied customer yet again. Worth every penny and i can't wait to see how the petina develops on the natural finish through the many bowls i will be running through this fine piece of briar.
Here are some pics i snapped of the lovely pair:

 

[pipesdownunder]

Great end product, nice score!

 

[seacaptain]

Nice!

 

[layinpipe]

pipesdownunder, thanks and thank YOU for carrying and recognizing Jason's talent by selling his pipes...you have a good eye, lol! These forums are great in that they provide a platform for real world customers to highlight the good and possibly bad aspects of pipe makers' creations. I have learned a ton about a wide variety of pipes, both factory and hand made, that has made me a much more educated and informed pipe smoking consumer. I think it helps promote good pipe manufacturers and weeds out the not so good or at least warns other consumers of any negative aspects of their work. I am glad i can be a part of this process and pay it forward with my experiences to others in their pipe smoking journeys! Cheers!

 

[numbersix]

A real beauty - both the pipe and the tamper - congrats!

 

[northernneil]

You have picked up a couple nice pipes lately there layinpipe.
Congrats on the new aquisitions.

 

[layinpipe]

@numbersix, great to see you back six, thank you for the kind words brother!
@northernneil, lol why yes, yes i have haven't I? I got one more on its way from Spain that should be here sometime this week. It's a Dirk Claessen Olivewood Liverpool from his Lotus line and shipped from Dirk himself as i scored it from him off his ebay account. Pretty pumped to get that one as it is my first olivewood and first time smoking an olivewood pipe, plus it looks very nice with a blast natural finish. Also got a nice TAD order coming in from SPC today that is well overdue. I got a cigar itch the past few months and have burned through a couple hundred stogies in that time. Still smoked my pipes intermittently, but was smoking the hell out of the cigars. This will be my first PAD since late last year and my first TAD since the end of December, so that is the justification i am using to convince myself that it is necessary.