Briar's Provence- Important?

[sablebrush52]

"The second reason was oil curing was said to harden the notoriously soft Algerian briar".

Having worked with wood for several years, I find that very hard to believe. Think about it on a microscopic scale, how on earth can oil strengthen or harden the soft fibrous strands that make up wood?

I've always been a tad suspicious of oil curing as briar is notoriously very dense. How long would it take for oil to penetrate an entire root ball the size of a melon I wonder?

When I worked in a specialist woodshop we had a huge pressure chamber that looked like a giant torpedo that wood was stacked inside. The door was closed with about 24 huge bolts and a special liquid was injected into the now sealed chamber under incredible pressure once a vacuum had been created via a pump.

This was left running for about 6-8 hours for the timber to absorb the liquid.

Were these processes used for oil curing briar I wonder?

Regards,

Jay.

Similar. The purpose was to speed up the curing process by flushing out the sap using pressure and heat, then allow time for the oil to evacuate. Hardening Algerian briar sounds like a bubba meise.

Barling specialized on using Algerian briar and, possibly except for their guinea grain range, didn't use oil curing, having stated in their literature that oil curing was inferior compared to traditional air curing.

Their reason for using it with the Guinea Grain was supposedly cosmetic, in that they believed it increased grain contrast, which they wanted to work with their special golden stain.

 

[LeafErikson]

I can’t speak on the differences of Algerian briar vs Italian briar. However, as someone who regularly smokes only a handful of blends, I will say that different pipes made of the exact same material can absolutely make a blend taste different from pipe to pipe. Obviously there are a multitude of reasons for this but at least some of it has to do with the organic properties (which vary) of that specific piece of briar.

On another note, I see people all the time on this forum claim that ‘regardless of pipe material, once cake is built the pipe no longer imparts any flavor to the smoke.’ This has not been my experience. I can taste the difference between Sir Walter Raleigh in a meer vs a briar for sure and I think you can too. If you don’t believe me try this experiment out. Indoors, smoke a bowl of your favorite blend in a briar and leave for 20 minutes or so to cleanse your sniffer. Smell the room note when you walk back in. At another point in time, smoke that same blend in a meerschaum and leave for 20 minutes again. I guarantee that there will be a slight variance in room note between the warmed briar wood and the warmed fossilized sea creatures. We all taste with our nose as much as our mouth so why wouldn’t you taste that subtle difference? I’m not sure if that would translate with Algerian briar necessarily as I’m sure the difference is negligible to non-existent but the difference is more notable with meer vs briar.

 

[bobpnm]

I can’t detect any difference. I’m willing to accept that others can. I‘m amazed by tobacco reviews. My palate is not that sophisticated. I can get sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pepper, etc. I mostly attribute my smoking issues to me and not the pipe. Bad engineering being the exception.

 

[mso489]

Since I don't know the provenance on the briar in most of my pipes, I have no grounds to compare between them. I do have three Bentons, made by Edwards, Iwan Ries house pipes that were authoritatively said to be made of oil cured Algerian briar. They weren't expensive, being house pipes designed to entice beginners into pipe smoking. However, now that they are more than thirty years old, I can attest they are excellent pipes -- lightweight for their size and ample chambers, durable over the years, and fine looking with age. So I can't give a comparative report, but this particular example illustrates why Algerian briar has a glowing reputation. These pipes are miles beyond their price point in quality.

 

[Scottmi]

I defer to Jens Chonowitsch Who states Corsican briar is the very best, and will only use it (“in search of pipe dreams” page 38) “ The Corsican briar that I use is very similar to the very best old Algerian briar. But it is better. It is the best in the world.”

 

[cshubhra]

In my extremely limited experience I have not seen any difference in smoking qualities depending on the origin of the briar

 

[Piping Abe]

Sometimes, we really overthink things.

Try everything. See what works best for you.

 

[Briar Lee]

If you’d like to sample Algerian briar, the best bargains today online are pre 1953 Marxman pipes.

The Jumbo series was a shape, ranging from the smallest A, then B,C, and D as size grew larger.

I believe Benchmade was a grade, above Super Briar and Mel-o.

This is a B sized Benchmade Jumbo, only $25 delivered, I won today. Notice the fills, on the top production grade Jumbo.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Does it really matter where the briar comes from? Or the process used?​

If you take a set of geometrically identical pipes and only vary them by the age of the Briar, most likely it would be impossible to tell the pipes apart, and even if one person could sort Briar by age, if you run the experiment with 10 different pipesmokers you'd get 10 different answers.
For the amount of impact it might have on smoking quality the age of Briar isn't even worth considering.
This goes doubly so when half-century old "New Old Stock" pipes are still readily available, it's not worth paying extra for aged Briar when bargain baskets are full of some of the oldest Briar on the market.

 

[sablebrush52]

I defer to Jens Chonowitsch Who states Corsican briar is the very best, and will only use it (“in search of pipe dreams” page 38) “ The Corsican briar that I use is very similar to the very best old Algerian briar. But it is better. It is the best in the world.”

Don't make too much of that. It's one person's opinion. Another equally respected carver may feel quite differently about what he or she likes to work with.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I can taste the difference between Sir Walter Raleigh in a meer vs a briar for sure and I think you can too

Once both are broken in, I notice no difference. It takes much longer to break in a meerschaum as they will mute the flavor of a blend for the first several dozen smokes until they start to saturate with oils from the tobacco. From briar to briar, I only notice a difference in smoke duration due to chamber size, but no difference in flavor.

 

[Briar Lee]

I defer to Jens Chonowitsch Who states Corsican briar is the very best, and will only use it (“in search of pipe dreams” page 38) “ The Corsican briar that I use is very similar to the very best old Algerian briar. But it is better. It is the best in the world.”

I turn 65 in April and the day I was born, the Algerian War of Independence was raging.

But the day I was born in 1958 the finest cigars on earth all came from Havana, Cuba. There was an entire industry in South Florida devoted to rolling “clear Havana” cigars with all the filler, binder and wrapper imported from Cuba, but the Batista era inspectors sent the best to Havana, not Florida.

Today wonderful cigars come from Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and even still from Cuba, but the Pre Castro Cuban cigar industry is forever gone.

There had to have been tons of briar rejected by the Colonial French inspectors. I’ve read that in the late forties the French put seasonal limits on when briar could be harvested, in Pipe Lover’s magazine.

When there was, a briar industry in Algeria they were extremely protective of the reputation of Algerian briar.

Since 1962 at the latest, there is still briar for sale from Algeria, but it’s not pre war Algerian briar.

 

[sasquatch]

"Best" briar.

What do we even mean by that? Best for what? Best in what way?

Best sandblast results? Tightest grain? Cuz these are opposite, in reality.

Best smoking? What would that mean? Driest? Or least amount of "woody" flavor? Meerschaum is the best briar in that case! Softest to carve? Most free of pits or pepper spots?

You can't put a meaningful "best" to briar. Briar is different from different regions because of soil and climactic conditions, and then on top of that because of exactly how it's treated at any given mill. Judging two "Spanish" briar blocks, one from Bruken and one from Haume, you'd immediately see that the Bruken is lighter in color, all the blocks are uniformally just about white, and the Haume uniformally much darker. Oh shit, do I want light or dark briar??? And that's just Spain.

As a pipe maker, I choose briar based on what each block is most likely to produce. If I want a great sandblast, I look for lower-density wood and larger ring spacing. If I want an eye-popping smooth, I might look to any number of producers in Italy, Spain or Greece. If someone wants a super light pipe I would start with a light feeling piece of wood. If someone wants a pipe with a 6" shank, I might pick a very dense and physically strong piece (and I might choose Greek over Italian for that purpose).

But is there some magic kind of briar that makes uniformally better pipes in some obvious important way for the smoker? No. How the pipe is built inside is more important. Will all briar smoke identically? Also no, but we are talking about really small variations, like variations on vintage of wine.

Is the stem on your pipe rubber? Cuz that adds a lot more taste than the briar.

 

[georged]

Sasquatch, you must stop supplying fact-based information and making declarative statements when commenting on subjects which have long been the territory of emotion, advertising, imagination, and myth.

It's like injecting a bucket of rubber cement into the plumbing of a house.

 

[milk]

"Best" briar.

What do we even mean by that? Best for what? Best in what way?

Best sandblast results? Tightest grain? Cuz these are opposite, in reality.

Best smoking? What would that mean? Driest? Or least amount of "woody" flavor? Meerschaum is the best briar in that case! Softest to carve? Most free of pits or pepper spots?

You can't put a meaningful "best" to briar. Briar is different from different regions because of soil and climactic conditions, and then on top of that because of exactly how it's treated at any given mill. Judging two "Spanish" briar blocks, one from Bruken and one from Haume, you'd immediately see that the Bruken is lighter in color, all the blocks are uniformally just about white, and the Haume uniformally much darker. Oh shit, do I want light or dark briar??? And that's just Spain.

As a pipe maker, I choose briar based on what each block is most likely to produce. If I want a great sandblast, I look for lower-density wood and larger ring spacing. If I want an eye-popping smooth, I might look to any number of producers in Italy, Spain or Greece. If someone wants a super light pipe I would start with a light feeling piece of wood. If someone wants a pipe with a 6" shank, I might pick a very dense and physically strong piece (and I might choose Greek over Italian for that purpose).

But is there some magic kind of briar that makes uniformally better pipes in some obvious important way for the smoker? No. How the pipe is built inside is more important. Will all briar smoke identically? Also no, but we are talking about really small variations, like variations on vintage of wine.

Is the stem on your pipe rubber? Cuz that adds a lot more taste than the briar.

Excellent.

 

[sasquatch]

Sasquatch, you must stop supplying fact-based information and making declarative statements when commenting on subjects which have long been the territory of emotion, advertising, imagination, and myth.

It's like injecting a bucket of rubber cement into the plumbing of a house.

I sometimes do that too.

 

[Briar Lee]

I feel really sorry right now for folks that don’t own any oil cured Algerian briar pipes.

Your pipe likely is prettier than my Edward’s but mine smokes better.

 

[Papamique]

I feel really sorry right now for folks that don’t own any oil cured Algerian briar pipes.

Your pipe likely is prettier than my Edward’s but mine smokes better.

View attachment 202496

I am not too sure about that…..that burl or Birdseye grain on your Edward’s sure is pretty!!

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

I only smoke GBD Prehistorics, they were made form briar that was harvested from the Mesozoic layer in boggy swampy areas. Dunhill DR, ppppfffffttt. If briar isn't 66-256 million years old its not even worth making a pipe out of. Prehistoric briar really brings out the burnt marshmallow and stale candy corn notes of 1Q.

 

[sasquatch]

I feel sorry right now for the folks who think 3 dollar drug store pipes are the epitome of something.