Brigham Role-Call

[shermnatman]

I almost bought a Brigham to have a Canadian made pipe, but they moved production to Italy. The rock maple inserts put me off a little, one more item to keep up with or throw away. I like their looks, kind of a Canadian Dr. Grabow.

"a Canadian Dr Grabow...". Wow....just wow.... - Sherm Natman

 

[Cotton1]

I almost bought a Brigham to have a Canadian made pipe, but they moved production to Italy. The rock maple inserts put me off a little, one more item to keep up with or throw away. I like their looks, kind of a Canadian Dr. Grabow.

You should try one..inserts are easy to remove if you are like me and don't care for filters.

 

[shermnatman]

Excellent! @haebar and @Cotton1 have stood to be counted, thus bringing us to a total number of 13; and with a group of 13 we qualify as a Witch's Coven LOL!

I know there must be more Brigham fans on the forum. I'll be very interested to see just how many heads we will eventually count. - Sherm Natman

 

[mikethompson]

@mso489 , don't be put off by the maple inserts. They are a fantastic little piece of wood that work very well.

 

[shermnatman]

@mso489 , don't be put off by the maple inserts. They are a fantastic little piece of wood that work very well.

Yes, indeed; or, simply don't use the wood filter at all - just like any other pipe.

When I used to use the "Rock Maple Distillators", I found I could extend their serviceable life 20-fold, by removing a dirty/wet insert from the pipe, wrapping it up tightly in a small square of paper-towel; which would, over the course of a couple of days, absorb a great deal of what the insert had absorbed - and clean and dry the distillator like magic.

So it was a simply matter to keep a little rotation of: fresh, in-use, and drying distillators, to extend the life of them exponentially.

Now, I rarely use a filter at all; except with certain blends which tend to burn wetter than others. - Sherm Natman

 

[Cotton1]

I used mine for a bit then took them out. I feel like the draw is too tight with them in place.
I'm going to have to try this paper towel trick now just for curiosity sake.

Did you dampen them with water or just remove them once the pipe cooled down and go straight to the paper towel with them?

 

[shermnatman]

Did you dampen them with water or just remove them once the pipe cooled down and go straight to the paper towel with them?

Straight to wrapping them tightly in a piece of paper towel. - Sherm Natmam

 

[beef]

I am new to pipe smoking and a brigham is my first pipe. It's an algonquin bent billiard (not sure of the number). I don't have much else to compare it to, so I can't give a verdict on how much I like it. What are people's verdicts on the filters? I have been smoking without one lately and I find it to be more flavourful but wetter.

 

[olkofri]

I prefer with filters. The draw is too open without them and then I get tongue burn.

 

[beef]

Hello Brigham people, I hope that you can help me. I have found that my Brigham bent billiard has a very laborious draw. I don't know if this is recent or the pipe was like this when I got it new, since it was my first pipe. With and without filter, the draw is nowhere near as open as my other pipes. In fact, I can't tell a difference regarding the filter. When I draw through the stem on its own, it feels better. When I try drawing from the pipe, without stem, it also feels more open. I have run bristled pipe cleaners through the pipe many times, there doesn't seem to be a blockage. Now, when the stem and pipe are combined, the draw feels rather closed. I mean closed to the extent that I don't think it is smokable.

Has anyone experienced this with Brighams, or other pipes for that matter? Does anyone have any idea what the issue could be or what I might try to fix this? Thanks!

 

[olkofri]

Has anyone experienced this with Brighams,

Yes, I did experience that with my first Brigham, a Voyageur volcano. I even took it back to the shop where I bought it and had the tobacconist take a look at it, but nothing wrong was found with it. I don't so much notice a tight draw but rather that the pipe can become kinda stopped mid-smoke, requiring the use of the pick in the pipe tool.

The whole issue might be related to how Brigham bents are engineered: the stem doesn't open into the draught hole, but goes into a cavity, and the smoke is pulled around the knob of the filter (or the end of the stem, when you smoke it filterless).



My other two Brighams are straight (or bent at the stem, for the prince), and have no such issues. In these pipes the lumen of the stem opens directly into the draught hole and the chamber:

 

[Mr.Mike]

Good explanation olkofri. I wonder if there is a wood shaving still attached from the drilling process that gets pushed into the draught hole when the stem gets inserted, causing a block?

 

[beef]

Yes, I did experience that with my first Brigham, a Voyageur volcano. I even took it back to the shop where I bought it and had the tobacconist take a look at it, but nothing wrong was found with it. I don't so much notice a tight draw but rather that the pipe can become kinda stopped mid-smoke, requiring the use of the pick in the pipe tool.

The whole issue might be related to how Brigham bents are engineered: the stem doesn't open into the draught hole, but goes into a cavity, and the smoke is pulled around the knob of the filter (or the end of the stem, when you smoke it filterless).

View attachment 71063

My other two Brighams are straight (or bent at the stem, for the prince), and have no such issues. In these pipes the lumen of the stem opens directly into the draught hole and the chamber:

View attachment 71064

Nice. Thanks for this. I didn't know that there was a lower cavity on the bent pipes. This gives me some sense now about what the issue may be. I'll try cleaning that out. I don't think it will be a build up of gunk though. I haven't smoked it enough for that and I would think with hot smoke touching it, it would start to gurgle.

 

[Reggie]

Ah, James! The man with the Algonquin Rhoddy and the Klondike Bully Brigham pipes bringing the current headcount in the clubhouse up to 10.

And, speaking of Klondike...

This always reminds me of my lumberjack days in the Klondike region of the Yukon territory in northwest Canada; at the time when The North Woods Lumber Company had fallen behind in their log deliveries.

So, they called on me.

I went to work immediately with my double-blade ax in hand; and, in no time, I was getting them back on schedule. However, my individual output was so rapid, continious, and voluminous, that a dangerously massive log-jam - the likes and size of which no Canadian man, woman, or child had ever seen - had formed right at the point where the Klondike River enters the Yukon River - being just to the east of Dawson City; and the raging floodwaters therefrom, were threatening to overflow the riverbanks and swiftly destroy that historical city, which was a base-camp during the Gold Rush of 1896 - 1899.

I rushed to the scene.

I ordered the townspeople to be immediately evacuated; while all my co-works from the lumber company fled in terror for their lives.

Then, having made sure I was completely alone, I whipped out a bundle of some twenty sticks of dynamite, and lit the fuse. Suddenly, a heavy log rolled down and caught my foot. I couldn't move. With the fuse of the dynamite rapidly growing shorter, and no other human in the area to help free me, I was doomed.

Thinking quickly, since my hands were free, I quickly built around myself, a sturdy log cabin.

The massive blast from the dynamite explosion broke up the monumental log-jam completely; but, my log cabin protected me. It gently floated to shore, where the cheering men freed my trapped foot.

To show his appreciation, Roy Brigham, himself - who just happened to be on the local scene at time, taking out-of-town relatives to the Dawson City Historical Museum, in Klondike - presented me with a hand-carved pipe he had quickly fashioned from a jagged piece of the flying timber; which had only missed delivering him a fatal impaling blow by the merest of inches.

I immediately filled the rough and jagged Presentation Trophy Pipe with Middleton's Prince Albert pipe tobacco, and set the bowl alight.

Because it was my calm demeanor in the face of danger, quick thinking, and my free hands which saved me and Klondike from certain horrific disaster while my foot was hopelessly trapped, I dubbed this new pipe shape: The Freehand Model.

And, so it came to be known. - Sherm Natman

There for a minute, I could hear the roaring flow of the river and feel the wood chips peppering the back of my Carhartt Jacket!

 

[coming to_falling too]

I have one Brigham that gets smoked quite frequently. It's from the Klondike line. I'm thinking of getting an Acadian Canadian (heh) or one from the heritage series next.

 

[olkofri]

I'll try cleaning that out. I don't think it will be a build up of gunk though.

If you clean your pipe after every smoke it shouldn't be an issue. Why, you have to, anyway, since the design makes it impossible to run a pipe cleaner to the chamber with the pipe assembled.

Once you take it apart, bend a cleaner and swab the receptacle with the "elbow". I prefer to use extra fluffy cleaners for this. Basically, I use extra fluffy cleaners for all filtered pipes, since their openings are larger bores and bending the cleaners in two or three is required to properly swab them.

Make sure you're also rinsing the maple distillator under the tap and that it's thoroughly dry before putting it back in the stem and re-assembling the pipe.

 

[rajangan]

I found this Brigham at a flea market about twenty years ago. I haven't seen anything like it.

 

[Ettrick puffer]

Howdy All
I’ve just received from Smoking Pipes Europe a Brigham Voyageur 129 along with a couple of boxes of distallator filters. I’m looking forward to breaking it in tomorrow morning on the dog walking lunt with a bowl of Squadron Leader. I will post photos tomorrow.
Happy smokes.
Ettrick puffer

 

[stickframer]

My 4 Brighams:

Algonquin #229
2 Chinooks, #426 and #62
Patent-era #117

The Algonquin is my favorite pipe.

 

[Ettrick puffer]

My Brigham Voyageur which has proven to be a great smoking pipe.
Happy smokes
Ettrick puffer