Chinese Made Briars - Warning Will Robinson!

[chopper]

Several years back I bid on and won a few Road Town pipes on ebay.
I'm a bit of a bargain hunter so I won them all for a reasonable price.
The seller represents a number of Chinese pipe makers and sells them under the Road Town label.
She's a right nasty piece of work [who appeared to have the shits because my winning bids were quite low] so I would not ever consider buying any of her items for that reason alone.

A Road Town Poker that I first fired up had a 'carbon' lining that tasted toxic. Had to remove it with sandpaper.
The Poker is not a bad smoker and has been in regular rotation since [but for how long?]

A bamboo stemmed Road Town briar had such a ridiculous stem construction that it was impossible to insert a pipe cleaner.
It was a good looking pipe so it was put on display but never lit up.
Then one day when I picked it up, the mouth piece cracked and it broke in half for no apparent reason [no, it was not ever dropped or exposed to direct sunlight]

A Road Town Morta had 'disappeared' since I'd bought it. Recently I came across it and found that it was a rather good smoker.
It took a pipe cleaner through to the chamber so I'd not ever had the need to remove the mouth piece.
Once the draught hole needed a thorough clean, I attempted to remove the mouth piece when the bloody thing broke off inside the shank. It was not tight at all so no excessive force was used.

The plastic used to make the mouth piece was obviously not fit for purpose.
What a waste of money. Like is often said, one gets what one pays for.

 

[Chasing Embers]

An HS Studio reverse calabash. Far too small for me to enjoy as a smoking tool but beautifully carved with a wide open draw and perfect airway drilling and an ebonite stem.



I bought it for $50 to use as a Christmas tree decoration but if the chamber were twice as deep, I would have used it as a smoker. Sounds like you just got a couple of duds.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I think you could substitute many countries behind the word cheap and could very expect a similar result. Great bargains usually aren't. There's a reason the price is so low.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Glad to see your still kicking @chopper missed your Aussie sense of humour

 

[Chasing Embers]

There's a reason the price is so low.

Yep, the company hasn't gotten too full of themselves yet.

 

[hyoutang]

I had about four Road Town pipes, but sold them all.
The only reason I bought it is the design.
The reason I gave it away was that I realized that it was not their original design but a homage work, so I felt there was a problem with owning it.
One of these days, it will appear in SP.

 

[MacMarty89]

Why the hell you would consider a Chinese pipe, eludes me. The only thing they have been good at is making opium pipes in the 19th century.

 

[Hillcrest]

Regulations in that country leave a great deal to be desired and much work is subcontracted to small village factories. The same issue appears in fountains pens where the barrels spontaneously crack and disintegrate over a short time... even if not being used ... apparently the plastic was analyzed and a necessary bonding ingredient was left out because they ran out of it so they just made the parts anyway. Probably the same is true with the stems that suddenly break. Also their 'brass' has higher levels of arsenic than western brass is allowed. Caveat Emptor !

 

[makhorkasmoker]

Thank you for this post. I often see Road Town estate pipes for sale at Smoking Pipes, in the "Misc. Estates" category. Country of origin is usually listed as "Unknown." I sometimes consider buying one because they look good and the price is right--and I trust Smoking Pipes. But reading this I am have become more wary.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Why the hell you would consider a Chinese pipe, eludes me. The only thing they have been good at is making opium pipes in the 19th century.

Do tell.



Looking better than anything coming from has-been name clutching English marques these days.

 

[chopper]

Do tell.

View attachment 168587

Looking better than anything coming from has-been name clutching English marques these days.

Yes they probably would make a lovely Christmas tree decoration Embers but some of us buy pipes with the intention to smoke them at some point.
The pipe in the foreground of your pic has an obvious weak point in it's design.
Snapping in half in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . . .
A good example of form over function.

 

[chopper]

Regulations in that country leave a great deal to be desired and much work is subcontracted to small village factories. The same issue appears in fountains pens where the barrels spontaneously crack and disintegrate over a short time... even if not being used ... apparently the plastic was analyzed and a necessary bonding ingredient was left out because they ran out of it so they just made the parts anyway. Probably the same is true with the stems that suddenly break. Also their 'brass' has higher levels of arsenic than western brass is allowed. Caveat Emptor !

Now that is interesting and could possibly explain why my bamboo stem just broke for no apparent reason and why the Mortas stem twisted off into the shank like breaking off a piece of stick licorice.

The main issue with Road Town and HS Studio brands is that multiple pipe makers sell under those brand names.
There's no quality control [nor any basic standards for that matter] and judging by the vendors aggressive attitude she simply couldn't care any less.

Chinese manufacturers regularly use toxic crap; like formaldehyde on all sorts of products from fabric [to decrease wrinkling] to baby formula to give a false higher protein reading when tested.
Kids toys - like Mattel products for example - are often rejected in the West due to the use of lead paint.

 

[chopper]

Why the hell you would consider a Chinese pipe, eludes me. The only thing they have been good at is making opium pipes in the 19th century.

Reasonable question MacMarty; when I purchased these pipes from an American ebay vendor, I had no idea that they were Made in China.
The vendor did not advertise that fact when she started selling these abominations.
In fact it would appear that they were sold from the U.S. [where postage is way more expensive than from China] in the first place to obscure that fact.

 

[Hillcrest]

Reasonable question MacMarty; when I purchased these pipes from an American ebay vendor, I had no idea that they were Made in China.
The vendor did not advertise that fact when she started selling these abominations.
In fact it would appear that they were sold from the U.S. [where postage is way more expensive than from China] in the first place to obscure that fact.

I believe postage from there (speedpak) is paid for by the US gov't... one of Obama's deals. The fountain pens in question were $8.00 knockoffs of a $15.00 japanese pen but sold for a $1.00 because the gov't supplements the difference to keep people working. Fortunately the nibs were worth a buck, well made and would fit other pens so not a total loss. I'm suspect they are more expensive in the recent economy.

A new tobacco and cigar store opened in my town. They sell those chinese pipe at significant mark up. I'm not even sure they were wood...they looked like painted plastic and had small chambers with metal linings ... I suspect they were made to look like tobacco pipes but were drug really pipes.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Snapping in half in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . . .
A good example of form over function.

Better to you luck next time.



A pipe with less than 1.5" chamber depth is useless to me, many of Ping Zhan's pieces are much larger. Might want to try Google before throwing insults.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Chinese manufacturers regularly use toxic crap; like formaldehyde

Seeing as how many pipe tobacco blends are cased with sugar water formulas, you might want to give up tobacco.

"Formaldehyde is not added to tobacco products. Rather, formaldehyde is produced when additives such as sugars, sorbitol, guar gum, cellulose fibres, and carob and gum in tobacco are burnt. Smokers inhale it when they take a puff of smoke (first-hand smoke)."

 

[woodsroad]

The reason I gave it away was that I realized that it was not their original design but a homage work,

You must be a very kind person.
I'd call it plagiarism, not a homage. A homage is an act of appreciation, an act of recognizing great work by honoring the creator with an artistic creation that evokes the original work. See A Visit with Magritte, a book of photographs by the late Duane Michals for what a homage looks like.

These pipes are plagerized.

 

[chopper]

Better to you luck next time.

View attachment 168644

A pipe with less than 1.5" chamber depth is useless to me, many of Ping Zhan's pieces are much larger. Might want to try Google before throwing insults.

What "insults"? [Didn't realise you were so sensitive]
Just calling a spade a spade is all.

 

[chopper]

Seeing as how many pipe tobacco blends are cased with sugar water formulas, you might want to give up tobacco.

"Formaldehyde is not added to tobacco products. Rather, formaldehyde is produced when additives such as sugars, sorbitol, guar gum, cellulose fibres, and carob and gum in tobacco are burnt. Smokers inhale it when they take a puff of smoke (first-hand smoke)."

Where did I write anything about formaldehyde in tobacco?
Don't be so disingenuous.

My point was that Chinese manufacturers regularly use formaldehyde [and other toxic crap, like lead paint] in all sorts of applications. They love the stuff in all it's forms.
I've even seen formalin as an ingredient in Chinese made baby shampoo of all things. [How outrageous that shit like that has been passed fit for human use]

These are what we call facts. No reason to get upset.

 

[chopper]

I believe postage from there (speedpak) is paid for by the US gov't... one of Obama's deals. The fountain pens in question were $8.00 knockoffs of a $15.00 japanese pen but sold for a $1.00 because the gov't supplements the difference to keep people working. Fortunately the nibs were worth a buck, well made and would fit other pens so not a total loss. I'm suspect they are more expensive in the recent economy.

A new tobacco and cigar store opened in my town. They sell those chinese pipe at significant mark up. I'm not even sure they were wood...they looked like painted plastic and had small chambers with metal linings ... I suspect they were made to look like tobacco pipes but were drug really pipes.

IIRC, countries have a reciprocal agreement re; postage worldwide.
Before USPS refused to handle O/S standard parcels, postage from the U.S. for a parcel weighing less than 2lb was $30usd.
Postal charges from China is so cheap that ebay vendors often offer free postage.

The Chinese pipes to which you are referring, sound very much like the pipes made from what they call a 'composite material' which I believe is a type of plastic.
An American company made pipes from plastic [Nulon?] years ago but they went the way of the dinosaurs for obvious reasons.