Does Grain/Orientation Actually Matter?

[That Guy]

I don't think I've ever really paid it much attention but noticed it now as I'm sitting here enjoying my stanwell it's got some beautiful vertical graining going on. Can't say that makes it Superior or smoke better as I have other pipes I normally grab before reaching for this one.

 

[bullet08]

Smoking pipe holds tobacco so we don't have to hold a fistful of burning ember in our hand. Grain orientation of briar doesn't really get involved in how the tobacco is burnt or smoked.

 

[Briar Lee]

Evidence now suggests that the Native Americans were smoking tobacco in pipes three thousand years ago.

Only to get high, and not in briars.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Evidence now suggests that the Native Americans were smoking tobacco in pipes three thousand years ago.

More recent evidence suggests 12,000 years ago.

Early Tobacco Use in America :: Tobacciana History

Scientific American article From a few tobacco seeds, they speculate that early Americans were smoking or chewing.

pipesmagazine.com

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've heard people say it does, and others say it doesn't. What is your experience?

Other than aesthetics, it does nothing. A clear, unobstructed airway affects the pipe more than its shaping or grain. I love crosscut, sandblasted straight grains but that's just because I like how they look and feel.

 

[telescopes]

Some is marketing. However, one's eye doesn't lie. I have found myself, even as a young man who knew NOTHING about pipes, being drawn to straight grain. It just seemed... shall I dare say... richer.

But, it is my hope that many will read this, take umbrage with it, shoot down my predilection for straight grain, and tell me how it doesn't matter a shits difference.

And why respond so vehemently, so forcefully?

Because it feels so damned good to set someone straight when you are behind the keyboard.

 

[Johnny_Pipecleaner]

If it pleases the court, I would like to present... Exhibit A

'“How does it smoke?” Though the naivety of my question wasn’t yet apparent to me, Duke’s quick answer was a bit glib. “If you think it will be a great smoke, it will be.” '

 

[crashthegrey]

Honestly, grain matters for visual appeal alone. Some like a crosscut for the birdies, some like straight or flame vertical, some like wild mixed Grain. They all smoke similarly. It matters even more for ring Grain on a blast, visually.

 

[telescopes]

I smoked a 1950s Kaywoodie Standard with so so grain today. It was magnificent. In fact, one of my best smokes in four decades..

No hyperbole... true..l

I couldn't believe it.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Does vertical grain make for a better smoke, or is it all about the age/quality of the briar?

I've heard people say it does, and others say it doesn't. What is your experience?

I tend to believe it does matter, but that is based more on my experience with other wood. For example, when I apply mineral oil to my wooden cutting board it soaks up WAY more oil on the end grain than it does on the cutting surface (face grain).

Products - Puuinfo

www.woodproducts.fi

Wood is about 2x more thermally conductive in the orientation of the grain, striaght grain will be more insulating than birdseye, but then you want to make sure a straight grain pipe has a thick heel.

 

[telescopes]

I suppose an argument can be made that the Golden Ratio is just all about marketing.

 

[telescopes]

This may be a bit off topic, but how does one get themselves banned from a fairly active website after having been a member since 2005? It certainly wouldn't be arguing about grain.

Or maybe, it might.

 

[Briar Lee]

Products - Puuinfo

www.woodproducts.fi

Wood is about 2x more thermally conductive in the orientation of the grain, striaght grain will be more insulating than birdseye, but then you want to make sure a straight grain pipe has a thick heel.

Why doesn’t this explain how, a true straight grain is a better smoker?

We all know it’s not a huge advantage, but twice the thermal conductivity is an advantage.

One other potential advantage is that briar does have a flavor, and that flavor comes from oils in the root. The darker parts should have more oils.

Whiskey does circulate in a charred white oak barrel. It goes in clear, and comes out amber.

Does a pipe with a blackened chamber wall, somehow circulate flavor from the walls to the tobacco if the walls are the end grain?

 

[anotherbob]

Some is marketing. However, one's eye doesn't lie. I have found myself, even as a young man who knew NOTHING about pipes, being drawn to straight grain. It just seemed... shall I dare say... richer.

But, it is my hope that many will read this, take umbrage with it, shoot down my predilection for straight grain, and tell me how it doesn't matter a shits difference.

And why respond so vehemently, so forcefully?

Because it feels so damned good to set someone straight when you are behind the keyboard.

where as I have always found it the blandest of grains.

 

[SmokeClouds]

In my experience, grain orientation doesn't play a role in the performance of a pipe. However, some straight grain pipes look very beautiful and we all can convince ourselves, if persistent enough, that aesthetic attraction equals higher quality.

 

[daveinlax]

Just finding finding a pipe with clean wood is rare but finding a clean pipe with truly straight grain is amazingly rare and expensive. Over the years I'm amazed at what guys post as straight grain. I've owned probably over 600 pipes and I've had only two or three that were a true symmetrical 360 straight grain that was not a Dublin.

 

[anotherbob]

where as I have always found it the blandest of grains.

for instance I find birds eye very mesmerizing and playful to gaze at.

 

[Briar Lee]

Just finding finding a pipe with clean wood is rare but finding a clean pipe with truly straight grain is amazingly rare and expensive. Over the years I'm amazed at what guys post as straight grain. I've owned probably over 600 pipes and I've had only two or three that were a true symmetrical 360 straight grain that was not a Dublin.

I keep telling my wife a couple or three hundred pipes really isn’t excessive, and here’s a man with a good start on having enough pipes.

May I ask, in all seriousness, what is clean wood?

I’ve always thought most unstained, natural briar doesn’t show much grain.

Are there some kind of dirt, or impurities that cause that?

I learn something new here, every day.

 

[daveinlax]

May I ask, in all seriousness, what is clean wood?

No Pits, No Fills, No Briar "Stabilization" or whatever they call the tricks with Glue and Saw Dust.

 

[pappymac]

This may be a bit off topic, but how does one get themselves banned from a fairly active website after having been a member since 2005? It certainly wouldn't be arguing about grain.

Or maybe, it might.

Someone got banned?