Does Grain/Orientation Actually Matter?

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Johnny_Pipecleaner

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 13, 2019
583
2,984
Mill Valley, CA
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).
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,790
Humansville Missouri
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).
The older I get, the more I realize there is really nothing new, under the sun.

Men have smoked pipes for five centuries.

Less than two centuries ago, pipe makers discovered the best smoking pipes are made from cured and aged briar.

Try buying a meerschaum lined briar pipe today. It’s difficult.

There’s really never been a military or scientific use for briar pipes. If so then our passion for pipe smoking would be a dreary science, with every aspect researched and perfected down to the smallest degree.

But a whole bunch of different pipe makers, a long time before we were hatched, agreed the best smoking pipes were highly figured straight grains.

A swirling flame grain or Birdseye briar is awesomely beautiful, but straight grain is most highly prized for the best pipes, for a century and a half, and counting.

It likely imparts more briar flavor or absorbs more of the tars, or whatever mysterious reason that only Mediterranean briar, cured and aged, is suitable for the cheapest really good briar pipe ever made.:)
 
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warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,700
16,210
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Does vertical grain make for a better smoke, or is it all about the age/quality of the briar?
If a smoker thinks it matters ... It matters. Also, as mentioned above, if a pipe looks good, appeals to the eye, such certainly affects the smoking experience. So, does it or doesn't it? It's all part of the experience.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,863
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Grain orientation doesn't matter one little bit. You don't smoke grain. Grain is for aesthetic pleasure. Straight grains may be the most desired among grain junkies, but structurally they're not as strong as mixed grain pipes. Carvers don't use rotten briar, briar that smells like your underwear after you've been in them for a week. Assuming the drillings done right the pipe will do its job. The rest is up to the smoker's technique, prepping, packing, moisture levels, etc. 25% equipment, 75% technique.
 
I've not noticed straight grains being, either, more expensive than flame grain or birdseye, nor that they smoke any better. Price seems to be placed upon the overall beauty. And, straight grains smoking better makes absolutely no sense to me. I can't even fathom that heat crossing the threads of grains parallel does anything at all.

Now, I love my straights, but nothing about them compels me to smoke them more than my birdseye. And, I think myself a pretty good judge of my pipe's and my own smoking of them.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,790
Humansville Missouri
The grain seems to be one of the least important factors in my experience as far as the smoking quality of any given pipe.
I agree.

But during the gilded age, of the late 1800s, when briar was expensive and labor was cheap, all the standard pipe shapes we know still today were settled on, and the top briar was straight grain.

Flame or bullseye grain is flashier, but tight straight grain briar pipes brought the most in the marketplace.

They thought it smoked better, or they’d have used something else.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,863
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I agree.

But during the gilded age, of the late 1800s, when briar was expensive and labor was cheap, all the standard pipe shapes we know still today were settled on, and the top briar was straight grain.

Flame or bullseye grain is flashier, but tight straight grain briar pipes brought the most in the marketplace.

They thought it smoked better, or they’d have used something else.
Cutting for grain wasn't a "thing" in the 19th century, except for a brief straight grain fad in the early 1880's among British university kids. More of a 20th century thing. It's called marketing and it surely works.

As for what people thought regarding pipe grain in the 19th century, I'd love to see some records if you have any. Straight grain is more better purdy to some people.
 

craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,767
47,577
Minnesota USA
Try buying a meerschaum lined briar pipe today. It’s difficult.
[/QUOTE]
Not really...
lined briar.JPG

It likely imparts more briar flavor or absorbs more of the tars, or whatever mysterious reason that only Mediterranean briar, cured and aged, is suitable for the cheapest really good briar pipe ever made.:)
Debatable...

There's plenty of evidence that dried, aged briar absorbs very little of anything. Or that is porous enough to "breath".
 

Johnny_Pipecleaner

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 13, 2019
583
2,984
Mill Valley, CA
What I may have failed to convey in my original post when I talked about end grain of a cutting board absorbing FAR more oil, is that I believe it almost certainly absorbs more moisture from the tobacco while smoking.

Again this is not based on any scientific research or experimentation, but if you have a wooden cutting board at home, try for yourself next time you oil it. The end grain soaks up oil as fast as you can apply it, whereas the other sides absorb far less quickly. And inside the bare/new chamber of a pipe with vertical straight grain you can see it is basically the end grain of a board.

But maple boards are not briar, and so nothing is proven here. Just a hypothesis.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,402
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Grain orientation doesn't matter one little bit. You don't smoke grain. Grain is for aesthetic pleasure. Straight grains may be the most desired among grain junkies, but structurally they're not as strong as mixed grain pipes. Carvers don't use rotten briar, briar that smells like your underwear after you've been in them for a week. Assuming the drillings done right the pipe will do its job. The rest is up to the smoker's technique, prepping, packing, moisture levels, etc. 25% equipment, 75% technique.
from my understanding they cost more because they are rarer. Straight grains that is and it fell into that if it's what you want you'll pay more for it since it's harder to find. This created the oh if it costs more it must be better, which is rarely 100 percent true. Could be total bull but that's the story I've heard on this whole thing.
 

Michigan_Bill

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 14, 2021
923
3,419
Macomb County, Michigan
I have a Morgan Bones pipe with quite a straight grain. The way the pipe is finished makes it appear that a potential crack could occur in the side of the bowl due to the grain. However it seems to be fine, and it certainly smokes well. I really like it and if it ever does crack, well that will be my excuse to buy another one.