Grain Orientation?

[theloniousmonkfish]

"Monk- is there not a smiley missing??"
Why does it got to be missing? Could just be out having a smoke or doing smiley stuff...
Also, yes, everyone who said the stem is right. Get a well made stem for one of your pipes with improperly oriented grain and stop suffering. Or for 50 bucks I'll orient the grain however you want...

 

[pipehunter]

There is NO relationship between grain orientation and smoking qualities, at least as far as I can tell. And the work of some of my favorite pipe makers seems to back that up. Ingo Garbe, who is certainly one of the greatest carvers of traditional pipes doesn't grade his pipes. But in determining his price (which might be a proxy for grade) considers the shape and execution only. A number of other top carvers have stated that their grades are based solely on grain (usually with straight grain being the pinnacle) but that they believe there is no effect on the smoking quality.
That said, I'm a bit fan of birdseye grain. So maybe I have some bias vs. the pricing of straight grain.