Greek Olive Pipe - Don't Get Cheaper!

[DKpiper]

Want to share a little fun story.
Last year on holiday in Rhodes, Greece, I found a little lokal shop who had a sale on pipes.
I bought this poker pipe for 10 euro = 10,82 USD.
The bowl is olive and the stem (I think) is beech. I've never seen anything like this before, so I had to buy it.
It was only meant as a souvenir - and I had no plans for smoking it.
Last week I took it out of the pipecabinet and thought "why not"!
Now about 10 bowls in - and I'm surprised. It takes a 9 mm filter and are perfectly drilled. It smokes cool and dry.
Sometimes one can be positively surprised.

 

[Deano]

Ive never bought one but the olive wood is pretty.

 

[reloader]

That's a good looking pipe. And since it smokes great keep on puffing!

 

[anotherbob]

I like that but even from a looks department I can see why briar is more standard. Or in other words that's a great lil pipe and I think I can see why briar is considered a more interesting material for pipes. Side note ever see the mountain laurel pipes? Supposedly they are like briar but look sadly boring.

 

[olkofri]

Just don't do the "water cleaning method" on it and you'll be fine.

 

[mso489]

That's a handsome little customer. I like the two-tone woods. I don't think olive is quite as long-lived as briar, but if you have a few more pipes, it will probably wear well. I'm impressed with the little MM hardwood pipes that cost almost nothing but are attractive and smoke quite well.

 

[Deano]

I like that but even from a looks department I can see why briar is more standard. Or in other words that's a great lil pipe and I think I can see why briar is considered a more interesting material for pipes. Side note ever see the mountain laurel pipes? Supposedly they are like briar but look sadly boring.

I thought briar was most used for resistance to heat and burning?

 

[jpberg]

I’ve had a couple olive wood pipes. My only caution would be that the heat will affect them much differently than briar.

 

[DKpiper]

Thank you all for the comments and the likes.
Just to clarify: I have a lot of other pipes - Savanelli, Dunhill, Peterson, Stanwell, Altinay meershaums and more.
Just for fun I let this olivepipe be in my rotation for two weeks - just to try it out.
I have no intention about smoking it regularly
My post should just show, that you actually can get a pipe, which smoke pretty well, for almost no money - and I think it was a fun experience.

 

[OzPiper]

You can get beautifully grained olive wood pipes
Being somewhat softer than briar, you need a bit more care breaking them in.
Olive wood pipes (being unstained) will darken with use, much like unstained briar.
Some report getting "olive flavours" with their initial bowls.
I have not experienced this with either of my 2 olive wood pipes.
I wonder if the "olive taste" some report is associated with olive wood that has not been cured sufficiently.

My olive wood pipes on background of an olive burl cheese board.
Top: Mario Cascia
Bottom: Davorin Denovic

 

[DKpiper]

You can get beautifully grained olive wood pipes
Being somewhat softer than briar, you need a bit more care breaking them in.
Olive wood pipes (being unstained) will darken with use, much like unstained briar.
Some report getting "olive flavours" with their initial bowls.
I have not experienced this with either of my 2 olive wood pipes.
I wonder if the "olive taste" some report is associated with olive wood that has not been cured sufficiently.

My olive wood pipes on background of an olive burl cheese board.
Top: Mario Cascia
Bottom: Davorin Denovic

View attachment 196410View attachment 196411

They are very nice pipes. Maybe I should consider bying a "high end" olivepipe

 

[OzPiper]

They are very nice pipes. Maybe I should consider bying a "high end" olivepipe

Thank you.
I bought them a few years ago when I got back to smoking pipes and became interested in materials other than briar and meerschaum.
I won the Mario Cascia on EBay with an embarassingly low bid. I contacted Mario and paid him what I considered to be a fair price for that pipe.

 

[bullet08]

I thought it would be dark black/blue color, possibly sandblasted, and have a pit in the middle. A bit salty during a smoke too. Greek olive..

 

[OzPiper]

I thought it would be dark black/blue color, possibly sandblasted, and have a pit in the middle. A bit salty during a smoke too. Greek olive..

Well, you could do an olive oil curing

Perhaps that's where the olive flavour comes from
Peppery and grassy if it's Tuscan, fruity if Spanish and full-flavoured if Greek

 

[Coreios]

I like the looks of it. Glad it smokes well for ya.

 

[anotherbob]

I thought briar was most used for resistance to heat and burning?

That from my understanding is reason number one but reason number two is just how freaking sweet it looks.

 

[anotherbob]

You can get beautifully grained olive wood pipes
Being somewhat softer than briar, you need a bit more care breaking them in.
Olive wood pipes (being unstained) will darken with use, much like unstained briar.
Some report getting "olive flavours" with their initial bowls.
I have not experienced this with either of my 2 olive wood pipes.
I wonder if the "olive taste" some report is associated with olive wood that has not been cured sufficiently.

My olive wood pipes on background of an olive burl cheese board.
Top: Mario Cascia
Bottom: Davorin Denovic

View attachment 196410View attachment 196411

wow those are really beautiful. I could stare at those for quite a long while.