How Old is the Briar in our Pipes?

[bcharles123]

Just got my Morta pipe and have been pondering what the world was like a few thousand years ago. Did an ancestor ever touch the tree? It's possible.
But how old is Briar? Not just the post harvest curing, shipping and construction, but how long do the trees grow before being dug up? Are we typically talking something that's been on earth since the 19th century? Older? Newer?
And then Meerschuam. Millions of years ago? What was alive? Who ruled the earth? I'm guessing sharks were bad asses then too.
Finally good ole corn cobs! Ten years from growing to on my deck filled with a flake or two?
(Beat that cigar smokers!)

 

[mortonbriar]

The briar burls are harvested at 40-100 years old I believe.
I think the corn cobs are dried for 3 years after being picked?
The sharks gave up on smoking, too many relights.

 

[mso489]

Are briar farmed in any way, like replanted as is done with timber? Or do they have to be found and harvested after self-propegating? Is older briar lighter weight? Better grained? The decrease in pipe sales must have caused a resurgence in the "crop."

 

[prairiedruid]

Actually it's not a tree but a shrub related to heather. Briar for pipes comes from a tuber that is dug up and then cooked to "cure" it for pipes. The tubers take 40-60 years to grow so a long wait if you plant the shrub.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erica_arborea

 

[mso489]

prairie', good link. Thanks. I printed it off for reference.

 

[gloucesterman]

From what I'm told briar is harvested as a wild product from areas where there are very dry conditions making for slow dense growing. For that reason brier takes many years to grow into something big enough to be worth harvesting. Over the years the larger burls have been pretty much taken and today they harvest much younger stock. As to the quality of that briar the statistics suggest it has declined. In the early 1900s GBD estimated that the yield of priemum (flawless)bowls was about 30 to 35%. Today's estimates are about 5% which seems to indicate a decline in quality.

Meerschaum on the other hand is a naturally occurring rock like substance. African deposits have all but been depleted. The few remaining stocks are unable to be mined because of the political instability in Africa. Mediterranean stocks remain pretty healthy at least for the foreseeable future.

I have a Morta pipe on my holy grail list. I really want to experience what they smoke like. Something about fossilized wood seems intriguing.

 

[sablebrush52]

In the early 1900s GBD estimated that the yield of priemum (flawless)bowls was about 30 to 35%. Today's estimates are about 5% which seems to indicate a decline in quality.

You can't attribute that entirely to the quality of the briar. It also has a lot to do with how the wood is processed, and how it is carved. Machine made pipelines produce less flawless firsts because the don't include a "cut down" stage wherein the bowl is reshaped by hand to remove the occasional pit.
As for the age of the briar, a 40 year old burl doesn't mean that all of it is 40 years old. The age of the wood in such a burl is 40 thru 0. The oldest wood is in the exterior plateau and the youngest is in the heartwood. High end pipes are made from the plateau wood. Basket pipes are made from heart wood.

 

[maxpeters]

I don't know. Back in Barling's heyday they believed that you couldn't make a good pipe with briar less that 80-100 years old.

Then back in the '70's I read that it was believed that you needed briar at least 50 years old to make a decent pipe.

I was reading just the other day where a custom pipe maker was advertising that he used briar that was 30 years old! like that was something almost unheard of.

I know that the older the ebauchon, the tighter the grain, and it takes a tight grain to be able to absorb the heat for an extended period of time, like decades.

Maybe what we are getting these days is younger briar that the old time pipemakers would have scoffed at. They just contrast stain it to show off what grain there is, and sell it as something rare and beautiful. Who knows.

I wonder how the pipes being made today will hold up to 50 or more years of smoking. But I guess no one really cares all that much or you would hear a lot more about it. After all, with pipes fetching the prices they do today, I'm sure that the older burls have already been dug up and sold at a premium. Especially in Greece, with all their money problems.

Unless new sources of briar are found, and they can get someone to dig them out, which is another problem I understand, I'm afraid we're stuck with young burls. The unrest in the middle east may make finding new sources hard.

Like I said, I don't know. Just speculating. Maybe some pipe makers on this forum can clarify this?

Also, can curing make up for the young age of the brair? A whole lot of questions.

 

[framitz]

I remember pre Wei Algerian briar being important than there was Algerian war than Grecian briar. If I am smoking a 1947 charatan or dunhill the briar is of a different world. Shel

 

[acutabovebriar]

I feel like i can contribute to the conversation by expelling a few things about the briar cutting process since i am a third gen briar cutter.

In greece the briar business started right afret WW I with merchants from Europe and cutters from Italy coming to Greece to train Greek workers how to cut wood.

Back in 1950 and 1960 it was easier to find plants 100 years and older BUT that did not necessarily meant better end product.

Plateaux cut is something that in Greece started been cut in late 60's and became popular ever since.

The quality of the wood has not declined and there are huge areas that have not been harvested for decades the difference is that now there are more carvers asking for great quality and by quality i mean grain density, and the wood that sawmills can process is limited by human nature and the 24 hours day!

The way the wood is been harvested is through government licensing us to use a specific are and up to a certain amount of Kilos in order to avoid de forestation. This way there is no danger or "running out" of briar;EVER!!!
Also there is no distinction in my mill cutting Ebauchon or Plateaux. Both pieces come from the outer part of the burl since the heart wood is been taken out in the forests before the wood even gets to the gate of the factory.

Regarding grain and how tight it is; its not the age that plays the biggest role in the process but the soil and how dense it is, its consistency and the micro climate in that area
The age that most plants are ready to be harvested at is 30 years and up with the plant, in my experience working with it for 24 years is at its best in 50 years.
my opinion is that a good piece of briar is a good piece of briar and if a tight grained plateaux gets in the hands of a skilled pipe maker then the end piece will be great no matter what. And besides, no one can tell the age of the mother plant from a piece of well grained plateaux. a pipe that smokes well and dry has to do with the drilling and the way the wood was cut, boiled and dried before been turned. Just my .02 !

 

[prairiedruid]

Thanks for the great "hands on" information.

 

[northernneil]

Acutabovebriar, that is some of the best information I have read about briar, ever! Thank you for sharing your first hand experience.

 

[okiescout]

Indeed! Thanks so much for the knowledge, Acutabovebriar.

 

[davet]

acutabovebriar, thanks for the lesson.This answers many questions.

Regarding grain and how tight it is; its not the age that plays the biggest role in the process but the soil and how dense it is, its consistency and the micro climate in that area

This makes sense to me, when I asked why wood from Canada was shipped all the way to the southern U.S. it was explained that the tighter grain from poorer soil, climate and shorter growing season made it more desirable for construction. Very informative, thanks.

 

[gloucesterman]

Some of the most informative material on briar harvesting and processing I've read. Thanks for sharing.

 

[bcharles123]

Thanks great stuff here.
So my fifty year old Hardcastle was probably made from 30-50yr old briar. Given another 5-10 yrs sitting around being cut, curred, sold, in the shop, etc, means that the material in my pipes might have been part of a living thing that witnessed ww1. If it could only talk!

 

[jkrug]

Some very good briar info in this thread for sure! I'd love to see a briar cutting/processing plant some day to see the working in action. ::

 

[bcharles123]

As a P.S., I needed some granite many years ago for a laser experiment. The best stuff for antivibration (dense with uncorrelated bits and peices) is 1 billion years old. I pondered that as well.

 

[sablebrush52]

I don't know. Back in Barling's heyday they believed that you couldn't make a good pipe with briar less that 80-100 years old.

Well, Barling is an interesting case. They conducted their own harvesting, processing and milling operations in Algeria and England and looked for specific characteristics in the wood that they used. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Algerian briar was not considered to be the best quality due to its softness and perceived potential for burnout. But Barling found a way to make superior products from that wood.
Briar from other regions develops differently. No less an authority than Reiner Barbi wrote that ancient wood was unsuitable for making pipes and that the best age range was 35 through 60 years of age. But he was not using the particular Algerian wood that Barling used. His came from other growing regions. Soil and climate varies as do the strains of heath. So you can't really say that wood that is 100 years old is absolutely better than wood that is 50 years old. And how the wood is processed is also critical.

 

[papajoe]

@acutabovebriar:Great post. Thanks