Regardless of recent events, I've been looking forward to getting my hands on a Briarworks pipe ever since I heard about the company on the Pipes Magazine Radio Show last year.
And here it is!
It's a Corduroy Bent Egg, a little over 5" long, beautiful marbled Acrylic stem (it's hard to translate a white/clear marbling into pictures) and I specifically chose this shape for the deep bow (just under 2"). The cost was $110, which is the cheapest I've ever seen a Briarworks pipe.
To cut to the chase, the engineering is nearly everything I expected.
The draw is probably perfect, I'd say it's halfway between my most restrictive pipe and a Cob, and I love the draw on a cob. Looking at how thin the wall of the air passage in the stem is this pipe is definitely near the limits of how open you can make the draw without making the stem thicker.
It's a little more open than my Savinelli (though that is a bent pipe so I'll have to give a comparison update when my 320 arrives).
The tenon is Teflon, attached by some mechanical wizardry where they first thread it into the stem and then fuse the two materials together. I would say "we'll see if it holds", but I have no doubt the two materials are as good as one piece now. The feel on the tenon is something else, both snug and very smooth, and a distinct lack of squeaking when you twist it on and off.
On the Briarworks website they mention that the tenon is sized almost perfectly with the depth of the mortise, leaving as little space as possible while still allowing for the expansion of the wood after exposing it to moisture.
The start of the air passage is nicely beveled to reduce drag.
Unfortunately the drilling for the draft hole goes partway into the mortise. I've seen this on one other pipe and it greatly annoyed me there as it created some slop in the fit, fortunately this is still solid but I do question whether holes in your mortise should be an acceptable industry standard. At least it's covered when the stem is attached here.
Briarworks also says that tolerances on the tenon and mortise are tight enough to order replacement stems without sending the pipe away for fitting, which is good to know if you're a clencher.
The button on this pipe is very nice, one of the best, though I still prefer the smaller-still Churchwarden buttons this is coming close, and again no Churchwarden will have a draw this open (though I look forward to the day Briarworks takes up the challenge).
The transition from airway to slot here is nicely tapered, a rare thing on a pipe this price, though I have noted looking at translucent Briarworks stems that you can see some pipes only have a normal slot with corners in the transition. I'm sure the draw is almost exactly the same but I prefer the fully tapered transition primarily because it makes it easier to clean, and theoretically it smooths the draw (you wuuld need to ask an aerodynamicist how much).
Moving down one post for more room for images...
And here it is!
It's a Corduroy Bent Egg, a little over 5" long, beautiful marbled Acrylic stem (it's hard to translate a white/clear marbling into pictures) and I specifically chose this shape for the deep bow (just under 2"). The cost was $110, which is the cheapest I've ever seen a Briarworks pipe.
To cut to the chase, the engineering is nearly everything I expected.
The draw is probably perfect, I'd say it's halfway between my most restrictive pipe and a Cob, and I love the draw on a cob. Looking at how thin the wall of the air passage in the stem is this pipe is definitely near the limits of how open you can make the draw without making the stem thicker.
It's a little more open than my Savinelli (though that is a bent pipe so I'll have to give a comparison update when my 320 arrives).
The tenon is Teflon, attached by some mechanical wizardry where they first thread it into the stem and then fuse the two materials together. I would say "we'll see if it holds", but I have no doubt the two materials are as good as one piece now. The feel on the tenon is something else, both snug and very smooth, and a distinct lack of squeaking when you twist it on and off.
On the Briarworks website they mention that the tenon is sized almost perfectly with the depth of the mortise, leaving as little space as possible while still allowing for the expansion of the wood after exposing it to moisture.
The start of the air passage is nicely beveled to reduce drag.
Unfortunately the drilling for the draft hole goes partway into the mortise. I've seen this on one other pipe and it greatly annoyed me there as it created some slop in the fit, fortunately this is still solid but I do question whether holes in your mortise should be an acceptable industry standard. At least it's covered when the stem is attached here.
Briarworks also says that tolerances on the tenon and mortise are tight enough to order replacement stems without sending the pipe away for fitting, which is good to know if you're a clencher.
The button on this pipe is very nice, one of the best, though I still prefer the smaller-still Churchwarden buttons this is coming close, and again no Churchwarden will have a draw this open (though I look forward to the day Briarworks takes up the challenge).
The transition from airway to slot here is nicely tapered, a rare thing on a pipe this price, though I have noted looking at translucent Briarworks stems that you can see some pipes only have a normal slot with corners in the transition. I'm sure the draw is almost exactly the same but I prefer the fully tapered transition primarily because it makes it easier to clean, and theoretically it smooths the draw (you wuuld need to ask an aerodynamicist how much).
Moving down one post for more room for images...
