Morta Pipes Experiences?

[epazikas]

Does anybody here have tried and own a Morta Pipe? Is it better ans what about the differences regarding Morta Pipes and the regular briar ones?
Any recommendations on how to recognize a real Morta pipe when ordering online?
Thank you, Ed

 

[Sigmund]

It does have a certain look but most people selling a morta pipe will know it. They havent been around all that long for smokers families to find them in a drawer and sell them as estates. The brief time I have been on this forum I have read a number of bad experiences with them cracking. Thus far Im not convinced there is a big up side over briar or meer.

 

[OzPiper]

Yes, I have a few.
The grain pattern is quite distinctive, so they are easily identified.
There is a good thread - “Show Us Morta Pipes” with lots of photos and names of producers.

It’s an opportunity to have a pipe made from a material several thousand years old.
They do smoke differently to briar - they are lighter, heat up faster, but then they cool faster than briar.
They can crack or develop burnouts if the block is faulty.
Some say they can detect a sulphurous taste If the pipes are not yet broken in/ develop a cake

I have not had any significant problems with mine in general.

Are they better than briar ?
Not in my opinion.
Just different.

Disclaimer: I did a lot of research before buying my mortas.

 

[pylorns]

Davorin Denovic (Coatia) Golden Morta - which the color indicates age from what I understand so its a bit younger of a piece.

I also have a Ryan Alden Black Morta with a white stem and a Briarworks Morta pipe.

 

[epazikas]

It does have a certain look but most people selling a morta pipe will know it. They havent been around all that long for smokers families to find them in a drawer and sell them as estates. The brief time I have been on this forum I have read a number of bad experiences with them cracking. Thus far Im not convinced there is a big up side over briar or meer.

Thanks for sharing ….

 

[epazikas]

Yes, I have a few.
The grain pattern is quite distinctive, so they are easily identified.
There is a good thread - “Show Us Morta Pipes” with lots of photos and names of producers.

It’s an opportunity to have a pipe made from a material several thousand years old.
They do smoke differently to briar - they are lighter, heat up faster, but then they cool faster than briar.
They can crack or develop burnouts if the block is faulty.
Some say they can detect a sulphurous taste If the pipes are not yet broken in/ develop a cake

I have not had any significant problems with mine in general.

Are they better than briar ?
Not in my opinion.
Just different.

Disclaimer: I did a lot of research before buying my mortas.

Interesting, but shouldn’t it be many in the market out there which are made to look like old? I would imagine that it is not common nor easy to fin prehistorical woods and if one does it would cost a fortune? Or am I incorrect?

 

[epazikas]

Davorin Denovic (Coatia) Golden Morta - which the color indicates age from what I understand so its a bit younger of a piece.

I also have a Ryan Alden Black Morta with a white stem and a Briarworks Morta pipe.

Looks awesome….

 

[tbradsim1]

Becker bought many years ago, light, smoke cool, one was 5000 yrs carbon dated.

 

[woodsroad]

I have two morta pipes, both made by Juan Urquiza. I love ‘em. They are lightweight and I never fret over scorching the rim, since you can’t see it That makes them good car pipes, since you can clench and light without looking. I also find that they don’t retain sour aromas as briars will.

 

[woodsroad]

Interesting, but shouldn’t it be many in the market out there which are made to look like old? I would imagine that it is not common nor easy to fin prehistorical woods and if one does it would cost a fortune? Or am I incorrect?

The morta wood is neither rare or expensive, compared to briar.

More Info

 

[tbradsim1]

Mine cost in the neighborhood of 600$, for the cost it was reasonable.

 

[woodsroad]

My morta pipes were not priced a significant premium over good briar. I think that the relative scarcity of extant morta pipes is due more to demand than supply.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I only own one but with the exception of being an interesting material, it's really no different than any other pipe. I'll likely not buy another. Not terribly scarce, many carvers won't deal with it as it's easily cracked when being worked.

Andrey Kharitonov
$150

 

[PaulRVA]

Davorin Denovic

 

[MGAOKC]

My Morta looked great and had a good draw.
Smoked it 4 time, and smoked very cool.
All the sudden on the 5th smoke it burnt out.
Was the first pipe I ever had that burnt out.
And I have tons of pipes.
The carver made me another one no problem.
I don’t think they are as tough as people think.
Broke the second pipe in very slowly and it done well so far.

 

[dottlejockey]

I've had a couple. One Davorin and one Grandi. Both smoked great. The grandi pickaxe, though a looker, just had a little too shallow a bowl for my preference and i recently sold it. The other is a chunky pipe, both of which i used exclusively for the few lat blends i smoke on occasion. I like how they seem to highlight those tobaccos well.

The Grandi:


The Davorin:

 

[kcghost]

I had one that was made by Nate King. a fine American carver. It smoked fine, but ended up being a little heavy for me and my style of smoking so I sold it on eBay.

 

[craig61a]

I have several.

They are made from oak logs that have sat in a bog for thousands of years. The wood becomes mineralized. But, being a hardwood pipe for all intents and purposes, they can char easily if you’re not careful.

The wood itself will dull tooling somewhat faster than carving a briar, due to the mineral content.

Several years ago when I first looked into these, the prevailing wisdom was to keep any cake out of these, or they could crack. Treat it like a Meerschaum… I haven’t found that to be the case. In fact, a cake is necessary to keep the chamber from charring so easily IMHO, as with any hardwood pipe. To paraphrase Capt. Willard from Apocalypse - The BS piled up so fast on the interwebs…

They are cool looking. There is a musty, boggy taste at first.

The cost of getting equipment out in a bog somewhere to yank these out, the extended dry time which requires close monitoring so the wood doesn’t crack, and relatively low yield of blocks is what drives the price up.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I have a pipe from a Vietnamese carver with interchangeable bowls—unfortunately, the Morta one cracked on the second use. Getting a replacement isn’t an option, so I’ll be patching it with refractory cement. It makes me a bit gun shy on pulling the trigger on another pipe made with Morta.

 

[tobakenist]

I have one, doesn't make any difference, once cake builds up, what does it matter what wood it is made off ? On this forum there is many people that have bought cheap Chinees pipes and say they smoke great, what wood they are made off ? I don't know, too much snobbery about Briar, I have many Ropp Cherry wood pipes and they smoke great, I have over 100 Petersons and a few Dunhill's and many Meerschaums and many more makes, they all smoke great, the only pipes I can't smoke are Dutch porcelain Pipes, love Calabash pipes.