Interesting, I did not know that anyone was still working American briar. As I understand it, it can be toxic if not cured properly. I've never actually smoked any of mine as most are unsmoked and I intend to keep them that way. I wouldn't mid having a new one to smoke.
Where in northen DE are you? I used to spend a lot of time in Bremerhaven. Now I'm usually in Wofertschwenden or Breidenbach. I never miss an opportunity to go to Pheifen Huber in Munich or Peter Heinrich's in Cologne, two of my all time favorite pipe shops.Happy smokes from Northern Germany and welcome to this fine forum.
Bremerhaven is not new to me, I live in a little town at the Weser just outside of Bremen.
If you find yourself near Cologne I highly recommend Heinrichs. Make sure you have some time though, there's a LOT of pipes there.
I barely leave the county and my focus lays more on the tobacco and what I can do with it. I follow some eBay pipe auctions for briar pipes but try to get more clay ones at the moment. There is this "pipe studio" in Bremen, not far from the main train station. I'd like to visit that place, apparently you can even sit down there with a good drink and sample some tobacco.
