Not All Briar is Equal in Smoking Quality

[Briar Lee]

I still smoke a few of my Lees, Kaywoodies, and other pipes but this year I’ve become addicted to smoking ugly Marxman pipes.

Ugly is a relative term, but the average Marxman is ugly compared to other pipes that cost $3.50, $5, or $10 of the same era.

I just bought a Marxman Selected Grain in high condition, and I must say this $2.50 (1940s) bargain pipe is at least as pretty as most Lees and postwar Kaywoodies that cost at least a dollar or dollar and a half more.

But, it doesn’t smoke any better than a Lee or Kaywoodie (which is high praise, really) and doesn’t seem to have the same boldness and whang I’m used to from my ugly Marxman pipes.

It could be the cause is the six inches between my ears. Maybe it needs more break in, the bottom of the bowl was unsmoked.

But I’m convinced not all briar is equal as to smoking quality and the sellers of luxury pipes 80 years ago knew the differences.

A good Marxman is almost a sponge, it’s so soft, nearly impossible to get a pretty smooth finish.

In other words, the more the customer was charged the better smoking pipe he got, at least from Marxman.

Am I alone in this rumination?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Responding just to the title: Of course that is true.

 

[jpberg]

Responding just to the title: Of course that is true.

You’re quite the polite one. I was going to say “no shit”.

 

[jpmcwjr]

As in, "No shit, Sherlock"?

 

[Briar Lee]

More ruminations on highest quality smokers.

Stain is bad. Varnishis worse. The best smokers are a blond shade of tan, and left almost in the rough.

Larger bowls and longer stems are better.

Softer briar is better smoking briar.

And although this aspect is entirely on the maker’s reputation, the longer boiled and longer aged the better.


The best briar almost needs no break in. The saps and oils inside that taint the flavor have been seasoned and aged out.
The extreme porosity of the adequate sized bowl wicks away heat, leaving only a thin and easily removed goo and carbon layer. A good briar colors almost as easily as a good meerschaum.

And if says Marxman, and is a size C or D, and it’s sorta plain and ugly cross grained ( taken from a certain strata of the burl) it’s going to be an incomparably good smoker, every time.

When Bob Marx charged $10 or more for a pipe it was the best smoker possible, and the years only make them better.

 

[VDL_Piper]

It's a tree you know and it has seen droughts, floods, fires and the occasional bit of dogs piss so of course every piece is different.

 

[telescopes]

Van, you just don’t drink the Kool-Aid, you drink the whole pitcher.

When you stated unequivocally that a Lee came from the finest briar and …. I replied that it is a consistently good mediocre pipe. And so it is. Dense and heavy, the pipes seem to absorb the many flaws in their briar and give the smoker a reliably good average smoke.

Marxman are in fact from softer briar and seem to provide a good mediocre smoke that might be considered a bit above average.

I enjoy both my Lees and Marxman pipes but I have no illusion that they are anything but above average mediocre pipes. My
mighty The Four Hundred is a curiosity. Nothing more.

There are better pipes out there. Pipes with much
more attention to workmanship, quality, and craftsmanship. I could never mistake my Castello for a Lee or a Marxman. Ever.

 

[telescopes]

Everything said and done, I am glad someone else enjoys a Marxman. @Briar Lee

 

[Briar Lee]

Van, you just don’t drink the Kool-Aid, you drink the whole pitcher.

When you stated unequivocally that a Lee came from the finest briar and …. I replied that it is a consistently good mediocre pipe. And so it is. Dense and heavy, the pipes seem to absorb the many flaws in their briar and give the smoker a reliably good average smoke.

Marxman are in fact from softer briar and seem to provide a good mediocre smoke that might be considered a bit above average.

I enjoy both my Lees and Marxman pipes but I have no illusion that they are anything but above average mediocre pipes. My
mighty The Four Hundred is a curiosity. Nothing more.

There are better pipes out there. Pipes with much
more attention to workmanship, quality, and craftsmanship. I could never mistake my Castello for a Lee or a Marxman. Ever.

I have no experience with high dollar newer production pipes, except one Italian giant bulldog.

And as John Hornbeck (the model for Sam Drucker on the Beverley Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres) used to say at the Shady Nook Cafe , it’s a good thing men all have different tastes or else every man in the world would want Louise (his wife, who’d smile every time John said it. )

But for appearance a pre war Kaywoodie (especially higher grades) will never again be equalled in factory pipes. A post war Lee and post war Kaywoodie run close to each other until by the five pointed star era Lee the Lee wins.

And any good, well kept briar pipe, is an excellent smoker. Some few are dynamite smokers.

But I’ve sat on my deck tonight and smoked three C sized Marxman pipes (with saddle stems) and if I’ve drank the kool aid I want a bigger cup!.

Most of the Marx mojo pixie fairy dust was the use of sponge soft briar, probably. I think it’s real, if it is or ain’t.

 

[Briar Lee]

Everything said and done, I am glad someone else enjoys a Marxman. @Briar Lee

Marx and Lee competed for the high end.

So did Tracy Mincer, with Custombuilt.

And the 600 pound gorilla in the middle of of it all was KB&B’s Kaywoodie.

What we smoke are the survivors that slept in a drawer.

 

[warren]

Your "subjective" opinion is simply that. You are the judge and jury in such matters. So, be well and enjoy the pipes you find enjoyable.

 

[didimauw]

Someone get this guy a Punto Oro!

 

[Briar Lee]

Part of my fascination with post war $10 pipes, is that my father paid $15 an acre for good crop land in 1944 and then $22.50 an acre in 1948.

Life was sweet after the war on the farm. Somewhere I have receipts from Springfield where in 1950 my grandfather shipped a truck full of hogs and got 28 cents a pound. That works out to an astonishing $3.58 a pound today. The current price of fat hogs is just 61 cents a pound.

They fed his hogs some $1.65 corn, which would be 21.07 corn today. The current corn price is $4.94 per bushel today.

A $10 pipe in 1950 would be $127 today.

And it damned sure would not be a flashy Kaywoodie Flame Grain or a huge Marxman C size Jumbo, no way for $127.

There were lots of $10 pipes sold, when a Grabow was a dollar.

Or else we’d not see them today.

 

[OzPiper]

@Briar Lee
It’s good that you remind us of what things used to cost and also their value relative to other goods

When I was growing up in Malaysia in the ‘50s one could buy lollies for 1 and 2 cents (Malaysian - worth a whole lot less than US 1 cent)
Those coins are not only no more in circulation, they are no longer legal tender.
Such is inflation

 

[telescopes]

@Briar Lee , Van, this morning I am smoking these two pipes. The first is a top notch Dr. Grabow Royalton Bulldog.
The second is a Kristianson Bulldog. The difference in the fit, finish, and craftsmanship of these two pipes, both bulldogs, is undeniable. There is no comparison where they are “equal” other than they are both bulldog pipes.
Even the stem of the Kristianson screams style and craftsmanship Compared to the Grabow. My Kristianson is a lower grade Kristianson. The Grabow is at the top of their line. At some point, the jury is NOT out. It isn’t a hung jury and there is no appeal to a higher court. Out of curiosity, what Law school did you go to in the Caribbean? Just kidding. I always appreciate your insight and thoughts.

 

[Briar Lee]

View attachment 253043
@Briar Lee , Van, this morning I am smoking these two pipes. The first is a top notch Dr. Grabow Royalton Bulldog. View attachment 253044
The second is a Kristianson Bulldog. View attachment 253045The difference in the fit, finish, and craftsmanship of these two pipes, both bulldogs, is undeniable. There is no comparison where they are “equal” other than they are both bulldog pipes.View attachment 253047
Even the stem of the Kristianson screams style and craftsmanship Compared to the Grabow. My Kristianson is a lower grade Kristianson. The Grabow is at the top of their line. At some point, the jury is NOT out. It isn’t a hung jury and there is no appeal to a higher court. Out of curiosity, what Law school did you go to in the Caribbean? Just kidding. I always appreciate your insight and thoughts.

The sheer artistry of high end pipes is undeniable and the most artistic and beautiful pipes are made today,

But they don’t have pre Algerian War briar.

What I’m referring to is only smoking qualities.

With a Kaywoodie, if you paid $3.50 the Drinkless was a beautifully grained pipe. $5 bought a better looking (no better crafted, though) Super Grain. For $10 a Flame Grain had outrageous grain, but made the same.

With a Marxman, except for the Super Briar, more money did NOT buy prettier briar.

It bought usually larger and better smoking briar.

 

[anotherbob]

As in, "No shit, Sherlock"?

yet a few people here insist that anyone who thinks that is crazy.

 

[anotherbob]

I have to admit I like the way Marxmans look. It's so dated so a product of it's time. And it looks like a tool more then a sculpture.

 

[telescopes]

I have to admit I like the way Marxmans look. It's so dated so a product of it's time. And it looks like a tool more then a sculpture.

Marxman pipes are definitely or can be an acquired taste - but so are Custombilts. Algerian briar - did someone say … Dunhill.

But Dunhill was impressed with the sandblasting effect on Algerian briar.

The mind is a curious thing. It sounds like we need a blind tasting.

 

[Briar Lee]

Marxman pipes are definitely or can be an acquired taste - but so are Custombilts. Algerian briar - did someone say … Dunhill.

But Dunhill was impressed with the sandblasting effect on Algerian briar.

The mind is a curious thing. It sounds like we need a blind tasting.

In the late thirties Americans bought 30 million imported briar pipes a year, the vast majority made around New York City.

Kaywoodie advertised 85% of the briar was wasted in making pipes.

The cost of labor was not more than 60 cents an hour. If a skilled hand could turn twenty pipes an hour that’s a nickel a pipe, and the briar and vulcanite would likely been no more cost.

Marx was prospering during the thirties.

His extra hand work to use the softest grade of Algerian briar enabled him to sell pipes for several dollars more than a machine made Grabow and likely not much more cost to make.

I think that soft briar smokes noticeably better.