Not All Briar is Equal in Smoking Quality

[anotherbob]

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.

taste is biologically complex. Very psychosomatic it is the product of many systems working in concert and giving most of the credit to the nerves. Though i must say every pipe i have has it's own personality. To the point where i have owned pipes that love blends i normally hate. And the thing to keep in mind is that eating and smoking are not just consumption but experiences. And experiences are when all the little things make a notable whole. Or in other words i should get a marxman soonish.

 

[anotherbob]

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.

Maybe better but certainly sweeter.

 

[telescopes]

. Or in other words i should get a marxman soonish.

A funky looking rusticated Benchmade Marxman can be a thing of beauty. But get it cleaned and given a good ozone treatment. That Algerian briar is like a sponge. A lightly smoked or even a NOS Marxman pipe can still be found. I find that the funky looking ones some better. I have no idea why. Relax with a Marxman.

 

[Briar Lee]

A long weekend of smoking my “bargain” Marxman “Selected Grain” has convinced me the cheaper series was indeed intended to be a $5 or better Super Grain except the particular block of briar was harder, less porous, than grading standards, or else they could tell it wasn’t as seasoned as it should be.

Smoking this over a dozen times after removing the varnish has done it a world of good. It’s noticeably darker, and seems to have “sweated” out whatever caused it to not taste like higher grades.

This morning a bowl of Velvet has that robust whang a good Marxman ought to have.

Or maybe I’m imaging it should.

 

[Hillcrest]

In today's world, Is there a significant difference in quality, taste, etc. between a Savinelli System pipe and a Peterson System pipe or is it only personal preference or luck of the draw to pardon a pun ?

 

[Briar Lee]

In today's world, Is there a significant difference in quality, taste, etc. between a Savinelli System pipe and a Peterson System pipe or is it only personal preference or luck of the draw to pardon a pun ?

The last brand new, unsmoked Grade 1 Nording I bought was a perfect thing of sheer beauty, and almost unsmokable for a dozen bowls. It’s been thirty years since I got such a “green” pipe, that was torture to break in, and that was a “basket pipe”.

Every authority on pipes I’ve read tells me raw briar needs boiled and seasoned, to make a good pipe.

That was as true 85 years ago as it is today. Today all good briar is still boiled but not all is well seasoned.

Old, large Algerian briar was (and still would be) soft and spongy and hard to machine, but likely easy to carve.

I think Marx used very old (in 1934) supplies of the cheapest, softest briar not suitable for modern machine made pipes.

He might have further boiled and seasoned his briar stock.

But he couldn’t have used oil curing on the natural pipes. They came too light colored and any oil colors them.

 

[telescopes]

In one of Marx’s catalogs that I have, it shows the rigorous machining that the pipes underwent in his factory.

 

[Briar Lee]

In one of Marx’s catalogs that I have, it shows the rigorous machining that the pipes underwent in his factory.

A Marxman —- any of them—- is different than other factory pipes.

How he made them distinguished from others was the soft, light colored, Algerian briar he used.

There was such a thing as a “Marxman Taste.”

 

[Peter Turbo]

A little bird told me Castello Pipes has the best briar in the world at the moment.

 

[tobakenist]

I agree whole heartedly with the OP, I have expensive pipes in my collection and some just don't smoke good, some so bad that I would never pass them on, I have some plain very old made in England or London no names that I have picked up in job lots and some are my favourites, I have one called Captain Black that I keep in the same box as one of my Dunhill's as I is a exact same size and shape, the Dunhill is Shell but the Captain is a beautiful grained smooth, when I pull the box open, which do I pick ? 9 times out of ten the Captain, and it cost a fraction of what the Dunhill did, the Captain is just good Briar.

 

[Briar Lee]

No matter what nation it was harvested, the burl root of a heath shrub is botanically the same

Different soil and weather conditions are a variable.

How the burl is boiled and seasoned is a huge factor.

But how porous the briar is I believe is the greatest factor.

Marx figured it out, and nailed it in 1934.

 

[telescopes]

Marx figured it out, and nailed it in 1934.

Alfred Dunhill would have something to say about that. The link below is an excellent read on the subject and contains links to the patterns that were filed. A Look Into The Sasieni Oil Curing Method :: British Pipes - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/a-look-into-the-sasieni-oil-curing-method.37849/

 

[pepperandjack]

Dave Neeb has two Barlings for sale, both pre-transition but one designated a "Fossil." It has to be almost 20 years ago, but what I read praised a certain segment of Barlings to the stars. Are the pre-transition pipes those customarily lauded? What does "fossil" mean?

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Put $2.50 in an inflation calculator and that pipe would cost $42 today.
So a common Artisan pipe today (e.g. Radice, Ser Jacopo) would have cost over $10 in the 40's.

 

[sablebrush52]

The best quality briar is the one you most enjoy smoking.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I do believe the topic as stated is more than satisfactory answered.