November 2013 Visit To Briary In Birmingham (Pics & Links)

[bobpnm]

I recently spent a week working in Birmingham, Alabama. While there, I visited the Briary which is actually in a Birmingham suburb called Homewood. It isn't easy to find but it is worth it. The Briary is in an old white house converted to a tobacconist's shop selling premium cigars, pipes and pipe tobacco. One of the rooms is a smoking lounge and the front porch looks like a great place to smoke too!
I can also recommend Dreamland Bar-B-Que for great ribs!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFoQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.urbanspoon.com%2Fr%2F45%2F490298%2Frestaurant%2FSouthside%2FDreamland-Bar-B-Que-Birmingham&ei=TXeKUvvCE4Tr2QXz5IGgCQ&usg=AFQjCNHcKwrRoZKAM1S6MBDRoPJfmjPTLg&sig2=UB5ksxHnF86771FePckkVA&bvm=bv.56643336,d.b2I
And Saw's Barbeque where I had grits, smothered in collards, smothered in pulled pork!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CEcQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.urbanspoon.com%2Fr%2F45%2F1446818%2Frestaurant%2FBirmingham%2FSaws-BBQ-Homewood&ei=RHiKUrhRyKjbBf_5gegL&usg=AFQjCNGWSU12k8AmHbEEV_kGKO_sMIclpQ&sig2=M_2r9IrX01Evo4DUZxpiDg&bvm=bv.56643336,d.b2I
Here are pictures of my visit and the pipes I bought!



Me with Briary staff, Mark and John!


Beautiful Jirsa! Approximately group 4 in size. Very light weight. Smokes great!


Beautiful Northern Briars! Approximately group 4 size. Extremely light for it's size. Smokes great!

 

[dervis]

It is a great place will be going back myself next week actually. Glad you had a good time and thanks for the pics!

 

[gtclark]

Great pics!
On a side note: Good grief man, how tall are you!? Or are the Briary employee's just short?

 

[pitchfork]

I applaud the Briary for being open-minded and hiring these guys. Even thought they're only about 4 feet tall, I bet they still do a great job.

 

[pitchfork]

As a native North Carolinian, I take condescending pity on the poor folks of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida who have never had the chance to eat decent barbecue. But this stuff from Saw's looks like it might almost pass muster.

 

[docwatson]

Bobpnm,

A man of your stature is deserving to smoke a Magnum Pipe. Big Guy, Big Pipe. Go for it!!!! :D
I have seen advertising for the Briary and would love to visit some day, it looks like a fine establishment. Thanks for sharing the details of your trip, and congrats on the acquisition of two fine briars.

 

[bobpnm]

Pitch, I spent some time up around Kinston and Greeneville, North Carolina. I am a fan of North Carolina Bar-B-Que. I loved going to what the folks there called "pig pickings"! Both Dreamland and Saw's had more of a vinegar based sauce than I would have expected.
As for the height of the fine gentlemen working at the Briary, their knowledge and customer services stands tall compared to anyone!

 

[pstlpkr]

Hey Bob!

If you shook hands with "Farmer" John, I hope you counted your fingers before you left. :nana: :D

Bought my first pipe from Skip's Dad, and have known John and Mark since they joined Skip and his wife.

You didn't happen to have any "Torpedo Juice" while you were there, did you?

If not... You missed out. :crying:

The Briary has been my B&M since the mid-seventies.

::

 

[pitchfork]

That's great, Bob. Well said.

 

[bobpnm]

Lawrence, thanks for posting the link to The Briary. Don't know why I didn't think to do it. By the way, my wife was quite taken with the Vulcan. When she gets home, I'm to post one of the pictures she took from the base of the statue just for you. Think back to a comment I recall you posting some time ago regarding a "moon" over Homewood!

 

[yazamitaz]

Looks like a great establishment that has a good stock of baccy and pipes.
Thanks for sharing

 

[mso489]

bobpnm, my late wife (I'm remarried) grew up in Kinston, and I spent a lot of time there between 1976 and 2000,

and ate quite a bit of barbecue too. Now it is home to a world-rated restaurant. Kinston isn't like any other town

of its size. A friend used to call it, "the town without pity," but he was joking.

 

[pstlpkr]

This post to this string is for those of you who don't know or understand the reference to "The Moon Over Homewood".
The World's Largest Cast Iron Statue is a statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge.

Birmingham, being "Little Pittsburgh" nick-named so because of the all of the Iron and steel mills in the area.

During the Civil War, (Near my Mother's home) are the ruins of a cannonball factory (the Irondale Iron Works). There were several in the area, always hidden deep in the woods... for obvious reasons. Birmingham was chosen both for the civil-war cannonball manufacture and for "Modern" Iron and Steel because "nowhere else on the planet could coal and iron ore be dug from the same hole."

Irondale for those who don't speak Southern, that is pronounced.. Ahrn-dale, or for those that actually live there... Ear-Ron-d'lay. :D Old joke.
Further history about the statue itself:

Vulcan's Story
Ladies and Gentlemen...

May I present...

The Moon Over Homewood.

::