Plateau or Heart Wood -- Which Smokes Better?

[pitchfork]

On another forum, recently, there was a discussion about the difference between briar used today and briar from the 70s and earlier. One of the points made was that since makers cared less about grain back then, good pipes were more likely to be made from heart wood, from the center of the burl. While its grain is very fine and tight, heart wood is not often strikingly beautiful like the outer plateau cuts.
I'm wondering if anyone knows whether the tighter grained heart wood smokes any different from a pipe made from straight grain plateau briar, however beautiful. Are we missing out on some great smoking pipes by favoring straight grain?

 

[mkelaw]

IMHO the one that will smoke better is the one that is properly made in terms of draw, continuity of draw, chamber shape, wall thickness, drilling accuracy. Also, balance, overall weight and bit thickness will affect overall enjoyment of a certain pipe. Straight grain or cross grain preference is a matter of aesthetics rather than smoking quality.

 

[teufelhund]

From a physical standpoint the heart wood would be considered more durable and distribute less conductive heat, but the variation in temperature doesn't make for a cooler smoke. It would mean that potentially you could smoke your bowl hotter incurring less damage, but also without realizing from a feel that it is too hot and thereby making for a bad smoke.

 

[mso489]

pitchfork, thank you for raising this question and explaining it well. I didn't see the original post, but

I consider this a useful part of my pipe education, and I'm no newbie. I have pipes from the 1970's.

I would say they are mid-level pipes and may well be made from heart wood. The fact they have lasted

this long speaks well for them, and they are competitive in smoking qualities with the best pipes I have

bought in recent years, some fairly nice ones. I wonder if the heart wood is still used, perhaps in mid-level

pipes. I have mostly those, and they seem to smoke above their price levels, if you get my drift.

 

[pitchfork]

mso489, it was actually pipe maker and Forums member, Sasquatch, who made this point. It had never occurred to me either, before he brought it up.
As far as I know (and Dave Neeb, above, would know better than I), almost all of the burl is still used, but most high-grade makers are looking for straight grain and use blocks cut from the outer edge (i.e., plateau briar). Dunhill, for example, almost never has straight grain pipes, and I think they use ebauchon blocks as often as plateau.
http://www.briarsweatandtears.com/index.php/previous-pipes

 

[petergunn]

there was a discussion about the difference between briar used today and briar from the 70s and earlier. One of the points made was that since makers cared less about grain back then, good pipes were more likely to be made from heart wood, from the center of the burl. While its grain is very fine and tight, heart wood is not often strikingly beautiful like the outer plateau cuts.

If what is proposed is accurate then did the lesser brands get the Plateau? It has been my belief that sandblast pipes are made of heart wood if so has that remained constant over the years? My buying habits have been to focus on blast and Birdseye as a guide to good wood.
Man's relationship with wood and how we have learned to use it has always fascinated me and naturally that fascination transfers into my love of good pipes but real information on briar seems to something I can't get a handle on.

 

[pitchfork]

If what is proposed is accurate then did the lesser brands get the Plateau?

Maybe I should have said that good pipes were equally likely to be made from heart wood as from plateau. Although, maybe "more likely" would be accurate, depending on the size of the burl. Of course, I'm someone who has never even held a burl or block of briar in his hands, so this is all very abstract and academic from my standpoint.
I can't even begin to speculate on the issue of sand blasts, but it's an interesting question. It is well known, however (or at least it is conventional wisdom), that the old, craggy Dunhill Shells were made from different (softer) briar than were the other finishes. I don't know if any consideration was given at all as to where in the burl the blocks came from.
Again, as far as I'm aware, most manufacturers just didn't worry too much about grain. So, blocks from the outer rim of the burl were used, but were they cut as "plateau blocks," i.e., the sort likely to yield straight grain and/or ring blasts? That's probably another question altogether.
EDIT: OK, I checked the other thread in question and Sasquatch said that "the vast majority" of pipes made c. 50 years ago were from the heart wood rather than the more exciting plateau section of the burl. He also referred to the part of the burl with nice grain as "sap wood." Is there a logical reason for that? I don't know! But if it's sappier and less dense, will it give as good a smoke?

 

[petergunn]

^thanks for sharing this info and it doesn't really surprise me in that with the growth of the Artisan pipe trade aesthetics has become the focus of the market, but for just a Smoker (like me) the question becomes do I need to pay for aesthetics to get a quality smoke?
would you Pm me a link to the forum you referred to?

 

[pitchfork]

would you Pm me a link to the forum you referred to?

Done.

 

[peter70]

The late Rainer Barbi always explained, that the amount of the soft parts of the wood, which is more absorbent, is a measure of the smokeability of a pipe. He called it fill wood. When we regard the whole briar burl as a ball, and the hard parts of the wood as rays coming from the center, we can see, that the amount of fill wood increases at the rim, from which the plateau is taken. Obviously there are pipes, which are from the center, which smoke perfectly. It could be, that the burl grew in a way, that at this point, a lot of fill wood was present. Or Barbi was wrong and it has nothing to do with it. Anyway, every pipe is a surprise package. You do not know, how it will smoke, before you light it.
Best regards,

Peter

 

[pitchfork]

peter70, that's very interesting. Barbi's theory makes good intuitive sense in any case.