Pretty Versus Ugly Algerian Briar

[Briar Lee]

The French colonial briar industry in Algeria ended about sixty years ago, with Algerian independence.

After independence the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria forbid briar exports and the Europeans who had managed it left the country. While there still is some local pipe making, and perhaps now some briar exports, the glory days of Algerian briar are long, long gone.

But when Algerian briar was a staple of world briar markets, it was graded.

The most expensive would have been pretty straight grained pieces like this:



This pipe has a fill on the shank, but it’s hard briar, fully polished, and as beautifully straight grained as briar gets.



Contrast that grade with the grade used by Marxman to make a pipe for the American Automobile Association to boost membership rolls.



Or this big Marxman Benchmade with 17 puttied fills and four gouge type carvings used to hide flaws.




I learn something new about pipes, nearly every day.

I think the softer, more spongey, nearly unusable Algerian briar is by far, far and away the best smoking.

My straight grain, or birdseye or cross grain, polished and pretty Algerian briar pipes are all good smokers.

My ugly ones that color brown while you watch it happen, are full of flaws and fills, and soft enough to scratch with a fingernail, are each and every one dynamite smokers, the kind that tempts me to not smoke anything else.

Am I alone believing if you marry an ugly Algerian pipe you’ll be happy all your life?

Or does everybody else chase only the pretty ones?.

 

[milk]

I was noticing on smokingpipes that Ropp has a line of pipes called Algerian Superior that are advertised as having no fills and being made from old Algerian stummels. I don’t intend on buying one but it still peaked my interest.

 

[Briar Lee]

I was noticing on smokingpipes that Ropp has a line of pipes called Algerian Superior that are advertised as having no fills and being made from old Algerian stummels. I don’t intend on buying one but it still peaked my interest.

Maybe it’s all gone now, but for many decades after the Cuban embargo there were legal American market cigars using a percentage of pre 1962 Cuban filler.

In Algeria there had to be warehouses full of briar, that after independence became contraband overnight. It was illegal to export it, and the local attempts at making pipes produced something that looked like this:



Luckily for Algeria, there’s oil there that only requires a well be sunk in the sand.

Otherwise the average wage is $4,000 a year.

99% of the population is Sunni Muslims who do not smoke or drink alcohol, or at least cannot get caught smoking or boozing, which would be bad, you know?

I’m convinced the best smoking Algerian briar was the kind Dunhill had to oil cure and sandblast to use. It was old to the point where it was so soft, it could barely be made into pipes.

Maybe there are old rotting buildings with briar stored there, waiting to be used.

 

[didimauw]

Yup

I was noticing on smokingpipes that Ropp has a line of pipes called Algerian Superior that are advertised as having no fills and being made from old Algerian stummels. I don’t intend on buying one but it still peaked my interest.

Same here! Just wish they had more shape options.

 

[sasquatch]

Those Ropps are great value, I got a tall chimney and for whatever 88 bucks or so it cost, the thing's excellent.

 

[Briar Lee]

Today in the mail I got a large 400 size, saddle bit chunky billiard Marxman (no grade) that was stained dark and left a matte finish. This pipe has black puttied fills all over it. It has incredibly soft briar.

The cake just peeled off, leaving bare briar with no effort. The briar used for this one was powder soft. They probably would have ground thus one to nothing trying to polish it so it’s a dark, stained matte.

It’s a dynamite good smoker.

You want some of these big ugly pipes, and may not know it yet.

 

[crusader]

The Ropps are horrible! Don't buy them! I mean, truly, they are the worst ever.

 

[didimauw]

You certainly buy a lot of pipes you hate! That's a good idea! I think.

 

[mikethompson]

I've always suspected that rustication like the ones you have shown were meant to hide defects in the briar.

 

[milk]

Today in the mail I got a large 400 size, saddle bit chunky billiard Marxman (no grade) that was stained dark and left a matte finish. This pipe has black puttied fills all over it. It has incredibly soft briar.

The cake just peeled off, leaving bare briar with no effort. The briar used for this one was powder soft. They probably would have ground thus one to nothing trying to polish it so it’s a dark, stained matte.

It’s a dynamite good smoker.

You want some of these big ugly pipes, and may not know it yet.

View attachment 207572View attachment 207573View attachment 207574View attachment 207575View attachment 207576

It’s a nicely designed pipe, flaws notwithstanding.

 

[FHlight]

The texture of this pipe is very beautiful.

 

[Briar Lee]

I just won another Marxman for $20 delivered.



These Marxman pipes are always utterly fantastic smokers. They never get hot. Even if the bottom part is unsmoked they don’t taste like briar during break in.

 

[Briar Tuck]

I've always suspected that rustication like the ones you have shown were meant to hide defects in the briar.

For sure. Either rusticate them or wrap them in leather!

 

[mso489]

Some of those deep carved grooves may just be the result of a factory line after the selection process is over, sending the choice briar to the line where the more expensive smooth pipes are carved. Some of those grooved pipes could have been developed by crafts people, but just didn't have instant appeal. Factory lines are all about time efficiency, so even the selection process is done by shortcut. I have an old stinger screw-on stem Drinkless Kaywoodie with the carved grooves. It was matte brown when i bought it, and now it has aged into a lighter reddish stain. There is no sign of flaws or fills. It has noticeably improved with age.

 

[mikethompson]

For sure. Either rusticate them or wrap them in leather!

Or just paint them like Dr. Grabow did with the Color Dukes

 

[milk]

I just won another Marxman for $20 delivered.

View attachment 207743View attachment 207744

These Marxman pipes are always utterly fantastic smokers. They never get hot. Even if the bottom part is unsmoked they don’t taste like briar during break in.

The long story of this pipe begins joyfully but depicts a nadir of dramatic suffering before rays of sunshine at the resurrection.

 

[Briar Lee]

The long story of this pipe begins joyfully but depicts a nadir of dramatic suffering before rays of sunshine at the resurrection.

Here’s another one I just bought for $13 delivered that will live to see the dawn of a resplendent day, when it shall not again be neglected.



I’m getting so spoiled smoking Algerian briar I’m neglecting my Lees, and smoking Marxman pipes instead.

Algerian briar smoked better than all other briar.

It was just hard to work.

 

[milk]

Here’s another one I just bought for $13 delivered that will live to see the dawn of a resplendent day, when it shall not again be neglected.

View attachment 207789

I’m getting so spoiled smoking Algerian briar I’m neglecting my Lees, and smoking Marxman pipes instead.

Algerian briar smoked better than all other briar.

It was just hard to work.

That’s in great shape. Is it a Benchmade? All these pipes needed stems to be cut by hand to fit the stummels? They all seem different and I admire the craftsmanship. This one has survived well. Maybe I’ll smoke my Marxman today. I’ve been suffering with allergies this week which is giving me problems and preventing my enjoyment of smoking.

 

[Briar Tuck]

Or just paint them like Dr. Grabow did with the Color Dukes

Yep, Kaywoodie did the same with the White Briar.

 

[Briar Lee]

That’s in great shape. Is it a Benchmade? All these pipes needed stems to be cut by hand to fit the stummels? They all seem different and I admire the craftsmanship. This one has survived well. Maybe I’ll smoke my Marxman today. I’ve been suffering with allergies this week which is giving me problems and preventing my enjoyment of smoking.

That one is the $3.50 grade Mel-O.

While it sort of looks unsmoked, I think it has been reamed back to bare briar.

I’ve had unsmoked or once or twice smoked Marxman pipes, and every one was light tan color from the factory, with no applied varnish. That Mel-O is in fine shape, but it’s colored brown like every Marxman I own soon does, from smoking .

Here is the color they came.



All through the thirties the $3.50 Mel-O was the bottom grade, and a $3.50 pipe was the price of a Kaywoodie Drinkless, a true luxury item.

I think Marx may have either bought oil cured Algerian briar or he oil cured it at his factory. The pipes are all superb smokers.

When the Algerian War of Independence started Marx cashed in and sold out to Mastercraft.

Marx had some very unusual and artistically carved pipes he sold, and those are relatively expensive today, for the carvings.

But it was the briar, that made a Marxman smoke so well.