My ex was none of the above, though i worked for a small software company in Cambridge MA and we built the original Cabelas site on our software and i was the designer. The good old days.
Ruminations on Why Better Briar Smokes Better
- Thread starter Briar Lee
- Start date
Finally we agree on something. Smoking quality is 90% carver, 10% briar. But I do enjoy looking at a beautiful piece of wood and have no issue paying for that privilege.
The question is: What really makes better briar?
It is gooder than bad briar...The question is: What really makes better briar?
Sorry, but I couldn't disagree with you more. The best carver in the world can't make a good smoking pipe from a poor piece of briar. And, nice straight grain does not make a pipe smoke better. No one really knows for sure why some briar smokes better that other. It seems the age of the wood, how long it was dried, how much sap is in it, and how the maker cured (treated} it are all factors. In the end, making a good smoking pipe is as much art as it is science. If something works well, just do it even if you don't understand why.
To contrast this to reinforce this point (in my head at least), if you take a fresh piece of briar and don’t cure it so it is soft and wet with sap and then hand it to an experienced pipe maker/carver to make a pipe you will have a crappy smoking tasting pipe no matter how much cake or grain is involved. I wouldn’t know because I tend to think the master carver would hand it right back refusing to tarnish his reputation with such a piece of briar. It seems even experienced pipe makers know how important aging and curing briar is. Maybe. I’m just thinking out loud and may be way off base.Sorry, but I couldn't disagree with you more. The best carver in the world can't make a good smoking pipe from a poor piece of briar. And, nice straight grain does not make a pipe smoke better. No one really knows for sure why some briar smokes better that other. It seems the age of the wood, how long it was dried, how much sap is in it, and how the maker cured (treated} it are all factors. In the end, making a good smoking pipe is as much art as it is science. If something works well, just do it even if you don't understand why.
And the search for proff of intelligent life in the universe goes on.
Sorry, but I couldn't disagree with you more. The best carver in the world can't make a good smoking pipe from a poor piece of briar. And, nice straight grain does not make a pipe smoke better. No one really knows for sure why some briar smokes better that other. It seems the age of the wood, how long it was dried, how much sap is in it, and how the maker cured (treated} it are all factors. In the end, making a good smoking pipe is as much art as it is science. If something works well, just do it even if you don't understand why.
An age old discussion about briar and a quality smoke. I made a few pipes and visited with others, just one “Danish Master.” Boiling and drying at the Briar mill is critical as is the drying or curing method- oil cured, air cured or processing it to mechanically remove moisture, etc. I do find that briar from different regions have unique characteristics but I can’t determine if that is from the mill, Mother Nature or other processes, i.e., Sardinian, Corsican, other Italian regions, Greek, Algerian, Spanish briar, etc. One of the best smokers I had was an inexpensive one made from a ebauchon and was full bent as opposed to one hand cut from plateaux. I have some very special hand made “collector” pipes that are great smokers and others that pale to my old ebauchon el cheapo. In the end game, the flavor comes from the tobacco through the draft hike and stem. Moisture content, draft hole diameter, etc. counts and the briar shouldn’t interfere which is one of the reasons oil curing is touted by Dunhill and others. I have some 30 year old air cured pleateaux that smokes much different now than it did after just a few years from the mill. Stems and the ever preset discussions around turbulence of air flow abound, as well. Art and aesthetics, as well as, marketing all okay their part. Enjoy the smoke, life is too short for a bad smoke 
More likely to do with the hardening of the briar with age than brand.
It doesn't, a straight unobstructed bore from chamber to slot makes the difference. Once a chamber is carbonized, the pipe material no longer affects the smoke.
i would consider that but I am old enough to have bought some of them new. And did.
Terroir! Plus growing conditions that change, then fine carving and drilling after insanely good curing. These are a few of my favorite things.The question is: What really makes better briar?
Many wouldn't consider 80s Dunhills vintage. Some even say that late 60s Dunhills were the end of their good era. Even still, a new pipe is often made with briar with many years of aging on it.
No raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens?
I think you contradicted yourself several times.Sorry, but I couldn't disagree with you more. The best carver in the world can't make a good smoking pipe from a poor piece of briar. And, nice straight grain does not make a pipe smoke better. No one really knows for sure why some briar smokes better that other. It seems the age of the wood, how long it was dried, how much sap is in it, and how the maker cured (treated} it are all factors. In the end, making a good smoking pipe is as much art as it is science. If something works well, just do it even if you don't understand why.
Read over it three times. Seems pretty straight forward with no contradictions.
Mitchell, eh? That's where I graduated from high school.She was visiting her mother in Mitchell.
I was recently divorced and the saddest man in Cabela’s, sitting there all pitiful, eating a sandwich, on my way to Winner South Dakota and pheasant camp.
I sorta perked up and started smiling a bit, when it dawned on me, she was making conversation.
I almost forgot all about those hairy legged boys waiting for me in Winner.
Finally, I used my best pick up line—
I’ve not been on a date since 1977.
Would you care if I took you and your three children to see a movie somewhere in Mitchell?
I even paid for their lunch.
Don’t you tell me there ain’t no Jesus.
I was about to pay my check and leave when she walked in.
I think the proff is self evident. ?