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The headline for pipe manufacturer "Scott's Pipes" on Smokingpipes.com makes some bold claims, that they can make accessible and affordable pipes of similar quality to Scott's own personally handcrafted pipes.
Of course retail pictures would never tell the whole story, so after seeing a pipe in a shape I like, and at a reasonably affordable price, I decided to roll the dice and see for myself.
When it seems like 99% of pipes these days have almost exactly the same standards of drilling in the stem, no matter what price you pay (within my collection the Ser Jacopo, Radice, and Ashton pipes are all restricted to a 3mm draft hole through the stem, as are virtually all factory made pipes), I was highly skeptical about whether or not this $80 pipe would actually provide any meaningful improvement over what you get with a basic $46 Rossi.
Color me surprised.
General aesthetics are, generally quite pleasing.
Not an exceptional sandblast but far from the worst, good fine details but mostly shallow depth, par for the course here.
There is no gap in the fit of the shank to stem, so fit and finish is about as good as I've seen on any pipe (and to be honest still better than some much more expensive pipes).
Now for the meat and potatoes.
Aerodynamics.
Is the draft hole drilled to the slot?
Yes, you can see the drilling for the main draft hole extends well into the slot.
But just hitting the slot with your draft hole is the bare minimum for an acceptable pipe stem, airflow doesn't have much chance to change from round to flat if that transition is limited to the last 5mm of the stem.
So how deep is the slot?
Very deep.
Looking at the shadow of a pipecleaner you can see the slot was carved out about 15mm or 5/8" into the stem.
The depth of the slot is one of the biggest improvements that can be made in the draw of a pipe.
There is a slight chamfer on the tenon, not as clean as some but it's still there.
Probing the airway I'd guess the main drilling is 9/64" or 3.5mm diameter, though it does taper to less than 1/8" or 3.175mm as a drill bit that size only reaches partway through the stem.
Either they are using a tapered drill bit or they drill to 3.5mm partway and then step down to 3mm.
(Looking down the shaft the shadow in the airway is some swarf, unfortunately air blockages like those are all too common even if it's not technically a design flaw. I feel like factory pipes should all have the airway cleaned with a small wire brush as a finishing step).
Even though the slot and wide draft hole have been shaped to a very high standard, in a perfect world I would like to see both extended just a bit further. Right now there is a tiny length of the airway where the 3.5mm bore and the slot do not intersect, it's nitpicking to point it out but it has to be said.
Regardless, the overall effect of the drilling is not lost, air changes density much more easily than fluids like water so the draw on this pipe is still much easier than almost any other factory pipe that isn't a Missouri Meerschaum (the basic 80 cent plastic stems from Missouri Meeschaum have a HUGE airway that is meticulously designed for consistent airflow).
If you want a similar draw from another brand of Briar pipe in this price range, to my knowledge the only equivalent is Briarworks.
Overall there are a lot of similarities between the two companies and it's great to see the competition.
I'd have to give the edge to S. Klein right now though because Briarworks doesn't sell any equivalent to this pipe below $100. I have a cheaper Briarworks pipe and it's still a 3mm bore and basic slot, moving up in price I have a Briarworks "Icarus" from six years ago that is produced to very similar standards to what is seen here.
I assume the $50 pipes from Scott's Pipes would not be given the same attention to detail, but this "S. Klein Design" hits a nice middleground between the cheapest pipes and the Scott's Pipes "Handcrafted" line.
The shank is drilled to 4mm and the drilling is nice and clean.
4mm on the shank is reasonably common with both factory and handmade pipes, the wide bore shank is good for discouraging gurgle.
Finally the draft hole in the chamber is just about perfect, it doesn't exactly hit the chamber floor but this is close enough for my taste.
I don't quite know what to think of the chamber coating, it's a bit powdery.
This image is of the pipe new and unused but after smoking a bowl the chamber walls become smooth black and nothing is flaking off so it looks decent in use.
The chamber measures 45mm deep and the overall bowl height is 52mm, so that leaves a wall thickness of 7mm at the heel, not too thick and not too thin.
Overall wall thickness starts with 5mm thick at the rim and expands to 9mm thick midway down the bowl, the chamber is mostly cylindrical with just a slight taper.
For now that concludes my patience for measuring things, which is pretty exhausting.
I love to see startup companies like this pushing boundaries and hopefully this is just a sign of things to come.
