Seasoned Briar: What is it Exactly?

[mikethompson]

I have always had the understanding that the term 'seasoned briar' meant that the pipe has been 'broken in', or had several bowls run through it. My palate is not as refined as some of you guys, but I guess the idea is that once broken in, the pipe smoker better?
So if that is the case, can an unsmoked estate be seasoned? If the pipe ages naturally on a shelf for 40 or so years unsmoked, does it still need the same 'breaking in' as a new pipe?
Lots of questions here guys, thanks for your help as always.

 

[ashdigger]

I believe seasoned briar means that the briar was aged and dried prior to being carved into a pipe.

 

[npod]

I believe seasoned briar means that the briar was aged and dried prior to being carved into a pipe.

That is my understanding. As an example, this egg by Johannes Rasmussen (Suhr Pipes) was carved from a block he got from his grandmother, Anne Julie, that had been sitting in a bin since the 1960's (almost 50 years of seasoning so to speak). When I asked him about the pipe he mentioned that is was "seasoned" and very difficult to carve, very hard wood. We had a long conversation about what that meant and he taught me about the aging of briar, drying, etc, and how the blocks season over time and with the seasons. It's fascinating stuff, but the take away for me is that this pipe is definitely "different". It was a brick sh..t house from the start. It smokes amazingly well and after one year of frequent use it still has only a razor thin cake built up. This is the best example I know to explain "seasoned briar".

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I believe seasoned briar means that the briar was aged and dried prior to being carved into a pipe

That's how I see it, mainly, as well. However if the pipe was carved years ago it will also be seasoned, but perhaps not as much as an unstained, unwaxed briar block.

 

[mikethompson]

Thanks for clearing it up guys. So seasoned=aged then?
What benefits does a well seasoned unsmoked briar have over a brand new unsmoked pipe?
Also, Neal that is a beautiful pipe.

 

[ssjones]

Yep, seasoned = old or aged. Several of the classic makers of yore used that term and most were probably true. I'm sure there were some embellishments in the name of marketing, a little artistic license.

 

[npod]

This topic remains somewhat of a grey area for me. The term seasoned has different meanings depending on the context it is being used. At the core, we can all agree that old blocks sitting around for many years can be called seasoned. But some people also use the term "seasoned" to denote old "Brit Wood", or older English pipes from the early 1900's or late 1800's that have been smoked. In that context, guys will say they are seasoned, or Old Wood. I've heard guys who only smoke Old Wood or Seasoned Wood. But they are really just talking about old pipes. My scientific brain decompensates from information overload on subjects like this. I wish that the pipe community had a standard lexicon.
To take this further. A friend of mine is a well respected pillar of the pipe community. He has hundreds (literally) of old British pipes, many over 100 years old. He swears that he can taste the Old Wood as he calls it. He only smokes very old pipes now. He recoils when smoking a Castello pipe and wrenches in pain because he claims the briar tastes young and sharp. He is a very experienced smoker.
To take that further. A known prolific carver for over 50 years swears that there is no significant taste to briar after a couple of bowls. I've heard wonderful conversations between him and the guy mentioned above. The carver feels that the topic of briar taste is purely an American pipe community phenomena. And he uses the term seasoning in reference to the age of the briar and not a descriptor for taste. The debate continues ...
One thing I can conclude from research, experience, and discussion, is that pipes made from aged briar blocks (aka seasoned) tend to be harder, more durable, dissipate moisture better, and generally provide a better mature substrate for smoking tobacco. It is a physical attribute of the wood at that point and not related to taste at all.

 

[sasquatch]

Briar oxidizes (as most woods do), changing color with time and exposure. Speaking generally, newly boiled pieces are whitey/pink, old pieces are inevitably a sort of mahogany color. I posted this picture before:

Clockwise, from top right: Greek, 30 yrs. Italian, 2 years. Italian (same mill) 6 months - notice the oxydized "skin" only as it dries. Bottom left is Italian with a few years on it from the mill that leaves maybe the whitest briar in general, and upward on the left is a year old block from Mimmo and a 10 year block from Mimmo (top left). Some of this is regional variation, some of it is the particular process, but basically it all drifts toward brown.
It gets harder as it does so, and it becomes more and more dimensionally stable (usually - I have had a few exceptions, pipes from the 80s that moved all over the place). Cutting new briar you get ribbons, cutting old briar you get chips.
Is there a vast difference in smoking? Yes and no. That old greek stuff tastes pretty earthy to me, I prefer the cleaner tasting Italian wood, even new. Do I think briar should sit for a year or two before being made into a pipe? Yes I do, I get more positive feedback on those pipes than on fresher stuff, for the most part. But you could never stick a pipe in your mouth, light it and say "Oh, this is 12.5 year aged briar."
And, for the record, ALL briar is "50 years old" in that the plant has to be a certain age before it's big enough to be worth harvesting. No one ever sat on and cured burls for 50 years. No one. Ever.

 

[npod]

^^^Cool write up @sasquatch^^^

 

[mso489]

Watch some of the youTube video about briar. It is rigorously aged then boiled and otherwise treated before it is carved into pipes, truly seasoned and more than that. Also watch the videos on harvesting briar, back-breaking labor. It really makes you wonder how pipe prices are kept as low as they are. With really low priced pipes, there may be some shortcuts, but I think mostly the supplies of properly treated briar cover even these. One or two brands put their pipes through a "pre-smoking" process of running them on a machine that burns some tobacco in the bowl, but this is proprietary and far from requisite, whatever one thinks of it otherwise. Nothing the consumer can do will further season the briar; that has been more than accomplished when you purchase a well-made pipe. Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain claimed he'd hire a town layabout to break in his pipes, but I rather doubt it.

 

[crashthegrey]

Seasoned = marketing term for forgotten about in the factory. 8)

 

[cosmicfolklore]

so, it has nothing to do with salt and pepper? ::

 

[sablebrush52]

Any wood product that relies on dimensionally stable wood, like a piano's soundboard, a violin, finely made furniture like Thomas Moser, uses seasoned wood.
With pipe smoking there is another use of the term, seasoning, that is different. Smokers who dedicate specific pipes to specific blends also use this term with regard to building a bit of a friendly ghost left by repeated smokes of that blend, a ghost that helps add to and reinforce the flavors of that blend when it's smoked in its dedicated pipe.

 

[mso489]

Thanks, sable'. I was not familiar with the seasoning terminology related to intentional ghosting. 'Learn something every day.

 

[mikethompson]

Thank you very much Jesse for your two cents. So I take it seasoned means both age on the wood and the development of a friendly ghost as you put it.