Something I Learned Recently: The Cherrywood

[carolinachurchwarden]

So, when I first started smoking my pipes again, I got interested in the poker style. I kept seeing the term "Cherrywood" pop up in my search results over and over again. Now a lot of them were sharp looking little pipes, but I kept thinking "Geez, that's an awful lot of money for a pipe made from cherry wood." Now recently I was back on the hunt for a meerscahum pipe and in my searches I kept finding "Cherrywood" meerschaum pipes, which got me thinking that maybe this applies to the style/shape of the pipe more so than the material. So I went back to some of my other searches and discovered that a lot, if not all, of the pipes I was seeing that used the term "Cherrywood" were not in fact made from cherry wood, but made from briar! Some were actually still made of cherry, but not as many as I originally thought. So I went to pipedia to find out why they were still all called Cherrywood pipes if they were not, in fact, made of cherry and this was all I could find, but still a good thing to learn:

I did all this just to learn about the damn source of the name, but then my PAD started to itch...so I had to look away...for now. :rofl:

 

[haparnold]

I think all the cherry-wood Cherrywoods I've seen are sold with the bark still on, but I confess I haven't studied the subject in any depth. All of these that I've seen appear to be made of a sapling with a little twig coming off the main at a convenient angle, and then are drilled and fitted with a stem.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It was Ropp that used to make a ghetto pipe out of cherry, that looked like someone cut a section of trunk and then left a twig on it to use as the stem. They were ugly as Hell, but there is a faction of guys who liked this pipe. This led to the poker shaped pipes that have a slight angle to the "set" of the pipe being called cherrywoods, after those old ugly Ropps.

 

[scloyd]

I wondered about this shape when I got my MM Dagner Poker cob. Is the Dagner Poker cob a poker because the stem is straight? If the stem was bent, would it be a MM Dagner Cherrywood cob?

 

[haparnold]

Oh no: poker vs. cherrywood could be "bulldog vs. Rhodesian 2.0".

 

[npod]

These rabbit holes are great fun. It's always rewarding to learn about the pipe in more detail. I had a similar experience when I explored the meaning of "woodstock" pipes. Turns out it is just another name for a Zulu shape, but the history of the nomenclature was great to learn.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

These rabbit holes are great fun. It's always rewarding to learn about the pipe in more detail. I had a similar experience when I explored the meaning of "woodstock" pipes. Turns out it is just another name for a Zulu shape, but the history of the nomenclature was great to learn.

Yeah, I love learning about the different pipes that interest me. I really want to get my hands on one of the old German style hunting pipes. Even if I don't smoke it, I think it would be a cool addition, especially if it has the chain and I'll hang it on the wall beside my pipe rack. I mean, if it's in a smokeable condition, I'll smoke it for sure, but I just think they look neat as hell.

It was Ropp that used to make a ghetto pipe out of cherry, that looked like someone cut a section of trunk and then left a twig on it to use as the stem. They were ugly as Hell, but there is a faction of guys who liked this pipe. This led to the poker shaped pipes that have a slight angle to the "set" of the pipe being called cherrywoods, after those old ugly Ropps.

You mean like this?

 

[jpmcwjr]

I wondered about this shape when I got my MM Dagner Poker cob. Is the Dagner Poker cob a poker because the stem is straight? If the stem was bent, would it be a MM Dagner Cherrywood cob?

It's a poker, because the Dagners said it is and they can call their makes anything they want. But it's a Cherrywood cob.

 

[haparnold]

I'm sure there will be some wonderful counterexamples to what I'm about to say, but I could accept that a pipe with a flat bottom is a poker, while a pipe with an angled bottom is a cherrywood. Stem bend may play a part in categorizing the shape overall, but seems less important than how the bottom of the bowl is cut.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You mean like this?

My city's internet service blocks whatever server is hosting that picture. So... I have no idea.

 

[mau1]

How's this Cosmic? I actually like the poker/Cherrywood style but not the Ropp version. I'm with Cosmic on the whole Ropp style; not my cup of tea.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeppers, i can see!!!

Ha ha, yep, that's a Ropp cherrywood, both is shape and material.

 

[crashthegrey]

Some claim the cherrywood shape was first made with cherry, so the name stuck. Personally, I prefer the more cherrywood style shape as it tends to sit on its own better. Pokers frequently tip. People will always tell you that it sits with a loaded chamber, but how often is my pipe sitting around loaded...

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Cherrywoods made from cherry wood, which is what Ropp pipes are known for making. There are tons of these out there. Personally, I think they are ugly as hell, and just imagining the taste coming from the fruit wood makes me nauseous.

 

[crashthegrey]

I know the Ropps are, I just don't know if the first pipe of that shape really was made from cherrywood, and if Ropp was truly first. History is interesting. I don't really like Ropps, or fruitwoods for smoking anything but my barbecue.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have no idea whether Ropp was the first, but I do know that they made them for the longest. Someone may have come before them for all I know. It's funny that we refer to France as the home of the briar pipe, but they fiddled with a few different materials for making pipes also before briar use took off as a standard.

 

[mso489]

That is an annoying confusion in the nomenclature. The sharp online retailers state that a pipe is made of briar when listing a briar cherrywood shape. It's like a pot pipe; that surely causes some confusion. But it is a good detail to learn. Similar problems happen with walnut, which usually refers to the color stain, and rosewood, which usually refers to the material itself.

 

[jpmcwjr]

And full sized:

 

[dukdalf]

A bit of relief after all the Ropps:

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Barry Jones'interpretation of a cherrywood

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Think I fixed it.