Straight Grain vs Birdseye vs Craggy
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Absolutely!No need to choose between smooth and rusticated anymore. You can have both!
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And then, of course, there's always room, for birdseye...
Blasts, straight grains, and birdseye all from the same carver. Not a fan of rustication.
I love the looks of smooth pipes. But, for me, they're hard to hold onto -- they're slippery. For smoking, a deep blast or rustication is much more comfortable in-hand. A deep ring-blast is the most interesting look to my eye.
I love smooth pipes with beautiful straight grain. However, I'm a sucker for a deep, beautiful ring grain blast. I like the look and love the feel in my hand. Here are a few of my favorites.
Rubio
Rad Davis
Ryan Alden
Larrysson
Martin Cermak
Rubio
Rad Davis
Ryan Alden
Larrysson
Martin Cermak
The first pipe was made by Ken Barnes, who trained at Charatan under Barry Jones, co-founded James Upshall, and who recently returned to making pipes after taking a break from the business. This is a "K" grade, of which there are only 2 that I know of. I own one and Rick Newcombe owns the other one. Ken ranks as the finest cutter of his day, and can still find the grain like no one else. His work represents the great tradition of the English Straight Grain.
The second pipe is the work of the American carver, Paul Tatum. He stopped carving many years ago to focus on his career as a materials engineer for NASA. But before he stopped he produced a body of work that is highly personal and idiosyncratic. I own a half dozen of his pipes, every one of them highly unique in design and execution, and every one of them superbly constructed.
I created a page on Pipedia about Paul's work.
Ken posts here from time to time, right? Are his new pipes made under his name? Always loved charatans and upshalls!
If I had to choose, craggy blast wins, especially ring grain. Of course there are many amazing finishes and I would never lock myself into one, including rusticated. One really cool finish was when Ashton made Pebble-Shell, which was rusticated then blasted or maybe vise versa. The texture was so unique and amazing. I had a great Rhodesian but ended up having to part with it when cash was tight. Don’t think I even have a picture.
Ken does post here from time to time. The new pipes are made under his name. You can find them at Scandpipes or contact Ken to inquire about commission work.
I just heard from him and he's keeping busy carving commissioned pipes.
I enjoy deep grain on a sandblast, which I have with my Ser Jacopo Dublin. You can count the grooves by brail. However, I also like the much more subtle sandblast, for example on a Tsuge so-called tasting pipe billiard. It has definite texture but in a quiet serene way. On smooth finishes, I like both straight and birdseye, and especially where they both exist in one pipe, and it is also how the grain, whatever pattern, joins with the shape of the pipe. Not grain, but another natural pattern in wood that I value is plateau, one of the best attributes of freehand pipes, that is pleasing to see on the brim and more so both on brim and shank.
I like a nice deep sandblast with loads of ring grain, that’s nearly all I’ve been buying lately. If I’m going smooth, I greatly prefer super dense cross grain/Birdseye. I’ve never been a huge fan of straight grain, even though I know they’re coveted and typically command higher prices.
I like them all. Here are a few of my blasts. 
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