Why Some Pipes Deliver More Nicotine

[Birddog66]

We’re pipe smokers so put five of us in a room and you’ll get eight opinions.
I think it arbitrary to state that all Algerian briar is superior for pipe making because it’s a big country with varying climates and as we know a harsher climate will produce a tighter grain and denser wood.
There’s been a lot written on the breathing ability of briar and no consensus, not even on the meaning of the word or it’s application.
I know little about Marxian pipes so can’t speak to their quality but I imagine if you cut through the bowl the colouring that you are experiencing is not coming from the interior of the bowl but rather the conditions outside. Take meerschaum for example, if you scratch the colouring on the outside you’ll find white meer underneath because it’s a reaction to the wax used on the exterior. Unwaxed meer colours very slowly compared to waxed meer and it takes a long time for the colour to seep through to the outside.
I would suggest, maybe wrongly, that the briar is colouring due to the climate in which you live or from moisture on your hands but as I don’t have one I can’t say for sure. I will say that the briar is probably of an inferior quality however and if it’s as soft as is said it was probably grown in a more humid or wet climate. Briar absorbs very little moisture, it certainly doesn’t absorb enough to seep through to the exterior of the bowl and if it did it would not be suitable for pipe smoking.
This is just another theory by another pipe smoker so feel free to object to everything I say, I take no offence and am happy to be proven wrong, it’s how we learn as a community and what makes our hobby so absorbing (pun intended)

 

[Tate]

I'm leaning towards inside or a combo. I'm hesitant to say hands because exclusively because of how I hand the pipe I'm talking about. And the darkening is pretty even across the pipe with the heel having a slight lead possibly.

 

[Briar Lee]

I'm leaning towards inside or a combo. I'm hesitant to say hands because exclusively because of how I hand the pipe I'm talking about. And the darkening is pretty even across the pipe with the heel having a slight lead possibly.

The coloring is real, it’s a characteristic of the brand, and according my favorite old Charlie Rich’s twin brother pipe seller, meerschaum colors like an Oreo cookie.

The hot tar laden smoke passes through the inside without coloring it. On a meerschaum the wax holds it and the color is not deep.

He’d show fashionably dressed ladies his cutaway CAO the coloring process, and if he ever missed a sale, I never saw it happen.

It helped he was a dead ringer for the Charlie Rich.

 

[LeafErikson]

I try my best to be witty without being mean, but it really depends on the recipient's intelligence also, as to whether they "get it" or get offended.
I also prefer to make my humor with a touch of self deprecation, putting the butt of the joke back on myself, but also... intelligence. Some people just want yes or no answers, because they can't think very deeply.

I don't mean ol' Briar Lee here. Just the forum in general.

Heck, there have been times I thought that I may have insulted the poster, only to have a few people post for the first time in the thread that they were offended, ha ha. Being funny can be dangerous.

Certain jokes or playful insults can also just come across horribly wrong via text as opposed to in person.

 

[LeafErikson]

pyrolysis

This is the official Pipes Magazine vocabulary word of the day.

 

[Tate]

This is the official Pipes Magazine vocabulary word of the day.

I definitely had to Google that

 

[LeafErikson]

I definitely had to Google that

me too my man. I was out here sounding that shit out like I was hooked on phonics

 

[Tate]

me too my man. I was out here sounding that shit out like I was hooked on phonics

Same! I'm going to go mention it to my boss like it's something he should obviously know

 

[Birddog66]

Funnily enough I was reading about it earlier today on a old thread from 2013 and it was new to me.

 

[Briar Lee]

Whatever briar or curing process Marx used his pipes are not only better insulators, they cake easily and there’s no burning briar smell during break in. The stuff is anti pyrolic.

The cheapest pipe Marx sold in the black depths of the Great Depression was the $3.50 Mell-o, which was the same price as the Kaywoodie Drinkless. The Drinkless was advertised as only using platuex briar, and was a gorgeous, fancy grained, top grade pipe until the $5 Super Grain came out about 1935 and the the fabulously expensive $10 Flame Grain in 1937. Marx ran neck and neck for price with the biggest dog in the world.

Marx had a lifetime guaranty against burn out.

He wasn’t selling many to Po Folks.

 

[Birddog66]

Didn’t you say they were covered in fills? I can’t imagine them keeping pace with the higher end Kaywoodie pipes if that’s the case. I don’t really know enough about the brand to comment so I guess I’ll have to get one and find out for myself.
Thanks, that’s all I need, another stream of PAD to test your point

 

[Tate]

Didn’t you say they were covered in fills? I can’t imagine them keeping pace with the higher end Kaywoodie pipes if that’s the case. I don’t really know enough about the brand to comment so I guess I’ll have to get one and find out for myself.
Thanks, that’s all I need, another stream of PAD to test your point

I think you will enjoy them! It's a cheaper PAD stream at least hahaha

 

[telescopes]

Didn’t you say they were covered in fills? I can’t imagine them keeping pace with the higher end Kaywoodie pipes if that’s the case. I don’t really know enough about the brand to comment so I guess I’ll have to get one and find out for myself.
Thanks, that’s all I need, another stream of PAD to test your point

I have quite a few Marxman pipes, many of them NOS. NO, they are not all covered in fills. BUT, I am a little more picky about what I purchase. @Briar Lee accumulates cheap pipes at will on eBay regardless of condition - I am not being critical, but it most likely alters his sample group. NONE of my Marxmans is covered with fills, and in fact, after inspecting them all, only one of them had a small fill out of a sample size of 12 pipes. Seven of the pipes are smooth finishes with light stains.

 

[Briar Lee]

I have quite a few Marxman pipes, many of them NOS. NO, they are not all covered in fills. BUT, I am a little more picky about what I purchase. @Briar Lee accumulates cheap pipes at will on eBay regardless of condition - I am not being critical, but it most likely alters his sample group. NONE of my Marxmans is covered with fills, and in fact, after inspecting them all, only one of them had a small fill out of a sample size of 12 pipes. Seven of the pipes are smooth finishes with light stains.

Some of my Marxmans have large, puttied fills. All of them have very small almost unnoticeable little fills, except one Super Briar.

Here’s a bull moose Custombilt style 5 pointed gold star Lee. It is perfect. The quality of finish is miles above a $10 Marxman.



If you smoke a Marxman much they look like dog turds.

But who cares?

They smoke divinely.

 

[telescopes]

Some of my Marxmans have large, puttied fills. All of them have very small almost unnoticeable little fills, except one Super Briar.

Here’s a bull moose Custombilt style 5 pointed gold star Lee. It is perfect. The quality of finish is miles above a $10 Marxman.

View attachment 258002

If you smoke a Marxman much they look like dog turds.

But who cares?
They smoke divinely.

There are some very nice looking Marxman pipes out there. Most of his pipes were standard styled pipes with very smooth finishes. The majority of mine are and they look like any other pipe. It really was his free style pipes that got weird and ugly. My six panel pipe is flawless and it looks amazing for its age.

 

[Sobrbiker]

No Marx pipe I’ve ever seen has grain even a fraction so pretty. That fancy grain may mean that briar is harder than the bland, tannish, plain briar Marx used.

The grain’s not too shabby on this one.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I’m just curious which genius of American briar the good counselor will come to adore after Marx

 

[Cloozoe]

I interrupt the yuks to seek some clarification from my pal, Briar Lee.

From various of your posts in various threads I've inferred the following, sometimes mutually exclusive, um, facts, about Bob Marx and his pipes;

He was a marketing genius who took cheap briar that nobody else wanted, charged more for the pipes made therefrom than his competitors charged for pipes made from more expensive briar, and thus built a highly profitable business.

The cheap briar turned out to smoke better than "good" briar; blind, dumb luck and sort of beside the point from a business model standpoint.

His entire goal was to make the best smoking pipes available.

He was a briar genius who knew cheap briar would smoke better than good briar.

He was a briar genius who knew how to select the specific examples of cheap briar--not just any old cheap Algerian briar--that would smoke best

His most expensive pipes smoked best; you got what you paid for.

His cheapest pipes smoked best; oh sweet irony.

So, BL, what's the deal? I'm confused.

 

[Birddog66]

There are some very nice looking Marxman pipes out there. Most of his pipes were standard styled pipes with very smooth finishes. The majority of mine are and they look like any other pipe. It really was his free style pipes that got weird and ugly. My six panel pipe is flawless and it looks amazing for its age.

That’s good to know as I prefer classic styling, I don’t even like Kaywoodie Custom grain pipes with the weird gouges and furrows that encircle the bowl. What was their highest end range? If I’m gonna get one I want the best available if possible, not that I’m a pipe snob or anything. What am I saying, of course I’m a pipe snob.

 

[Birddog66]

The grain’s not too shabby on this one.
View attachment 258025View attachment 258026

That’s very nice. I wouldn’t say no to that.