Can anyone tell me if this is a real Briar Pipe? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Briar-Tobac...&otn=3&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=6474221559415622562 I am to new to be able to tell, but it seems a little fishy. I love the design, but I am second guessing the material. Help please. Thanks!
I would say no. Looks nice though. But i'd shy away....maybe the chicken in me.... Ed Puff....no experience with Ukranian pipes
I've been looking at those for a while as a decorative piece, I don't think they are briar. At least, no sort of briar I've ever seen! If I saw a real briar pipe with that sort of inlay and detail, I'd expect to pay about 10x the asking price.
This quote from their site would scare me off: "You can take sure about quality and maternity of this smoking pipe, reviewing detail photos of our goods.Buy our goods and you will never regret about it!"
Doesn't pear make good pipes? I head good reviews of Mr Brog and those are pear. I just don't see how it could be profitable to make a pipe that intricate and sell it for less than $40. That's what would deter me from buying it.
The economy sux in the Ukraine i betchya! Old artisans with skills that were in demand in EU until the smokers bans hit which is also flooding the market with Turkish meers as well. Pear is soft and i'd guess would smoke with some qualities similar to cherry maybe. Smoked cherry but no pear. Ed Puff...be wary of the finishes or stains.
Looks like pear wood to me, a lot of the Ukrainian and Polish made pipes are. I started out with a Mr Brog pear wood, they are smokable but seem to smoke hotter and wetter then briar. Now that I've got plenty of briars and a few meers I don't bother with the pear wood one any more.
No wood resists splitting and warping like briar. Cherrywood pipes are made with very thick walls to compensate for that vulnerability. As others has already said, that particular pipe looks like pearwood and it does not have thick walls. I suspect it would smoke ok for a while but it would likely eventually split and/or warp. If you want buy it as a novelty it would be ok. If you want a pipe to smoke I would suggest keep looking.
I'll join the chorus- not briar, pear. I would be more worried about the drilling than the material, though. Ordinarily I'm the guy who says go for it, but for $50... well... If I could take a look inside the thing to screen for insta-gurgle I might give it a try, if the carving really spoke to me. Otherwise...
I don't think it's briar either. The grain is too non-descript. While it's an attractive pipe, if you're into carved pipes, anyway, it's not likely to be a particularly good smoker, as I would guess that the attention paid to the design of the carving is offset by the lack of attention to engineering. While certain fruitwoods may be suitable for making pipes, there's a reason that briar is the preferred wood. If you're buying a first pipe or building your rotation, I would pass on this one for now. It's a novelty that will be of more value in your rack than in your mouth. Fourty bucks can buy you a handful of cobs, a decent estate pipe, or a Dr. Grabow or two, any of which will be better companions than this one. Save up another twenty or thirty bucks and you can get a nice entry level Sav or Pete. Don't make a newbie mistake and jump at the first thing that catches your eye on eBay. Do a little research, check some of the etailers' sites, and keep asking questions if you are in doubt about something. I bought a couple of cheap pipes when I started twenty years ago, but shortly thereafter I picked up my first Savinelli. It made a world of difference in the quality of my experience and is still a regular in my rotation.
You can get Savinelli's cheapest pipes for around the $50 mark. Please, do yourself a favour and start with one of them. Or a few Cobs from Missouri Meerschaum. Or a Dr. Grabow or two! There's better options out there for that price. The sad thing is, a pipe like that could ruin your experience smoking and drive you away from this hobby, unless you're just dead set on becoming a pipe smoker. The progression in leaning the art of pipe smoking is simple, yet challenging. But it would be a harder challenge still with a bum pipe. PstScrpt. Welcome to the forum!
I'm immediately skeptical of any retailer that uses the phrase NO crude forgery - only REAL QUALITY!!!
I see those pipes everywhere! Even on Tradera our Swedish ebay. They sell for real cheap! Why you ask? Because their quality sucks! DO NOT BUY!
Everyone is providing you excellent advise, hold your wallet and run away quickly! You will be better served with cobs/Grabows/tobaccos.
Hey guys. Doing some looking a the Amazon site for pipes. Ran across this: http://www.amazon.com/Carved-Tobacco-Smoking-Pirate-Pouch/dp/B004HCA002/ref=pd_sbs_hpc_6 Huh? Looks like the same thing, except this one is at least honest in the wood used. Thanks to all in saving my money.
