Pipe Smoking Pals! Have you ever thought about when and how the briar pipe gained its popularity? Well, grab a pipe, and let me take you through an interesting path of history showing how the Briar wooden pipe grew to fame.
When did pipes become popular?
The first briar pipe came from France and Italy in the 19th century. People realized that using the fine pore structure of briars made for better pipes during those times. There were already some in existence by 1800 but only between the 1850s and 1920, they became really popular mainly due to Queen Victoria’s time.
What are some famous brands or makers of briar pipes?
By the early 20th century, briar pipes had become fantastically known internationally. The world’s top pipers like Peterson as well as Dunhill made their names on this type of wood. Stalwarts among French Butz-Choquin and Italian Mastro de Paja were also very well-known masters of this type of pipe. They raised making pipes from a craft into an art!
In addition, Peterson is another venerable Irish pipe house based in Dublin. These are famous for their “System” pipe with its genius insulating device which is still in use today. Among newbies, Peterson’s highly colored “Early Morning” series sells like hotcakes. Their pipes deliver excellent smoking performance and perfect hand-feel.
Why did briar become a popular material for making pipes?
Why is briar commonly used in Handmade pipe manufacture? So, let me tell you why these bad boys are cool for pipe making.
Let’s start with the fact that this stuff is fireproof, meaning it can handle the extreme heat of smoking without being destroyed. This keeps your pipe from burning to a crisp or getting damaged. Briar also has amazing strength and durability and can withstand heavy and frequent smoking. Moreover, it does not crack when heated and cooled repeatedly. Additionally, briar wood has an inherent porosity that helps to absorb moisture while smoking. This sucks up excess wetness from the tobacco during smoking, thus resulting in drier smoke sessions that are far better off. Lastly, briar possesses some awesome grain patterns such as bird’s eye, flame grain, and straight grain which look fabulous and add beauty to the pipe. For my part too I fell for those Unique wood grains found in briar woods. These natural designs make pipes made of briar look really beautiful. In particular, there are three kinds of briar grain namely; flame, straight, and bird’s eye patterns.
The flame grain has a wavy spreading pattern, the straight one has parallel lines that are extremely rare and of high value if flawless, and birds-eye grain contains dots in clusters which resemble a bird’s eye giving it an unmistakable appearance. These unique wood Grains provide great visual appeal for every briar pipe. It is loved by pipe lovers.
English 
German