Better than Briar? What History Tells!: Difference between revisions

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|Acacia||Alder|||Ash|| ||Aspen

|Birch||Bird Cherry|||Box|| ||Buckthorn

|Campeachy||Cedar|||Elder|| ||Elm

|Hawthorn||Hazel|||Heath Root|| ||Hornbeam

|Linden||Maple|||Mountain Ash|| ||Mulberry

|Olive||Perfumed Cherry|||Plane Tree|| ||Poplar

The list was expanded in an 1880 issue of ''Cope’s'' to 34 by adding barberry, cherry, chestnut, cornell, vine, wayfaring tree, and yew. Morta, or bog oak, was engaged by a number of English pipe makers in the last quarter of the 19th Century, yet it is not on this list. (Other woods, mentioned elsewhere, were boree, gorse-root, morello, myall, and pear.) The survivors were alder, birch, boxwood, cherry, maple, oak, pear, and walnut, but they suffered from two unforgiving defects: they all burned along with the tobacco that shortened their life, and their toxicity. (See “Wood Working Toxic Effects,” spacecoastwoodturners.com). See Tim Fuller, “Pipes in Other Woods” (naspc.org), or “Alternative Woods Used in Pipemaking” (pipedia.org) for others. Experiments were conducted to determine if any were suitable for pipes.  

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|Applewood||Arbutus|||Beech|| ||Beef-wood

|Buxus||Chaparral|||Dogwood|| ||Ebony

|Hickory||Honey Locust|||Hydrangea paniculata|| ||Jichi-mu

|Jujube||Kalmia (ivy)|||Mahogany|| ||Manzanita

|Mesquite||Mountain laurel|||Musk root|| ||Myrtle

|Needlewood||Orange|||Osage|| ||Red gum

|Tulip wood||Violet wood|||Wenge||||Wild lilac

All things considered, briar is unquestionably the very best naturally dried and matured wood for a pipe. No other wood used in the past for pipes has ever matched its properties, undeniable qualities, and characteristics. It is resistant to heat, durable (nearly indestructible), dense, yet porous, has a neutral aroma, absorbs tar and moisture, and gives a sweet smoke. From straight-grain to cross-grained, to bird’s-eye, with so many different grades and prices—some say that there are as many as 16 classes of briar—the smoker has myriad choices, and he need not spend very much to buy a good-smoking pipe. Nature has provided this wood that surpasses all other woods in spite of many investigative efforts and attempts, through time, to find alternative or suitable woods. Marine scientists call the dugong, a species of the so-called sea cow, “functionally extinct,” and I say that’s also true for all those alternative woods today. Or maybe a better term for these woods might be what garment makers call unused fabrics: “deadstock.” (BTW: how about this unintentional mistranslation: “The Different Types of Briar Wood for Plumbing: A Comprehensive Guide,” muxiang.shop?)