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

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"

|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?)