Briar has dominated pipe manufacture for almost 150 years. It's a fabulously heat-resistant wood, making it efficient and durable for the purposes of tobacco combustion, but it has the additional allure of beautiful grain. Pipe makers have employed remarkable creativity to take advantage of briar's natural grain patterns with shapes like the Blowfish, for example, which commends birdseye grain with rounded side panels and highlights straight grain with flat panels, all with an organic and lithesome character. Many shapes have been developed to highlight the grain of briar. The efficiency of the "shape first, drill later" method of carving, for which the tobacco chamber and draft channel are completed only after the stummel has been shaped to capitalize on the grain, testifies to the importance of well-oriented briar, especially in terms of tight birdseye and straight grain.

Additional shapes, like the Dublin, are especially suited to the flaring, angling nature of briar grain, which is tighter at the heel and radiates outward as it travels upward, and the shape of the Dublin bowl complements that angling by likewise expanding from the heel to the rim. The Volcano shape also complements the angle of the grain, though inverted from the Dublin with the grain radiating outward from the rim to the heel. When the flanks of a pipe match the angle of the grain, the length of the capillaries is visible. If the angles don't match, we begin to see oval birdseye rather than straight grain, and tight pinpricks of birdseye appear when the surface is perpendicular to the grain.

The Volcano shape also complements the angle of the grain, though inverted from the Dublin

Briar's grain patterns don't require smooth, pristine surfaces. Sandblasted briar brings its own character to the possibilities with craggy, meandering lines and tactile feedback that itself provides an additional dimension to the smoking experience. Sandblasting offers a more rugged treatment that engages texture perception in the finger pads as well as provides the visual appeal of the blasted growth rings.

Orienting the grain of briar in blocks that are useful for pipe makers is an art performed by briar cutters at the sawmill that prepares the wood. They can read the grain hidden inside at a level bordering on the miraculous, as can many pipe makers. If the blocks were not properly oriented and graded, the attractive pipes that we expect from carvers would be nearly impossible.

The Heath Tree

Erica Arborea, also known as the heath, is the tree-like shrub most popular for pipe making. The best for this purpose grows in the Mediterranean region. It grows elsewhere, but the hot, arid hillsides of the Mediterranean, where the thin soil is poor for crops, are where the toughest, most fire-resistant briar grows. During WWII, when traditional briar harvesting stopped, the Mountain Laurel of North Carolina, also technically briar, was tried for pipes. But the soil was too rich, water too plentiful, and Mountain Laurel is not the same, being less resilient than its Mediterranean brethren and soft from easy Carolina living; the dense wood that struggles to grow over years in inhospitable, dry earth is preferable. Somehow, that hard upbringing generates briar that can withstand the heat required of smoking.

Mountain Laurel is not the same, being less resilient than its Mediterranean brethren and soft from easy Carolina living

The part of the tree used for pipes is a root ball, called a burl, that collects and stores water for the plant. Depending on its age, it can range from the size of a cantaloupe to something more like a medium beach ball. The burl lies just under the surface of the earth, with roots extending from underneath to collect moisture, and branches (almost always two) growing from the top, breaking through the soil and becoming trunks. As the reservoir for the plant, the burl directs water up the trunks to the leaves and nourishes the heath, and it is that burl that is harvested for pipes.

Grain Orientation in the Burl

Because the burl is spherical, the grain radiates out from the center. The fine striations of grain that we enjoy seeing on our pipes are made up of very fine capillaries in the wood, used to move water to the plant. But these capillaries do not grow in geometric precision. Sand and stones are picked up by the burl as it grows, and the grain shifts around these impurities. The branches of the heath also begin their formation in the burl. When you see an odd pattern of grain on a pipe, something that may look like a thumbprint in size where the grain entirely shifts and washes out, that's where a branch was forming in the burl. The grain around that growth is affected, and that has to be taken into account by the briar cutter and pipe maker.

The center, or heart, of the burl has nothing in the way of grain. It is a red color and because of that hue is called blood. This section of the burl collects water and does not have capillaries; hence, no grain. From it, the capillaries form and radiate outward. If you picture that, you can see that parallel grain is all but impossible as the grain angles outward from the center, each line angled from the next in a fan shape.

Imperfections are Inevitable

The grain must also accommodate previously mentioned sand and stones, as well as any damage from wood-boring insects; it curves around those interlopers as well as branch formation, breaking the symmetry. Every block of briar contains such flaws and similar natural formations. When a pipe maker embarks on what he or she hopes will be a straight-grain pipe, they start with a block that has no apparent flaws, superficially. But there could be anything inside, from nearly flawless wood to that containing stones, fissures, sand, cracks, or uninteresting grain. Such is the world of pipe making. Carver stories about stunningly grained pipes ruined at the last moment by a flaw appearing in the wood are common. The frustration factor must be high indeed. But the best carvers accommodate small flaws as they work, often finding creative shapes as they chase away imperfections on the sander, always hoping that those imperfections do not become ambitious and ruinous.

... there could be anything inside, from nearly flawless wood to that containing stones, fissures, sand, cracks, or uninteresting grain

Grain is made up not only of capillaries but of growth rings. Most noticeable on sandblasted pipes, though discernible on smooth pipes with excellent grain as well, growth rings may be envisioned by imagining the spherical burl. As years go by, the sphere grows in annual layers that sheath the root ball, layer after layer, outward from the center and bisecting the capillaries at nearly right angles.

Growth Rings and Grain

If you look carefully at a sandblasted pipe with good grain, you might see ring grain, which has the grain running up and down, but the growth rings are stacked up the bowl perpendicular to the grain. That's how we can see the fine grain of a sandblast running vertically, for example, with growth rings bisecting the grain horizontally. Birdseye grain appears at the tips of the capillaries. Plateau-topped pipes would display birdseye if sanded smooth. When the block is oriented for the grain to run horizontally, birdseye will appear on the sides of the pipe, but most often the orientation is for the birdseye to be at the rim and heel. It's all about the angle from which the capillaries are viewed.

Plateau-topped pipes would display birdseye if sanded smooth

The orientation of the grain is determined by the briar cutter and ordered by the pipe maker for a particular shape or group of shapes. On smooth pipes, the growth rings are more difficult to see, but they are there, especially when the grain is excellent. Faint visual undulations may be spied from the correct angle and in the right light, and the ring grain that would have resulted from sandblasting is apparent.

I personally prefer a sandblasted to a smooth pipe, and often, when viewing a smooth pipe with inspiring grain, I think what a shame it is that it wasn't sandblasted. I attribute that preference to my love for briar grain, which is not only visual but tactile for a sandblasted pipe. It's easy to hold a sandblasted pipe because of the aggressive texture, which is useful for those of us whose minds wander and fingers forget. However, the elegant beauty of smooth briar grain is obvious.

Whether you're a fan of smooth pipes or sandblasted, the limitless variety of interesting ways that grain and growth rings meet the skill of the cutter and carver guarantee that we'll always be looking for the next best pipe with the most impressive grain Mother Nature can provide.