By RC Hamlin
Below is an article I published in 1993 which addresses some basic issues - the article could probably be updated, but the subject matter is basically correct. One of the best personal discussions I ever had was with David Field, we don't agree on our conclusions - for the record I think grain is important to the taste, he doesn't. I believe the article David wrote for P&T Magazine on grain is on his site. This was a private conversation we had on the subject soon after his article came out in P&T.
Briar curing and pipe construction are important factors in how well a pipe will smoke. These factors are no more important, nor any less than using a quality tobacco or keeping a clean pipe, but they do affect the way a pipe will taste. The curing of briar is only one step in the process of producing a quality pipe. Briar curing is a very important factor in how a pipe will break in and how quickly the briar will mature. As important as it is to smoke mature leaf tobacco to fully enjoy the taste of the tobacco, a mature briar pipe will add even more to the final taste.
Before I explain what mature briar is and how you manage to mature the briar in your pipes, we should take a quick look at the how briar is processed before it is made into a smoking pipe.
Starting at the briar sawmill, after the briar burls have been harvested, the wood is cut and graded. A typical briar burl is 50 to 75 years old and about the size of a basketball. After being harvested these burls are still alive and typically have green shoots growing from the surface. The burls are cut, graded, sized and then bowled in water to "kill" or set the wood. The boiling process is actually the first stage of curing the wood since boiling removes some of the sap from the cut blocks. After being boiled the briar is again graded and placed in large burlap bags to air dry for a minimum of 1 year before being offered to pipe makers. This air drying process we will consider second stage curing. Most artisan makers select briar that is 18 to 24 months air dried, most industrial makers pick up the 12 month dried briar.
At this point we should point out that briar is graded by size, grain, weight and color by the sawmill. Mixed quality briar is much less expensive, with large block well grained briar being the most expensive. If you hand select individual blocks from many different bags the price is even higher.
For the balance of this article we will assume that the briar is well grained and handled by an artisan maker rather than mixed quality briar that is industrially copy fraised. Grain is another factor that will affect how well the wood absorbs heat and moisture, however we will leave a discussion of grain to a future article.
After the pipe maker selects his wood additional curing is done to insure a sweet smoke. All artisan pipe makers air cure their briar blocks. This extra air curing period of time varies from an additional year to six years or more depending on the pipe maker. Small makers such as Bonfiglioli or Becker hold their wood for about a year, Ashton holds their briar for 2 or 3 years and large artisan makers, such as Castello, air cure their briar from 3 to 6 years after purchase.
Pipe makers are aware that your first impression of their products will be a lasting impression. If you find a new pipe "hard to break in" or bitter during the beginning, you will tend to stay away from this brand in the future. On the other hand if you find a pipe sweet and easy to break in, you will remember this the next time you are shopping for a pipe. The various stages of curing briar, before it ever becomes a smoking pipe, are designed to insure that you have a pipe that is easy to break in or "mature".
Mature briar is a fully "broken in" briar pipe, but do you know how to mature a pipe? The obvious answer to this question is to smoke the pipe until the bitterness of a new briar is gone. This is not usually a pleasant experience and generally not something most pipe smokers enjoy. If you understand what is the cause of the hot, wet, bitter "new pipe" taste, then the solution becomes easier to correct.
You may be surprised to know that briar, being a wood, contains tannic acid. Tannic acid is the same bitterness found in young Virginia tobacco and in astringent young red wines. Most plants and common woods such as oak contain a high degree of tannic acid. Various natural types of acid are found in many foods (Vitamin C is an acid) and are usually either unnoticed, or beneficial to the overall taste. The tartness in orange juice is the result of citric acid. While the tartness of orange juice adds to the total taste, I do not believe that you would enjoy the taste of orange juice (or red wine) if it was heated to over 300 degrees. Herein lies the problem with green briar used in smoking pipes - hot acid. Almost all pipe tobaccos contain tannic acid, especially full flavored natural blends. Add this to the minimum 300+ degrees of heat required to burn the tobacco, plus a new briar pipe that contains additional acid and you can understand why "hot & bitter" are associated with breaking in new briar.
Pipe makers use many different tricks to reduce this break in taste. Many of
their tricks are simply ways to reduce the contact of raw briar with the burning
tobacco. Bowl coating of carbon ("pre-smoked, no break in required"), to honey
or olive oil wipes are all common ways to ease the break in process. The best
way is actually the most natural way where the acid simply "matures" or breaks
down, much like the process of maturing a red wine from a young and sharp flavor
to
mature and soft tasting. Pipe makers that can afford to hold their wood for 4 or
5 years offer the easiest pipes to break in since time and nature has allowed
the
tannic acid in the briar to mature or break down naturally.
Oil curing is a briar treatment that was first developed by Alfred Dunhill to remove sap (acid) from the briar to allow for easy break in of Dunhill pipes. Today Dunhill, Ser Jacopo and Ferndown advertise that their pipes are oil cured. In reality these brands are oil treated with a oil wipe and heat process. To the best of my knowledge, Ashton briars are the only true oil cured pipes available on the market today. True oil curing is done by soaking the raw cut bowl in a bath of blended oil.
The oil soaked briar is then placed on heated pegs for 14 days to force oil through the briar and removing any sap left in the wood by prior air curing. The main advantage of oil curing is that all of the briar sap (acid) is forced from the briar, removing any bitterness. A secondary advantage of oil curing is that the process makes the briar slightly more "fire proof" to protects against burn out. The disadvantage of true oil curing is that the taste of the oil is left in the wood after the process is complete. This taste will disappear after the pipe is completely broken in, but to some the oil flavor is distasteful.
The only true way to break in a pipe is to smoke it. If you are aware of how mature the briar is, you will be able to modify your break in procedure to ease the break in process. The last two new Castello pipes I tried were nothing but great from the very first bowl - no pain, no bitterness and no distasteful flavor (I have had very bitter Castello pipes in the past). Ashton pipes always impress me as not bitter, but not natural (remember the oil) since I tend to go towards the extra natural Old Church pieces. The smooth Sovereign Ashton pipes do not seem to have much of a oil taste.
Pure air cured artisan briars like Ser Jacopo, Caminetto and Radice are average brands (not too bad, not great). Oil processed brands such as the new Jacopo, Dunhill and Ferndown are fairly easy to break in. Charatan (new and old) and Upshall have a reputation of being difficult to break in, but much improved after a while. There will be exceptions to these conclusions, as each pipe, even within the same brand, will be slightly different.
Industrial machine cut pipes such as those from Savinelli, Peterson or GBD do not use secondary curing and will require a little extra effort. The very best smoking pipe in my personal collection is a Savinelli Golden Jubilee. This piece was purchased in 1974 and by far was one of the hardest pipes to break in I have ever suffered through. Once mature, this piece has been outstanding, but without secondary curing, it took some effort. You can help ease the pain of break in by smoking a mild tobacco slowly for the first 2 or 3 bowls. Use low acid mature leaf or a burly based tobacco and make sure that you puff gently. After a few bowls you will be able to smoke whatever you like and enjoy fully cured mature briar.
The shape of the tobacco chamber is generally taken for granted even though it is very important to the final taste of your tobacco. Wide short bowls such as those found in the Pot shape are by far the most difficult to pack properly. Tall thin bowls such as those found in chimneys or slender billiards are the easiest to pack properly. The perfect chamber tapers from larger diameter at the top to smaller at the heel of the bowl.
The reason for these chamber preferences is simple, they are easier to pack
properly. A properly packed bowl will burn even with out constantly being tamped
or lit. Tobacco that is packed too tight or too loose will burn hot. This does
not mean that a Pot is a shape to avoid, just be aware that it is a more
difficult shape to smoke
correctly.
In my opinion much too much importance is given to the air hole location as it enters the bowl. The "perfect bore" is centered and slightly off (above) the heel of the chamber. A side to side misalignment of the bore will make no difference whatsoever in the way that a pipe smokes, tastes or how the tobacco will burn. A bore that is too low will cause the pipe to smoke wet and will tend to clog if tamped tightly. A bore that is too high will keep you from burning the last scrap of tobacco (few smoke the dottle anyway), but is preferable to a low bore. Ironically, most pipe smokers believe that a low bore is closer to perfect and preferable, than one that is a bit high. Another item that is commonly misunderstood is the value of the carbon cake in the smoking chamber. I have seen pipes that were so carbonated that the bowl was almost solid with only a tiny area for tobacco. Not only is this practice hazardous to the briar, but what's the point?
The owners of these carbon clogged pipes swear that they "smoke great". How would they know? Three puffs and you're out of tobacco. The point I'm trying to make is that all kinds of magical wonders are tied to the carbon cake that builds in the bowl through smoking, none are true. The only reason to have a thin carbon cake in the bowl is to protect or insulate the raw briar from the 300+ heat of the burning tobacco. Briar adds a taste to the tobacco and works to absorb heat and moisture. If carbon was better than briar as a pipe material than pipes would be made from carbon (remember The Pipe & The Smoke) and we wouldn't have to worry about curing or grain or artisan pipe makers. The carbon cake has no magical powers, no secret taste, no flavor enhancing attributes - it's just a heat sink.
Packing a pipe is not as simple as most smokers assume, nor as difficult as this statement may suggest. Proper packing is different for different types of tobacco and different pipe bowl styles. Tall stacked bowls are not packed the same as small chambered bowl. Wide mouth Pots are not packed the same as Dublins or even classic billiards. The trick to proper bowl packing is in the resulting burning qualities as the tobacco is smoked. Slow burning pressed flake tobaccos packed tight into a wide chamber will be very difficult to burn. Packing needs to be firm enough to burn through to the next layer without the sound of rushing air and yet be loose enough to burn freely without constantly being tamped. Packing too tight or too loose will result in continued use of a flame and a tendency to puff too hard - both will result in a hotter bowl.
Our briar pipes start as balls of green wood. The raw briar is processed or cured several times by the sawmill and by the pipe maker to insure that you are given a high quality product to enjoy for many years. The final briar curing is done by the owner of a new pipe by smoking. After the initial break in of a new briar pipe you hold a fully mature, fully cured product that should serve you well. Your pipe has gone from raw material to craftsman to owner, each with one objective in mind - the pleasure you will receive from your new pipe.
Copyright © 1993 by RC Hamlin