Ozark Mountain Briars-A Few Words About Briar

To Pre-Carb, or not to Pre-Carb, That is the Question!

This subject has to be, without a doubt, the most hotly debated by pipe makers and pipe smokers alike. So I will write my reasons for coating the bowl, and try to answer some of the questions, and statements I've heard about pre-carb coating.

Pre-carbing the bowl was not a decision I made lightly. Before I offered my first pipes for sale, I did a lot of testing of many different areas, airway size, bowl size and shape, etc. and yes-pre-carb coatings too. About half of the pipes I made for my own enjoyment I pre-carbed, and half I left bare briar. I even precarbed one bowl, smoked it a couple times, then sanded out the precarb and smoked it bare to see if I could detect a difference. My conclusion is the pre-carb coating cuts down, and in some cases virtually eliminates that sharp, woody, new briar taste. Although the taste is not objectionable, I don't really care for it. I would rather taste the tobacco from the get-go. I've been a pipe smoker for nearly 25 years, and have broken in more than a few pipes in that time. Some of them cheapies with nasty bowl coatings, and some higher grades with bare briar. I did not enjoy breaking in the bare briar ones. That taste just doesn't appeal to me! The first bowl I precarbed on a pipe I made for myself was a joy to break in! In fact I didn't notice much difference between it and other pipes I've smoked for years. After trying several more, both precarbed and bare, my decision was the precarb makes a difference, and happily for me it is a difference I like! And I've had several customers comment on the easy break-in of the pipes. Now I cannot guarantee that break-in with my pipes will be minimal, but I can say with confidence, the ones I've smoked for myself were much nicer to break in with the coating. I know there are smokers out there that do not like to see the bowl coating for a ton of reasons, but for my money, they do make a difference.

To answer some of the questions and statements I've heard!

The bowl coating is only there to cover up something in the chamber! For the most part this is "hogwash"! (to quote my late father!) The pre-carb coating is very thin, and in my opinion will not cover anything other than some very faint scratches and tool marks. Some people disagree with me on this, but I have tried to coat bowls with pits, cracks, and large tool marks with no success. All were still visible to someone really looking! So it is not something I do, or even condone as a practice. My bowls are in good shape before the pre-carb goes in. The one thing that pre-carb will hide is a nasty tendency for the stain on the outside of the bowl to wick through (briar is porous after all!) into the bowl. This occurrs on mostly rusticated pipes that require a heavy application of stain. Thats why most of us makers use water or alcohol based stains, so nothing nasty is left in the bowl. These are very small pinpoints of stain and not a major factor, but do not look good nonetheless.

The bowl coating will prevent burnout! My thoughts are this one isn't true either. Although I have never had a bowl burnout so I am not an expert on this. Bowl burnouts usually occur due to two causes, the bowl walls are too thin, or flaws in the briar. Here again the bowl coating isn't thick enough to prevent heat from reaching the briar.

Bowl coatings add a flavor to the first few smokes in a new pipe! This one I say is true, in some cases. There are three major bowl coatings used by pipe makers, and at least one coating I'm aware of does add a flavor to the first few smokes. Thats why I don't use that one!!! The three bowl coatings I'm aware of are honey/charcoal, sodium silicate (or waterglass) and charcoal, and buttermilk/sour cream and charcoal. There are some differences between recipes but those are the major components. Some makers use pumice as well, and some have tried substituting yogurt in the buttermilk/sour cream mix. I tried the honey/charcoal mix and found it did flavor the first few bowls smoked in the pipe. If your thing is sweet tobacco, or aromatics this one is ok. The waterglass one I have not tried, nor am I likely to do so. I know there are big name pipe carvers that do use it, but I don't like the idea of putting glass in my tobacco bowls. I use the buttermilk/sour cream recipe, and before you say "yuck!" I'll say a few words about it. This is similar to homemade milk paints that have been used for centuries. The combination of buttermilk and sour cream renders an inert substance that does not contain any of the properties of either. I've tasted the stuff (yes that was one of my tests, and it has virtually no flavor whatsoever! Tastes like charcoal. The addition of charcoal makes this virtually impervious to spoilage, and chemically stable. After drying, basically all that is left is a very thin coating of charcoal held to the briar by essentially casein binder. (if you ate elmer's paste as a kid, basically the same stuff! made of similar components without the charcoal)

Pre-carb coating eases the break-in of a new pipe! This one I agree with! For my tastes, it will lessen and in most cases eliminate the sharp woody taste of new briar. And the coating provides a rough surface for tobacco ash to stick to. Which is what builds the "cake" on the bowl. For cake to form on a bare bowl, first the briar must char, then ash will deposit, and with subsequent smoking the ash will form a carbon layer. The pre-carb coating acts like the charring of the briar.

I will continue to pre-carb the bowls in the pipes I offer, because I see a benefit to doing so. However, if the pre-carb coating is not something you like, yet you are interested in one of my pipes, I will gladly make a similar one and leave the pre-carb out!

A Few Words About Briar!

Briar, or White Heath (Erica Arborea) grows in the rocky and mountainous regions around the Mediterranean Sea. Due to the harsh climate, the briar burl takes a lot of abuse. Pits, cracks, fissures and other unwanted deformities are a fact of life for the pipe crafter. There are several different ways the pipe artists deal with the pits and cracks in briar. Some of the ways include filling the pits, sanding and slightly reshaping the pipe to eliminate them, rustication(partial or full), or just leave them on the pipe. Ideally we'd like to see every pipe turn out to be smooth, flawless and straight grained, yet its a fact of life for the pipe maker that a very small percentage of briar blocks will produce a flawless pipe. Actually, most blocks will produce a flawless pipe but the equipment doesn't exist to the average pipe maker to find the flaws in the briar before planning the shape, allowing the pipe maker to plan around the flaws in the briar. Sadly, some pipe collectors reject very well made pipes because of cosmetic blemishes in the briar, something the pipe maker has virtually no control over. And it isn't financially feasible for the pipe maker to scrap every attempt that ends up with a few cosmetic blemishes. Pipes would be much more expensive if that were the case.

Are all rusticated Pipes Flawed? No, some pipes are designed from the start to be rusticated regardless of whether or not the finished pipe has a small flaw in it. There are other reasons for rusticating. Unattractive grain patterns, customer requests, and just because rusticated pipes sell well are some of the reasons a pipe maker will design a pipe to be rusticated.

My thoughts on the subject of pits or flaws in the briar: Briar is a natural product and a certain amount of flaws can be expected. If the pit or flaw is not big enough to detract from the overall look of the pipe, and I can't slightly reshape to eliminate it, I leave it in! And it will be noted on the listing for the pipe. If the flaw is in a place that detracts from the overall look of the pipe, I'll probably rusticate. (although I dislike losing the grain pattern, and making pits to cover pits isn't the best solution, but the most financially wise one!) On a few pipes that I can't bear to make changes to, have a good grain pattern, and I feel the flaw won't affect the smoking quality of the pipe, and its fairly unobtrusive, I may leave in a larger flaw, and the price of the pipe will reflect that. Large, unsightly flaws? Well, guess I get to smoke a new handmade!

Two things I won't do! I won't ever fill a flaw! The problem with filling a flaw may not be evident until the pipe is smoked a number of times. Briar darkens with age and as it is smoked, the filler used to fix the flaw will not darken so after a few bowls your seemingly flawless pipe has a very unsightly lighter spot than the rest of the bowl, to me, that looks worse than if the flaw would have been just left in to start with. I also won't ever rusticate a pipe to hide a large flaw that may affect the smoking qualities of the pipe (ie: burnout) If I have doubts about the integrity of the pipe due to a flaw, I'll smoke it myself. I'd rather have it burn out on me as on someone who bought it from me!

As you can see by the picture at the top of the page, briar comes to the pipe craftsman in really rough shape! The briar burl has been cut, boiled in water and air dried for several years. Through this process the briar will shrink and deform. The pipe crafter must clean up the blocks, and sand them square before any layout of the intended design can be done. If the Plateaux top is to be left on the finished pipe, it must first be cleaned of the remaining skin or outer bark.

Hope that gives you a little perspective on how pipe makers deal with briar! And don't be put off by a pipe with some small cosmetic blemishes, its a fact of life! And you might pass up the best smoking pipe in the world!