#1014

[Charl]

I promised myself no more olives, blackwood or any other weird and wonderful wood, only briar and briar alone! Then first off, I ran out of briar, and then 2nd, I got given these chunks all the way from Mozambique!
Opinions appreciated as always!

[ND Pipes]

WOW!!!!!

[KurtHuhn]

I am REALLY digging the way you incorporated the sapwood in there.

[Sasquatch]

Yes that's very sharp. Bowl shape is nice, curves are nice. I'd say a bit more material could come off the last.... 1/2 or so of the stem. Especially underneath. Thin it out and add some more curve in there.

[bregolad]

I actually disagree...just barely. It's pretty good the way it is. I think that less material might make it appear too bent.

[baweaverpipes]

Not to go against Sas, but I like the pipe scads and feel, to my eye, the stem has decent flow.
I don't know if I would smoke the pipe, but artistically it's really cool. I'm partial to briar, but do enjoy some of my olive woods.
Personally, I find it rather classic.

[Mike Messer]

Very nice pipe. I also looked at your other pipes on your blog site. Also very nice. I think you can get away with using African wood since you are in Africa, even though briar is, no doubt, the wood of choice in the pipe world. But I notice you also make briar pipes.
The Blackwood looks really great.

[Sorringowl]

Good god that is a gorgeous pipe! Wow. This is African Blackwood? Is it fairly dense? Would love to know how it smokes.
Thanks for sharing.

[JMG]

I know absolutely squat about African Blackwood...but this is one good looking pipe.

[Abi Natur]

Hey Charl,
this pipe has the classical flow to it and a touch of Africa reflecting beautifully through the finish .


Best,
Abi

[BriarWorldNick]

THe Blonde finish on the bottom, is what won me. That is such an intense contrast, and the more pipes I make the more natural curves seem to please my eye, this is an excellent work!

[Charl]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.
After bending the stem, that same last 1/2" you wrote about, Sas, is what caught my eye too. At the time I was thinking that it is a big manly pipe and that thinning it will make it too elegant. But in retrospect, it'll make the pipe, well, more "professional".
BTW, I stil think that blackwood is a really decent smoking wood for pipes. It's hard as hell and can take a lot of knocks and bumps. My Monday to Friday "work"-pipe is made from it and I have absolutely no problems. It is on its 3rd stem though!

[Sasquatch]

Charl, the button on that pipe is big enough to keep the pipe steady even though the stem is not "flat" for miles in front of it, and given that it is such a big pipe, a little more meat on the bitey bits is not foolish. I have found that a smaller button combined with a tapered area where teeth connect, on a big pipe, leads to a very difficult pipe to keep in the teeth. So I think you're fine in terms of function in any event.

To my eye, the stem looks "straighter" on the bottom than on the top, and this is very natural when you bend it like this.... happens to me all the time. I have the stem basically done and looking what I think is fine, and then I bend it and hate final lines. It's never a big re-do, but I almost always do some final touching after the bend.

In this case, it's a personal "style" thing I guess as to how much curve a guy wants in the look. Certainly the shank is fairly straight so having a really swoopy stem is maybe NOT the right approach.

I think I'm sitting on the fence. Or maybe not.

Possibly I am indecisive.

In any event it's a nice pipe.

I'm not a fan of using Blackwood on pipes, have heard stories of it leaking some black resins etc, and those African woods are toxic bastards. Pietenpauw pipes do blackwood fairly frequently, and Jean said he's had no issues in a thread where I was playing the blood-and-thunder prophet about the toxicity of such woods.

[wdteipen]

I really like this shape and the use of the wood is very attractive. Nice job.