Quest For Corsican (with pictures and a poll question)

[Mike Messer]

Say what you will, "All Briar is the same," "All Pipes are the same," "All People are the same."
But I say it simply isn't true.
What you can't see in the pictures is how it feels.



I got these Corsican Briar blocks on May 23, 2011
They're about ten+ years old.

[baweaverpipes]

I bet it feels great! I bet it feels as good as the briar I buy (confidential).
Please tell us where you get this wonderful briar so we can all make a box pipe and embellish it with rocks, pebbles, faux emerald, ruby, sapphire and the all time favorite, cz diamonds.
That's it, a box pipe with mediocre grain and slap a rock into the side. Brilliant!

[RadDavis]

Looks just like briar to me.

Briar is briar. Country of origin makes no difference. It's the cutting and curing that makes the difference.

Any briar that's unobtainable except by a few select people is very desirable and better than all other briar. It used to be Algerian, and now it's Corsican. This one of the voodoo myths of pipe smoking.

The truth is that it's the briar mill and the pipe maker that make a beautiful, great smoking pipe, NOT the country the briar grows in.

When I was 20 years old, Coors beer was the best you could ever hope to get, because it was unobtainable east of the Mississippi. Out west it was just cheap beer.

Sucker.

Rad

[SimeonTurner]

Rad, you liar! When you were 20, beer hadn't been invented yet!

Clearly, you have never held high grade briar. It's all about the FEEL.

[RadDavis]

My briar feels.............................................................Sassy!

Rad

[Sasquatch]

Wait... is that a shot? Was that a Sasquatch pun?

I'm feeling angry. And confused. But that's not unusual.



I think that all the briar I've bought is slightly different to work with and probably tastes a little different for some period.

Those look like nice blocks, but of course, they could be great and they could be junky inside - only by cutting them and smoking them do we know.

[Mike Messer]

I bet it feels great! I bet it feels as good as the briar I buy (confidential).
Please tell us where you get this wonderful briar so we can all make a box pipe and embellish it with rocks, pebbles, faux emerald, ruby, sapphire and the all time favorite, cz diamonds.
That's it, a box pipe with mediocre grain and slap a rock into the side. Brilliant!

The pipe you mentioned is X-X Plateau Jaum Hom Spanish Briar, European Boxtree wood, handmade SEM ebonite stem, and those are REAL EMERALDS, Bruce, ...pure (Be3Al2(SiO3)6). Nothing fake about any of it.
M.M.

Looks just like briar to me.

Briar is briar. Country of origin makes no difference. It's the cutting and curing that makes the difference.

Any briar that's unobtainable except by a few select people is very desirable and better than all other briar. It used to be Algerian, and now it's Corsican. This one of the voodoo myths of pipe smoking.

The truth is that it's the briar mill and the pipe maker that make a beautiful, great smoking pipe, NOT the country the briar grows in.

When I was 20 years old, Coors beer was the best you could ever hope to get, because it was unobtainable east of the Mississippi. Out west it was just cheap beer.

Sucker.

Rad

Yea, but the briar is 100% better when you are in Corsica, 20 years old, and soaked in Coors, uh, I mean when you are 20 years old and the briar is soaked in Coors, Either way
M.M.

Rad, you liar! When you were 20, beer hadn't been invented yet!

Clearly, you have never held high grade briar. It's all about the FEEL.

The feel I was speaking of is emotional, not sensory, you fool

[Mike Messer]

I bet it feels great! I bet it feels as good as the briar I buy (confidential).
Please tell us where you get this wonderful briar so we can all make a box pipe and embellish it with rocks, pebbles, faux emerald, ruby, sapphire and the all time favorite, cz diamonds.
That's it, a box pipe with mediocre grain and slap a rock into the side. Brilliant!

(Note: Brice is referring to my latest pipe, "Emerald City" on my web site)

If I didn't know better, Brice, I would think you're hostile.
For example: I was just looking at your web site and that Page 1, no-grain Blowfish? (I guess it's a blowfish?), and Jez, if I had a dollar for every time I've seen a pipemaker try to enhance his pipe with one of those old-style pipe lighters...and the colors on the page are just plain-Jane drab blue, and how long are you gonna keep using that dorky-looking painting of the drunk dude smoking a clay pipe, about to fall off his stool?


Serious Reference: U.S. Federal Trade Commission rules prohibit the use of terms like "cz diamonds", "faux emerald", etc. For example: To legally use the term "diamond" or "emerald" to describe a manmade gem stone, the stone must be chemically and gemologically identical to the natural stones. But, of course, this has nothing to do with Corsican Briar.

(I edited the Obama line. It was just too goofy)

[baweaverpipes]

My briar feels....................................like.....................friggin wood.............douchbags!

[Sasquatch]

*searching for the nearest defibrillator*

[RadDavis]

Bruce,

Your spell-check didn't catch your misspelling of douche-bag, you Dutch bag.

Rad

[geigerpipes]

judging from the plateaux shown they seem rater loose grained..we've made several hundred pipes out of corsican plateaux some where great blocks others whent into the trash bin much like usual..

Here is a nice speciment we are currently working on:

[Boekweg]

Looks just like briar to me.

Briar is briar. Country of origin makes no difference. It's the cutting and curing that makes the difference.

Any briar that's unobtainable except by a few select people is very desirable and better than all other briar. It used to be Algerian, and now it's Corsican. This one of the voodoo myths of pipe smoking.

The truth is that it's the briar mill and the pipe maker that make a beautiful, great smoking pipe, NOT the country the briar grows in.

When I was 20 years old, Coors beer was the best you could ever hope to get, because it was unobtainable east of the Mississippi. Out west it was just cheap beer.

Sucker.

Rad

I agree with Rad on this one. I know that i am no pipe expert and far from it. But for me, looking at briar, mainly plateau, it seems that i would be looking for a nice tight grian, a very nice and even grain that appear on both sides of the pateau block. It would not matter to me where it came from as long as it had these qualities.

[JMG]

judging from the plateaux shown they seem rater loose grained..we've made several hundred pipes out of corsican plateaux some where great blocks others whent into the trash bin much like usual..

Here is a nice speciment we are currently working on:

NICE.

[baweaverpipes]

Bruce,

Your spell-check didn't catch your misspelling of douche-bag, you Dutch bag.

Rad

You're always picking on me, Rod. I'll have you know, I'm not a Dutch bag, but a Polack bag.
Wow, you're such an ignoramus and your briar feels like Bois D'Arc.

[RadDavis]

Bruce,

Your spell-check didn't catch your misspelling of douche-bag, you Dutch bag.

Rad

You're always picking on me, Rod. I'll have you know, I'm not a Dutch bag, but a Polack bag.
Wow, you're such an ignoramus and your briar feels like Bois D'Arc.

Bruce, you are disgusting.

"Ruth Ann and Lynn they wear them cut off britches and those skinny little halters
And they're second cousins to me
Man I don't care I want to get between 'em
With a great big ol' hard on like a old bois d' arc fence post
You could hang a pipe rail gait from
Do some twisted sisters 'til the cows come home
And we'd be havin' us a time" - From "Choctaw Bingo" by James McMurtry

[Mike Messer]

Bruce,

Your spell-check didn't catch your misspelling of douche-bag, you Dutch bag.

Rad

You're always picking on me, Rod. I'll have you know, I'm not a Dutch bag, but a Polack bag.
Wow, you're such an ignoramus and your briar feels like Bois D'Arc.

Bruce, you are disgusting.

"Ruth Ann and Lynn they wear them cut off britches and those skinny little halters
And they're second cousins to me
Man I don't care I want to get between 'em
With a great big ol' hard on like a old bois d' arc fence post
You could hang a pipe rail gait from
Do some twisted sisters 'til the cows come home
And we'd be havin' us a time" - From "Choctaw Bingo" by James McMurtry

I hate to quote this, but there's no "toilet" button on the forum, so I can't flush it.
I've seen it before in several of the topics I started, and I gotta say, it's a cheap, sleasy attempt to trash the topic. Where are the Moderators, now?

[Mike Messer]

judging from the plateaux shown they seem rater loose grained..we've made several hundred pipes out of corsican plateaux some where great blocks others went into the trash bin much like usual..

Do you know if anyone still sells newly harvested Corsican?

[RadDavis]

I hate to quote this, but there's no toilet on the forum, so I can't flush it.
I've seen it before in several of the topics I started, and I gotta say, it's a cheap, sleasy attempt to trash the topic. Where are the Moderators, now?

Oh shut up.

I addressed your topic early on.

I was just having a little fun with Bruce. It had nothing to do with you or "trashing" your topic.

If you tout any type of briar as being superior to all others you're going to get some disagreement, and you have to live with that, and the thread won't stay on topic very long.

Rad

[Mike Messer]

I hate to quote this, but there's no toilet on the forum, so I can't flush it.
I've seen it before in several of the topics I started, and I gotta say, it's a cheap, sleasy attempt to trash the topic. Where are the Moderators, now?

Oh shut up.

I addressed your topic early on.

I was just having a little fun with Bruce. It had nothing to do with you or "trashing" your topic.

If you tout any type of briar as being superior to all others you're going to get some disagreement, and you have to live with that, and the thread won't stay on topic very long.

Rad

Well, okay, sorry, maybe I overreacted. On the up-side if you ever have to quit selling pipes, you could always write porn novels.