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I find it annoying that he doesn't sand at least one side of the blocks for display purposes. Let us know how it turns out Todd.

My stuff doesn't look like that...I think maybe me and Edward got the same thing. I am just now able to see your bug guano blocks Sas, that sux! You're such a badass pipe maker though you should get something out of that! Hehe.

Well, I got a full refund. Alex was pretty upset when I sent him that picture. Hopefully, what will happen in the future is that he'll clean the blocks up a bit more and be able to do a better inspection. That would also be helpful to the buyer as well....

Hopefully the blocks other guys have bought are better than these.

I've never seen blocks come with fills before.

Rad

Yeah that's about what it amounted to. I wasn't laughin' though.

Wow that sucks. You gotta respect the abilities of whatever was able to bore through briar, though.

Perhaps it was the ultra rare Carbide-tipped Briar Beetle.

At least it sounds like he was standing by his product! Full refund huh? Let me go get my bleach spritzer...

I thought I'd update this. Alex has been really friendly and patient and seems to actually care what he sends out.

The subsequent blocks I got from eBay look really good so far. Also, Alex has sent replacement wood on the first ones on top of the refund, which is going WAY beyond. And let's face it, that's a hell of a lot more than some vendors would do. Usually if you complain about briar, you get a "luck of the draw" type of response from the supplier.

I'm not currently doing too much pipe work - have a hell of a cold, but I'm going to post some stuff when I'm done here.

At any rate, this last batch of briar I got is perfectly acceptable, and we have here a vendor who has some nice stuff and is sticking by what he sells.

Certainly at this point I am interested in a larger order. Will post some more pics over the next few days.

Thanks for the update. Nice to know that his service is so good. Maybe for my next order of briar I'll pay homage to my personal greek heritage and order from him...

I prefer to not have my briar sanded for inspection. If it is inspected I feel that due to my small orders, I will get what they do not want to send to larger customers. The first batch from Romeo was not sanded and I got awesome wood. The second batch came in sanded and was mediocer at best. I will take the old pot luck any day.

Just my opinion.

Skip wrote:I prefer to not have my briar sanded for inspection. If it is inspected I feel that due to my small orders, I will get what they do not want to send to larger customers. The first batch from Romeo was not sanded and I got awesome wood. The second batch came in sanded and was mediocer at best. I will take the old pot luck any day.

Just my opinion.

I can understand that point; I was specifically referring to briar where you're looking at the exact pieces you're going to buy, like on eBay or Jaume's site.

I don't know where I stand on this issue. I've had some blocks of Jaume's that I thought were gonna be crackers just turn out to be not very good at all, and oppositely, some that I've had from him that I thought were gonna be mediocre turned out some really exciting pipes. There's a limit to what you can see in pictures. Especially with the bark on.

Likewise (or opposite), it's kind of nice to be able to buy certain blocks if you have projects that will demand them - a horn or something. But most suppliers I've talked to have been totally willing to send me what I ask for in terms of size and shape. I like Mimmo's "treasure boxes" too - just a random pile of stuff, good for all occassions.

So far what I've seen in this Greek stuff, some if it is unuseable, and some of it is absolutely awesome. In six blocks, two of which were total garbage, at least two are also on the "oh my god" pile for grain.

2nd eBay purchase:




Look how tight some of this stuff is! I'm in grain heaven. Customer wants a large, smooth, straight grain dublin. Hahahahahaha! Okay buddy! Comin' right up!




So my barometer on this stuff is really moving from "waste of money" to "primary supplier" in a big hurry here.

At this stage, I'm ready to make a larger order. Alex backed up what he sold when it wasn't good, and the good stuff is looking very good indeed.

Wow this plateaux has great grain indeed...

Sas by saying garbage, what do you mean?bad grain? large flaws?

EDIT: the photos in this section are not Alex Zavvos's briar. These are older pix from other suppliers.



Well, it depends on what you are referring to, Michail...

I have now seen maybe 2-300 pieces of briar. I have some pictures of true garbage!

Here is poor curing - block is cracked/fissured deep inside. Cannot make a pipe because seeing through the bottom of a pipe is usually not ideal.




Some blocks are cut better than others, some have more dense grain, or more even grain. But you can make pipes from less than perfect grain structure, if the block is sound.

Sometimes a perfectly cured block just has a flaw too - you find a big hole in the middle, or a big slash where the thing grew around a rock or.... whatever. And all suppliers have that kind of thing. Sometimes you just get unlucky.

You cut a block, square it up, drill some holes, and find only clean wood - that's a good sign. In this block, you see that the chamber is pretty clean, but the block is showing a lot of little sand pits/black spots. So probably not going to be a smooth-grade pipe.




Poor/weird grain I will rusticate - I still enjoy carved finishes, so that doesn't bother me. But cutting a block and finding worm tracks, fissures, or tons and tons of sand pits.... it's not good enough to get my stamp (just not good enough to waste my time on). I sell people pipes, I tell them that the pipe is good. That means the wood has to be good. Maybe not perfect or exciting, but not full of holes!

Ok, I see, I want to try some of his plateaux, but I'm afraid cause of their price.

I know how hard it is to justify spending 20 or 30 dollars on a single piece of wood, when you are pretty new. Been there!

But.... when you get a nice plateaux, there is nothing like it. It inspires a fabulous pipe, and it's fun to make, and comes out terrific. Sometimes you simply have to do it!

My problem is that I've been buying straight grain pleteaux from Amadeus for 20 euros but with everything bigger than a small sandpit they would send me a new one.

Alexander plateaux bif enough for straight pipes cost 26 euros....

Sas would you quit squawking and go make the pipe so we can see how it looks when it's done?!

Never rush a Miracle Man, Sonny.

You get rotten miracles.