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So this piece of briar seems to have some discoloration. It doesn't appear to go away as I sand, but also doesn't appear to have any flaws. Can anyone explain what it might be from? And if you were going to finish a pipe that had this discoloration, would you try to leave it smoothe, or would you rusticate it?

Seen it, not too sure I have factual evidence about it.... generally wood looks like that when the tree has sucked up certain minerals or metals because of its environment.

It will be far less evident after you stain. Wouldn't overly worry about it. But it's certainly not something one hopes to see.

Algerian?

I think Sas is right. What's the source for the briar?

ok thanks. I know this is probably one of those try it and figure it out kind of things, but would you venture to guess that absorbing other strange minerals/metals would change the flavor or taste when the pipe is smoked?

Yeah it is Algerian.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Pink liquid in briar is bad news in terms of taste. Other stuff seems not to matter much. I've had blocks where there was 5 or 6 years' worth of ring growth that were dark compared to the rest of the block... you work around it or stain the pipe dark. It's wood. And while we'd like every single pipe to be a perfect grain wonder pipe, it ain't so.

Or if you ARE making perfect wonder pipes, you chuck that piece out - apparently guys like Joura do so. The rest of us work with that, sandblast it, whatever...

Those of us who are worried that it may affect the favors either oil cure or bowl coat. But I wouldn't worry too much about it either way.

Thanks for the info guys!

I had a block a couple years back that has a big stain like this on it. In my case I made a bit of a feature of it and the pipe sold no problem, you might be able to do the same or you can hide it with stain.

I only speak for myself. I discard anything with odd coloration. I do not want to take a chance that something is wrong in my product.