pipemakersforum.com

Hey folks,
I hope the holidays are treating you all well.

Has anybody dealt with BouchematBriar? Looking through some old threads, I assume it's Yazid? The reason I ask is that I recently sent a message through their website inquiring about a sample of their briar and they just responded by saying they had shipped me a package and I owe $270! Not exactly the answer I was looking for to say the least.

Anyways, just curious if anybody else has had any experiences with them.

Thanks,
Josh

Bouchemat Briar is Yazid. I've never done business with him because I heard a ton of horror stories. You're better off getting your briar through Steve at Vermont Freehand if you don't want to go straight to one of the reputable briar mills (Mimmo, Manno, or Makis are the big 3).

I've been warned not to deal with him by a couple different people who paid money and never got the briar. He's been very active on my social media trying to reach out with the same arrangement as you described where cash is due on receipt. I suspect he's trying to put forth an effort to restore his reputation.

As for his briar, I have bought quite a bit of it from Steve N. back when Steve was still selling his briar. Most of it is good for sandblasts and the occasional smooth. It's a bit more hit-or-miss than Mimmo.

Josh, I've also shipped a sample of briar, a couple of toothbrushes, an old can of TurtleWax, and a bottle cap. The price is $450.00, the bottle cap was free, so this is a pretty good deal.

Please remit payment at your earliest convenience to BriarSweatandTears@gmail through paypal or an e transfer.


In all honesty, I'd wait to see if any briar shows up. If some does and if you think the price is reasonable, then I guess pay. But shoving product down someone's throat is really no way to do business. And if he cries, it's only an echo of the cries of many pipe makers 10 years back when Yazid ripped them off outright.

He offered me a sample, I said sure but I wouldn't pay for it, funnily no sample showed up. With the exception of mimmo, who has no need to drum up business, the other suppliers are usually very happy to send out a couple of blocks for free or at a low price to show what they have. Makis sent me a nice little sample box a few years ago and I have bought briar from him since.

I've had an experience of the exact opposite. He contacted me through Instagram and offered me to purchase some briar, and I went with it. The guy said that I would pay only after I received the briar and a few weeks later it arrived. Some nice grain on the grade 1 plateaux (although pretty loose grain compered to European briar) , but when I asked what's the address that I should send the payment to via PayPal and after that it went silent. I contacted him through a few different social media, but all I got was "message seen" and no response. I don't like the feeling that I owe someone something. I think it's been two months since it arrived.

I have attached some pipes I've made out of his briar.

I hope my experience helps



Sent from my Redmi 4X using Tapatalk

Thanks for all of the input everybody! We'll see what happens, I'm hoping it never shows up.

Yea, I almost always order from Steve, in this case I was trying to feel out another source for Algerian (love those craggy/gnarly blasts). I've read through some of those Yazid horror stories on the forum, scary stuff for sure! I didn't realize till later it was probably the same person.

Todd, the bottle cap did it for me, those little extras are really icing on the cake, your payment is pending.

Janka, thanks for sharing, that's crazy he hasn't responded! And the pipes looks nice.

Thanks again and enjoy the weekend!
-Josh