Other times it couldn't be more perfect. Yesterday I grabbed a block of briar (Cirta grade from Pipemakers' Emporium, believe it or not) to make a little bamboo nosewarmer. The grain was not laid out to give me a full length straight grain billiard, but it was structured so that I could get two bamboo pipes out of it, Sixten style. Below you will see the two roughed pipes resulting from this effort. I couldn't be happier with the grain. I could have flipped the pipes over in the photo and you would see the same structure. It is as perfect as it can be.
Here you go:
I know that some folks have doubted the quality of the wood from Pipemakers' Emporium having bought a handful of wood and had mixed results. Here, though, are two examples of what is possible with their wood. It is indeed of the highest quality even though like all briar it can have some devastating flaws on occasion.
About the wood from pipe makers, its just like anywhere else. Sometime its good sometimes not. I was helping Alex Florov get 14 bamboo kits put together for the pipe makering siminar. Out of 14 blocks donated by pipemakers emporium we only had 2 with serious enough flaws that we had to scrap them. Not a bad average. If you need smaller quantities than is required to order from mimo they are a great option.
Now that's a beautiful pair - and I rarely say that about non-anatomical parts.
He's priced just right. His wood is not up there with Mimmo's out of the bag. Mimmo is better at sorting out potentially difficult wood. But, for the price or especially if you can hand pick it at a show, the wood is definitely worth it.