maxmil wrote:Olive wood provides an excellent grain. Restistencia not know the fire, and life time of a pipe made from this wood, because I never had any. Could you comment on this?.
In Spain, there is a craftsman who produces olive wood pipes.
http://www.bpipaclub.com/articulos.htm#Castano_
Greetings.
Felix
Hola Felix,
le agradezco su pensamiento sobre este tema!
I followed the link and read IT with great interest about the pipe maker scene in Spain.The article about Luis Castaño was very insightful.There is of course difference in olive wood like there is in Briar .I must add that the olive wood i use for my pipes go through thorough and rigid controls as i search, cut & cure my olive wood personally .
When i carve a pipe i always compose the grain carefully on the shape,i do not like to pick randomly a piece of wood and just place the shape onto it.There must be some even geometry that can be recognized on the finished pipe and it has to be placed by the creative will of the carver and not by luck. The specific density and structure of the olive trees that grow in this region on the stony ground makes it after the curing process to great smokers as it gives some smooth sweetness to the smoking experience.
There is always the question on fire resistance of the material used and broad discussions are debated here and elsewhere.
Here i will post a picture of two of my olive wood pipes that went through a endurance test for almost 2 years smoked almost every second day by a client of mine.
The pipe on the right has a bowl 2,2 cm wide and 2,9cm deep with a wall thickness measuring
8mm and both are with filter bores .
As you can observe the intense use by the rimm of the bowl, the rest of the pipe is clean and free of any irregularities like cracks,burn-through etc,etc.
I never had one complaint from any clients yet who smoke my pipes,and that is the reason why i am rigid in my control of the wood quality.
The wood is very dense and a bit heavier than Briar , kind of oily as my files and sanding tracks tend to fill up rather fast.
Here you can find some more details on the olive wood i use ;
http://www.fumeursdepipe.net/pipiersNnatur.htm
I hope this will answer your question.
Best,
Abi
) There is a rather strong contrast between the grain color,the not so perfect angle of light i sometimes use on some shots and the rather large downscale of my photos from the original.
