The grain in a tobacco pipe is considered one of the most fascinating and distinctive elements by smokers.
According to some, these natural wood ‘patterns’, visible on the surface of the tobacco pipe, not only influence its aesthetics, but also determine its smoking performance.
In this article, we will look at why briar grains influence connoisseurs' choice and their impact on the smokability of the tobacco pipe.
Why buy a flamed tobacco pipe?
A smooth briar tobacco pipe can have very different grains and nodulations, in fact we could say that the varieties are practically infinite.
For this reason, there can never be two identical tobacco pipes of this type.
Among the grain varieties, the best known and most appreciated is certainly the flamed one, which is considered a valuable element by connoisseurs.
Briar is flamed when it has a series of thin, almost parallel grains on the burner, alternately darker and lighter in colour, running perpendicularly between the base of the burner and its top.
The flaming, in reality, consists only of the darker veins, made up of smaller fibres very close together, as opposed to the lighter ones that we could almost consider the background of these dark lines.
This structure is clearly visible to the naked eye, but with a magnifying glass it can be observed in more detail.
The first to appreciate flamed briar in the tobacco pipe were the English, while in other countries, such as Italy and France, they began to look for it later. In fact, they preferred rather a certain compactness in the “design” of the wood, with circular nodules densely arranged.
We are talking about pipes that had many small round nodules at the base of the burner, which thinned out towards the top.
We are talking about tobacco pipes with prominent "bird eyes", because they resemble the eyes of a bird.
A tobacco pipe with a highly flamed briar is not common, because only a small section of the log can be extracted from it, and this is precisely why they tend to have a higher price.
At this point, one wonders whether the flaming has only an aesthetic value, or is also decisive in smoking.
Actually, it is very difficult to give an unambiguous answer.
For some smokers, even illustrious ones, flamed tobacco pipes tend to improve, from the first smoke, faster unlike others.
Still others believe that tobacco pipes with bird eyes provide better heat dissipation and enhance tobacco characteristics by virtue of the cross-cutting of the briar.
We believe that the solution to this question is simply to try both types firsthand.
But there is no doubt that a flamed tobacco pipe should not be missing from the connoisseur's collection, especially if he or she is always fascinated by the flamed grain.