Differint Briars

I have pipes that say they use Mediterranean Briar but that's as close as I have seen to naming a location.  

Italian pipes almost always use Italian briar. Other pipe makers will either use Algerian briar or Greek briar. I believe the Algerian briar is a bit cheaper than the Greek briar and you generally see that briar in commercial manufactured pipes, and the Greek briar in higher end custom pipes. I could be wrong, so other thoughts certainly welcome.

Good call out , Ted. I had forgotten that at one point Dunhill was using the Algerian briar and curing it with oil. 

  Michael,
   Thanks for the clarification, which I was aware of and should have added in my example.

In my experience, not really.

When a pipe is fresh and not broken in, the taste of the wood can come through, but after the bowl has formed a sufficient carbonized layer, that mostly or completely goes away.

With the exception of very experienced carvers, and cutters, the vast majority of us can't tell whether a pipe is made from Algerian, Calabrian, Ligurian, or other Spanish or Grecian briar.

But we love our myths, like the one about Dunhill using Algerian briar.  Pick up a copy of the 1928 edition of "About Smoke" and you will read that they used Calabrian briar, which is from Italy, and they also used Grecian briar.  They may very well have used some Algerian in the making of their shells at some point, but that's not where Dunhill says they sourced.

Algerian briar was considered an inferior grade, too soft to hold up to use.  You will find a lot of cheap "no-name" pipes that are stamped "Algerian Briar".  Comoy and Barling did use Algerian briar and they both carried out their own harvesting operations in Algeria.  They both like the working characteristics of Algerian briar, but were also very selective about what they ultimately used, and didn't use methods to speed up the curing process, preferring to air cure their wood for years before cutting, curing more before shaping, and curing it again before finishing.  Barling was probably the only major maker who specialized in Algerian briar, at least until 1954, when they lost their harvesting operations due to the Algerian war for Independence, and they capitalized on the fascination that the popularity of Orientalism provided in the early years of the last century.  They played up the myth of "old wood" that exists to this day.  But reading their literature form the 1920's you won't find mention of 100, 150, or 200 year old wood.  They used burls that were in the neighborhood of 65 years of age, which makes perfect sense.

I believe that the stamp "Imported Briar" means that the pipe was manufactured just after WWII when briar had just become available again.

Kaywoodie began stamping their pipes "Imported Briar" in 1937.  Before that they used more specific stampings for Algerian and Grecian.


That was common among the various British makers at that time.  BBB began to make some of their own pipes in the late 1880's while continuing to import French turned bowls, Charatan did the same, etc.  French carvers were considered the superior craftsmen.  Dunhill also bought stummels from BBB and possibly Charatan, before going into the production of their pipes in-house, and they never made all of their own pipes.  Another Dunhill myth. 

To give those who might be interested a little insight into the state of affairs in the British pipe making industry, consider this.  In 1928, Barling sought to amend the Merchandise Marks Act.  What Barling wanted to change was the requirement for stamping the COM, or country of origin, stamp so that pipes stamped "Made In England" or "Made In London, England" had to actually be made in England or in London. 
Up to that point, you could have imported a pipe made on Mars and stamped it "Made In England".   The reason Barling wanted this amendment is simple.  After the 1906 St Claude carvers' strike, Barling made the decision to stop using French made bowls and to make everything in house.  They were the only manufacturer to do this.  Everyone else was still importing a portion of their stock from France.  Barling noted that there was a certain cachet attached to an English made pipe, and wanted to cash in on it.  So they applied to have the Act amended.  There was an immediate uproar in the trade, and guess who lead the opposition to Barling's machinations?  Dunhill.  They said in court that such a change would be a "disaster" for the English pipe manufacturing industry.  Comoy was more blunt about it.  They said that the most skilled carvers were French and that British workers could not  maintain the same level of quality.  Barling lost the fight and thus pipes made in laLaLaLaBingBang can be stamped "Made In England".

My favorite pipes and briar have been the Amorelli , Sicilian briar. They have never disappointed me, the briar has been touted as some of the best.

Just to clarify one thing: It's not "all of us people knowing all of these things"! You heard from the Bard of Barling.... But certainly as a group there is a lot of knowledge, and it's impressive. 

...agreed... it's "society" knowledge...