I was reading a letter sent in to Tom Dunn in The Pipe Smokers Ephemeris this morning while enjoying a bowl of Solani 660: Silver Flake. I smoked it in a Peterson Grafton series pipe I bought from Martin Neimann of the Oslo Pipe Club last year.

The submission was a great read, and, since not many of you would have access to this letter, I thought I would offer it here for your reading.

It was written and submitted by Regis McCafferty. He was positing his opinion on the “briar vs. brand” debate that was taking place back in the 2005 time period. Although that debate continues today. Here is the letter:

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“I continue to see comments, articles, and occasional references to the Briar versus Brand debate in TPSE and other publications. The Pipe Collector (NASPC Newsletter) has become the most prominent venue for this discussion and I follow it closely, occasionally offering my own thoughts on the issue. In fact, some of what follows appeared in my column in the July 2004 issue of the NASPC newsletter. I’ve been in agreement with Fred Hanna on the briar side since the beginning and to date, in spite of some excellent arguments in favor of brand, I still maintain the original location of the briar (Algeria, Greece, Sardinia, etc.) and its formative environment are the key factors in a superior smoke. Conditioning, curing, shape and quality control all contribute to a good smoke but if the maker doesn’t have that exceptional piece of briar to begin with, it’s a lost cause.”

“I’m not a pipemaker or briar expert. I’m simply a pipe smoker of 45 years or so who has smoked and collected several thousand pipes in that time, though a few years ago, I made a decision to reduce my collection and keep only those I considered fine smoking pipes. As a result, my current collection is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 pipes and best described as eclectic. And I have to admit I don’t pay too much attention to grain. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that pretty doesn’t necessarily make a fine smoking pipe. I’ve had beautiful straight grains that tasted like they were made of creosoted yellow pine. Not long ago, I returned a very high grade Danish pipe to the maker because after twenty bowls or so, it still tasted strongly of turpentine. Conversely, I have several GBDs, Kaywoodies, and Comoys of mixed grain that are exceptionally fine smokes and were from the first bowl. And that very fact set me to wondering about formative environment within source.”

“Formative environment within source… I’m not trying to be cryptic here and will try to explain. Prior to being cut into ebauchons, the briar root (which may weigh 15 pounds or more.) can be thought of as being in two layers: the plateau or outer layer where most straight grains come from, and the underwood – that older dense briar of mixed grain beneath the plateau more often accompanied by sandpits and other flaws. This is not to say straight grain can’t be found in underwood; it certainly can, but most it seems, comes from the outer few inches of wood. It is this underwood (in my admittedly uneducated opinion), that consistently provides the best tasting, best smoking briar. Why? I honestly don’t know. If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say age, pressure, perhaps a different climate than we’ve experienced in the past 30 years or so — but I just don’t know. I do know that Alfred Dunhill Senior preferred shells made from Algerian briar, and probably underwood — at least that’s what I’ve read in several publications.”

“Back in the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, most of the pipes I smoked were of briar originating in Algeria or Greece and were (for the most part) advertised as such. Since much of the briar for pipes came from those two countries at that time, I think it’s safe to assume that advertised or not, if I bought a GBD, Peterson, Charatan, Dunhill Shell, or Comoy, the briar probably had its source in those two countries. Just where in those two countries, I obviously didn’t know and in all likeli- hood, neither did many pipemakers.”

“I’m not for one minute saying that all Algerian briar tastes the same or has the same qualities, or that Grecian would. Nor am I saying that’s true of Corsican, Calabrian, Moroccan, Sardinian, or other briar source. I do believe, however, that soil and other local environmental conditions impart distinct qualities to the briar that are retained throughout the curing process. This may be less true with oil cures and in fact, I believe it is, but with air cured briar I firmly believe the home environment plays an important role. Within that environment may well be very specific qualities imparted by a specific location. Rainy conditions, or dry conditions, or soil that is unusually acidic or alkaline, would certainly impart some of those qualities to the briar root. Some of these characteristics eventually leach out over time if air cured, and of course, rather rapidly if oil cured, but for the most part, I believe the basic qualities of the environment the briar was formed in are retained.”

“I suspect the briar versus brand debate will go on as long as there are pipe smokers — certainly for my lifetime — and I find it a delight to participate. I find nothing amiss in collecting and smoking a particular brand. I’ve done it alternately with Dunhill, Charatan, Castello, and Barling, and have to admit that in days gone by, the chances of getting a fine smoking pipe by selecting one of those brands was exceptionally high. But at the time, the same was true for Comoy, Kaywoodie, GBD, and Sasieni. I think it is far less true today.”