pipemakersforum.com

New here. Been switching between pipes, cigarettes (pre-made, RYO and SYO), and cigars on and off for 20 years now. I've got a decent collection of pipes, but wanna try making my own.

I've got this great old plum tree thats 20+ft tall and the trunks about 20-24in across in the yard, it has a few dead limbs on it this year and I spy a few that may be able to be made into a pipe. Of course my question is, is the wood from a plum tree any good for a pipe? I've searched high and low, google, here, the pipes.org forum, ect, to no avail. Also dont see anything about toxicity listed on the only 2 charts I've found.

And of course, as per the header, I've also got hickory and Mimosa trees everywere. I dont imagine they'd be good for a pipe but just throwing it out there. Seems like hickory would crack and taste like... hickory, lol. Mimosa, for those that dont know, grows wild in NE Arkansas and a few other places I've been. Its a tree with fern like leaves and has golf to tennis ball sized pink and white flowers on them, sorta has 'hair' instead of petals on the flowers. Also gets some intresting seed pods on it in the fall. Anyhow, I think it'd bee too soft. But maybe. I've also got the whole set of roots from a Mimosa that was up-rooted in a storm a month or two ago, but I could not find any peices that looked like they could become a pipe. The darn things try and sprout in my yard everywere a mower wont go and get 2ft tall thier first season it seems. Hopin maybe theres some use for tham anyway, haha.

As to the hickory......try to find some pork flavored tobacco!! The should smoke really well in a hickory pipe!! :thumb: Nah....I wouldn't bother with using hickory. An old burl on a hickory tree might not crack but the flavor wouldn't be so nice.

As to the Mimosa, I am familiar with the tree. I grew up in Western Kentucky where it also grows all over the place. If I remember correctly the sap in it is a akin to pine. Meaning, there is quite a bit of it and it's strong smelling. That is not a good thing for making a pipe.

The plum wood should be much the same as apple and cherry. There is plenty of information around concerning pipes made from cherry wood. I would suggest that you go and hunt that info down. Try using this forums Search function.

good luck!!

Well, ebony is related to the plum tree. Ebony is rediculously hard. Found a ton of references on the Dept of Forestry's site, but no fact sheets.