Good Briar Block Selection

[Jeff_Grivers]

Was just wondering where you fellas go to get that nice select briar. I know people use sites such as ebay and my go to is PIMOs which i have gotten nice blocks from but i feel like there has to be places out there that have single blocks you can choose from of the highest quality and best grain? Where are you getting your blocks from?

[sandahlpipe]

Your best option is to pick out the briar yourself at a pipe show. The very best (Mimmo Grade 1) is extremely difficult to come by. Mimmo Grade 2 and Makis briar are both excellent. PIMO is now owned by Steve Norse at Vermont Freehand and he's a great guy to buy from. The thing is, though, briar selection is only a small part of getting a nicely-grained pipe. Knowing how to read a block and place the pipe shape to maximize the grain and how to apply a finish that brings out the grain are all a much bigger part of the puzzle. Unless you're selling pipes for hundreds of dollars, I wouldn't worry too much about grain. It's a shame to screw up when the block costs $45.

[DocAitch]

I order from Mimmo Romeo direct for most of my briar.
He sells 3 sized batches 10, 20,or 30 blocks. Each batch is a mix of ebauchon and plateau. I have yet to find an unusable block in 100+ blocks. I have also purchased at shows from Steve Norse and Premal Chheda, both Italian and Grecian.
At about 140 pipes (this century), I’ve not felt the need to pore over blocks to select them, but have watched Jason Thompson take 30 minutes to select a block for a shape that he had planned.
It depends on where you are in your pipe making and your approach to shaping a stummel.
I think that Mimmo grade II is a good bet sight unseen.
Even grade I can hide a disastrous flaw down deep. Shit happens.
DocAitch

[caskwith]

Unless you visit the carver directly, and pay big money, no-one is going to let you pick over a raw selection of blocks to find the best ones.

[Massis]

Unless you visit the carver directly, and pay big money, no-one is going to let you pick over a raw selection of blocks to find the best ones.

If you visit the carver directly, depending on the carver, there's no obligation to pay big money for the privilege of choosing. Obviously you won't get $50 blocks for $5...

Before he retired I visited Jaume Hom multiple times, and even with my reasonably low orders (€300 was the lowest I think), I could select my blocks.
Quite simply: they were already split into grades, so the price was simply dependant on the stack I chose from. He would let me handpick from each stack, and didn't care if I bought 1 or 50 blocks.

Such a shame he retired...

I have a few blocks from his €65/each "very thight grain" stack, 2 of which were a gift from him. But I also got stunning blocks from his €15/piece extra grade plateaux (not even extra extra grade).
This one was a €15 block:




This was a €4 ebouchon (and one of my earliest pipes):

[scotties22]

I get most of my briar directly from Manno. They cut blocks specifically for me. However, it took me 5 years to get to that point. And doing it any sooner would have been a waste of money for me.

I still get quite a few Mimmo & Makis blocks from Steve and there is an advantage in doing so. Steve lets the shipments sit for a few months before he loads the blocks into bins and is ready to sell them. That ensures that the blocks are completely dry and need no further dry time when we get them. This is important if you plan to keep only a few blocks onhand at a time. I have received more than one shipments (from all the major cutters) that have been wet and needed to sit for 3+ months before I could use them.

[LatakiaLover]

You people crack me up.

You want good briar? The obvious---OBVIOUS---solution is to become a billionaire, then tell those harvester/seller dudes that you'll pay a million dollars a block for their best stuff. You'll get it, guaranteed.

Duh.

[caskwith]

Bit of a different situation there Nick to what I was referring, you were looking through pre-sorted blocks. You were already paying the big bucks for the best wood.

Unless I got the wrong end of the burl, the OP was wanting to go through a big pile of mixed blocks and cherry pick the best for a lower price.

[Jeff_Grivers]

Awesome information guys and its much appreciated. I understand that the layout on the block is crucial and i have been experimenting and getting better with that. When you say direct from the cutter such a Mimmo and the others do you mean like physically going to Italy to get them or do they have a website to order through? I will most likely continue to go through Steve it seems like a lot of you go there as well.

[Jeff_Grivers]

Your best option is to pick out the briar yourself at a pipe show. The very best (Mimmo Grade 1) is extremely difficult to come by. Mimmo Grade 2 and Makis briar are both excellent. PIMO is now owned by Steve Norse at Vermont Freehand and he's a great guy to buy from. The thing is, though, briar selection is only a small part of getting a nicely-grained pipe. Knowing how to read a block and place the pipe shape to maximize the grain and how to apply a finish that brings out the grain are all a much bigger part of the puzzle. Unless you're selling pipes for hundreds of dollars, I wouldn't worry too much about grain. It's a shame to screw up when the block costs $45.

Thanks Sandahl. Great info

[Jeff_Grivers]

I order from Mimmo Romeo direct for most of my briar.
He sells 3 sized batches 10, 20,or 30 blocks. Each batch is a mix of ebauchon and plateau. I have yet to find an unusable block in 100+ blocks. I have also purchased at shows from Steve Norse and Premal Chheda, both Italian and Grecian.
At about 140 pipes (this century), I’ve not felt the need to pore over blocks to select them, but have watched Jason Thompson take 30 minutes to select a block for a shape that he had planned.
It depends on where you are in your pipe making and your approach to shaping a stummel.
I think that Mimmo grade II is a good bet sight unseen.
Even grade I can hide a disastrous flaw down deep. Shit happens.
DocAitch

Awesome thank you Doc

[Jeff_Grivers]

Unless you visit the carver directly, and pay big money, no-one is going to let you pick over a raw selection of blocks to find the best ones.

If you visit the carver directly, depending on the carver, there's no obligation to pay big money for the privilege of choosing. Obviously you won't get $50 blocks for $5...

Before he retired I visited Jaume Hom multiple times, and even with my reasonably low orders (€300 was the lowest I think), I could select my blocks.
Quite simply: they were already split into grades, so the price was simply dependant on the stack I chose from. He would let me handpick from each stack, and didn't care if I bought 1 or 50 blocks.

Such a shame he retired...

I have a few blocks from his €65/each "very thight grain" stack, 2 of which were a gift from him. But I also got stunning blocks from his €15/piece extra grade plateaux (not even extra extra grade).
This one was a €15 block:





This was a €4 ebouchon (and one of my earliest pipes):

Thanks for the info and beautiful pipes!

[Sasquatch]

I have a slightly different strategy for this.

I've hand picked blocks at Chicago, from Mimmo, Manno and Makis. And had winners and losers from that experience. Like, you can get a XX grade plateau that just isn't very clean and won't make a smooth from ANYone! And hell, you can pick it yourself which is even more frustrating!


I've thrown out Mimmo Grade 1 blocks. I've thrown out Jaume's super-grade. I've thrown out Makis's tightest hand select. And conversely, I've gotten great, great pipes out of blocks from eBay, from #2 grade stuff from Mimmo... like, it takes awhile to match up material, shape, and skill level (and the luck that the briar holds).


This is a Mimmo 2.





I'm sorry, but that's good enough.


It wasn't hand selected, it came in a batch I probably got either direct from Mimmo or from Steve at VermontFreehand - more likely the latter actually. The point is, I don't know. It was here. With the blocks. Piles of em.

This isn't an "everyday" thing, you don't just walk into the shop and bang out perfect grained straights (this was a commissioned sandblast btw - the customer still teases me about being too lazy to blast it). They happen. To make them happen more often, you need ..... a lot of briar. Big ones. Little ones. Wide ones. Crooked shit. Long ones... fat, short, twisted... all of em. You can't just have 3 blocks on hand that you know are somehow pre-ordained for greatness. They aren't. They can all fail. They can all have that funny run in them, they can have a rock in the middle. They can stain weird, they can be ugly in 100 ways. What you want is 50 blocks to pick from, and then you can knock out pretty nice stuff pretty often.


Can you spot the eBay briar?











This is not about having some magical source for only perfect blocks because all you make is super high grade pipes. Or, if it is, you already have this source because you've been at this for 20 years. (In other words, "Hey New Guy, you're order of 5 mediums isn't a bulk order!" (and I'm not directing that sentiment at the OP, just there are lots of people who are surprised that cutters/vendors won't accommodate the totally unreasonably demands of the guy who is going to make 3 pipes and then quit) ).


The other side of my answer is, "Relationships."

Build them. With pipe makers, with suppliers, with everyone. Pipe making is still a small group. Eventually, you see the same people again. And again. And if you fucked them in the past, you won't get the big smiles.

Somewhere on this board is a post by a guy who bought 50 blocks from a greek vendor on eBay. This is years and years ago. He thought it was a good deal, and he pressed "buy it now" again. And the shipping.... didn't change. So he did it again, and once more. 200 blocks, and the vendor was contractually obligated to ship for the price because his store was not set up quite right. Dude came here gloating about it. I mean, not only was it a crappy way to to business in my communist opinion, but what do you think the vendor sent him? "Hey Frankie, we need 200 specials for this clown in the USA."

I do the opposite. I gauge interest of a vendor, see what/if he is willing to sell me. I talk to him about what I want to make, see if maybe I can get an order that leans in the direction of say, longer blocks because I make a lot of Canadians, for example. Some guys that's no problem. You drop 1000 bucks in Mimmo's lap, he's real accomodating that way. I try to make it so these guys want to do business with me. I pay. Now. Here you go. Here's the money, thanks for the wood. There's no delay, there's no arguing about price.

The cutters know exactly what they are sending. Exactly. So the power is theirs. Period. Be nice to 'em! It's almost that simple.

[Jeff_Grivers]

I have a slightly different strategy for this.

I've hand picked blocks at Chicago, from Mimmo, Manno and Makis. And had winners and losers from that experience. Like, you can get a XX grade plateau that just isn't very clean and won't make a smooth from ANYone! And hell, you can pick it yourself which is even more frustrating!


I've thrown out Mimmo Grade 1 blocks. I've thrown out Jaume's super-grade. I've thrown out Makis's tightest hand select. And conversely, I've gotten great, great pipes out of blocks from eBay, from #2 grade stuff from Mimmo... like, it takes awhile to match up material, shape, and skill level (and the luck that the briar holds).


This is a Mimmo 2.





I'm sorry, but that's good enough.


It wasn't hand selected, it came in a batch I probably got either direct from Mimmo or from Steve at VermontFreehand - more likely the latter actually. The point is, I don't know. It was here. With the blocks. Piles of em.

This isn't an "everyday" thing, you don't just walk into the shop and bang out perfect grained straights (this was a commissioned sandblast btw - the customer still teases me about being too lazy to blast it). They happen. To make them happen more often, you need ..... a lot of briar. Big ones. Little ones. Wide ones. Crooked shit. Long ones... fat, short, twisted... all of em. You can't just have 3 blocks on hand that you know are somehow pre-ordained for greatness. They aren't. They can all fail. They can all have that funny run in them, they can have a rock in the middle. They can stain weird, they can be ugly in 100 ways. What you want is 50 blocks to pick from, and then you can knock out pretty nice stuff pretty often.


Can you spot the eBay briar?











This is not about having some magical source for only perfect blocks because all you make is super high grade pipes. Or, if it is, you already have this source because you've been at this for 20 years. (In other words, "Hey New Guy, you're order of 5 mediums isn't a bulk order!" (and I'm not directing that sentiment at the OP, just there are lots of people who are surprised that cutters/vendors won't accommodate the totally unreasonably demands of the guy who is going to make 3 pipes and then quit) ).


The other side of my answer is, "Relationships."

Build them. With pipe makers, with suppliers, with everyone. Pipe making is still a small group. Eventually, you see the same people again. And again. And if you fucked them in the past, you won't get the big smiles.

Somewhere on this board is a post by a guy who bought 50 blocks from a greek vendor on eBay. This is years and years ago. He thought it was a good deal, and he pressed "buy it now" again. And the shipping.... didn't change. So he did it again, and once more. 200 blocks, and the vendor was contractually obligated to ship for the price because his store was not set up quite right. Dude came here gloating about it. I mean, not only was it a crappy way to to business in my communist opinion, but what do you think the vendor sent him? "Hey Frankie, we need 200 specials for this clown in the USA."

I do the opposite. I gauge interest of a vendor, see what/if he is willing to sell me. I talk to him about what I want to make, see if maybe I can get an order that leans in the direction of say, longer blocks because I make a lot of Canadians, for example. Some guys that's no problem. You drop 1000 bucks in Mimmo's lap, he's real accomodating that way. I try to make it so these guys want to do business with me. I pay. Now. Here you go. Here's the money, thanks for the wood. There's no delay, there's no arguing about price.

The cutters know exactly what they are sending. Exactly. So the power is theirs. Period. Be nice to 'em! It's almost that simple.

Thanks Sasquatch. Your right all those pipes are really nice and i can't tell which block came from where. That has pretty been my approach so far. I have been ordering mix of Mimmo, makis, and manno, from vermont freehand all different sizes and grades, ebouchans and plateau. some $8 some $15 and i usually throw one or two grade 2 plateaus in there with the hope to maybe get one with a nice straight grain to run it vertical on the pipe. Ill just keep plugging away and wait for the diamonds in the rough.

[Sasquatch]

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/13-BRIAR-PLATEA ... SwNEdbo0VD


I don't know what your price point is, but lots like this will have 1 junker, 1 or 2 real winners, and a bunch of pretty decent blocks.

But again, you go to VF with 250 bucks, you'll get better stuff than if you go with 35.

[Jeff_Grivers]

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/13-BRIAR-PLATEA ... SwNEdbo0VD


I don't know what your price point is, but lots like this will have 1 junker, 1 or 2 real winners, and a bunch of pretty decent blocks.

But again, you go to VF with 250 bucks, you'll get better stuff than if you go with 35.

Cool thanks. those bundles are pretty good. With 13 blocks they end up coming out to about $15 a piece. Ya i usually get all my briar from VF, i'll order between $100 and $200 at a time and try to make my money get me the most amount of variety and wood possible.

[Jeff_Grivers]

In case anyone is interested i found this site today. They are Briar cutters located in Algeria. There prices aren't bad at all. They ship 20 block orders. They also guarantee for 6 months that there will be no deep pits or cracks inside the blocks or they will refund your money. Also you don't have to pay until the wood arrives and you are happy with it. Of course they could just be saying that and never give you your money back who knows. Since we were on the topic i figured i would post it for resources for all. Check it out.

http://bouchematbriar.com/index.html

[sandahlpipe]

You may want to search the forum for "Yazid." I have some that I bought through a supplier that I believe came from his mill, and the wood is decent for blasts and mediocre for smooths. The average quality isn't as good, in my opinion, as what I've gotten from Makis or Mimmo.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11645&hilit=yazid

[Sasquatch]

In case anyone is interested i found this site today. They are Briar cutters located in Algeria. There prices aren't bad at all. They ship 20 block orders. They also guarantee for 6 months that there will be no deep pits or cracks inside the blocks or they will refund your money. Also you don't have to pay until the wood arrives and you are happy with it. Of course they could just be saying that and never give you your money back who knows. Since we were on the topic i figured i would post it for resources for all. Check it out.

http://bouchematbriar.com/index.html

Yazid has a long, ugly history in the industry. You might get good wood, you might get bad wood, you might get no wood at all.

[sethile]

As others have allready mentioned, you'll find good and bad briar from everyone at all price points. If you like the idea of picking out your own, the easiest way to see a lot of briar to choose from is at the show in Chicago. It's all pre-sorted, but you'll be able to pick through a lot of blocks in each grade and size from several different cutters. And, it's must attend event anyway!! Get there early in the week for the best selection.

I've orered and purchased direct from Mimmo at the show, but mostly buy his blocks from Vermont Freehand now. I've hand selected from Manno and Giordano at the show, and ordered direct from Calabria Pipe (Vito Carlino). I've seem a lot of nice briar from a lot of other cutters too, but those are the only ones I've bought from so far.

For me, Steve at Vermont Freehand is the best option for most of my briar needs these days. You avoid all the hassles and potential diasasters associated with dealing direct with the cutter over seas.. If you're buying a whole lot of blocks at once, or you're working on a special project with specific requirements, and want a bunch of blocks that meet those specs, Mimmo is fantastic for that!