The Great Manzanita Mystery ... SOLVED!

[pierredekat]

Or "Sherlock Holmes, Eat Your Heart Out."

I think I just figured out:
*why US Pipemakers, Kaywoodie and others, stopped using Manzanita, AKA "Mission Briar", after World War II;
* why they distanced themselves from domestic briar production after the war when they began to stamp every single pipe "Imported Briar", rather than just "Briar" or "Bruyere"; and
* why nobody in the US ever dared to use domestic briar, ever again.

Guilt-by-association.

You see, when imported briar started getting scarce during WWII, US pipemakers started looking for alternatives, and they were basically split into two camps: those who started using manzanita and those who started using mountain laurel.

Ever hear of a pipemaker called Breezewood? Well, Breezewood was one of the companies using mountain laurel as a substitute for Mediterranean briar, just like Monterey Pipes was one of the companies using manzanita, or "Mission Briar".



Breezewood quietly closed its doors after the war because, as it turns out, all parts of the mountain laurel (Important: Not Manzanita) are "dangerously poisonous".

Mountain laurel contains a powerful neurotoxin that, when ingested, causes convulsions, paralysis, and death within a matter of about six hours.

And somewhere along the way -- I'm guessing way too late in the game for some -- folks using mountain laurel as a substitute for Mediterranean briar figured this out.

I'm just gonna bet money that people started getting sick, maybe even dying: people growing and harvesting mountain laurel, people in pipe factories breathing all that mountain laurel dust, and possibly even folks who smoked those mountain laurel pipes, later on down the line.

People caught on. Maybe there were even some items in the news. And suddenly US pipemakers couldn't put enough distance between themselves and mountain laurel pipe production fast enough.

The phrase "Imported Briar" became all the rage, and never again did US pipemakers attempt to grow or harvest briar -- any kind of briar -- ever again.

Just for the sake of reference, though, I should point out that nearly every single product on the market, right up until the 70s contained lead, asbestos, and so on. Heck, doctors used to put mercury thermometers in our mouths and not think a thing about it. A lot of this stuff, we just didn't know any better.

But anyway, manzanita got caught up in all of this mess. It's not poisonous, and it makes a fine smoking pipe, but who would want to take the risk, after that mountain laurel fiasco, huh?

You see, it's kinda like mushrooms and toadstools. Nobody wants to pick mushrooms when there's the significant risk that you might pick a few toadstools by mistake.

Why not just make soup and let other people worry about which one is a mushroom and which one is a toadstool?

Something like that, anyway.

So, just to recap, here:
* mountain laurel is poisonous;
* manzanita is NOT poisonous (somehow I feel like I am not emphasizing that enough)
* and after the war, the use of manzanita briar ended and the phrase "Imported Briar" became popular because US pipemakers had to disassociate themselves from the wartime practice of using mountain laurel as a substitute for Mediterranean briar.

So what do you think? Does that sound plausible?

And where is my deerstalker hat and my calabash pipe? I think I deserve a smoke.

[KurtHuhn]

That is some *great* detective work, Robert. I wonder if there's any record of illness associated with mountain laurel pipes. That'd be interesting to uncover.

Every time I go into the local woodcraft, I look for a hunk of manzanita that isn't full of cracks and fissures. I never have any luck, though, and I'm a little afraid to buy a huge hunk off the 'Net for fear that I'll get garbage. You've definitely piqued my interest in "mission briar".

[RadDavis]

I found this:

"Although all parts of the plant are poisonous, the native Cherokee used and infusion of its leaves for a liniment. The trunks were used by Native American and the early mountain settlers to carve tool handles, spoons and other utensils. The burls were used to carve tobacco pipes."


I also found a story in the New York Times from 1913 about a motion in Congress to make the Mountain Laurel the national flower. One main objection was that the demands on the plant were already great (the making of pipes being one of them), and that they didn't want to increase the harvest of wild plants and lead to its demise.

Mountain Laurel was being used for pipes long before WWII.

I'm not sure that the Breezewood company closed its doors because of the reason you have deduced.

I think maybe it was just that briar is a superior pipe material and became widely available again after the war.

Why Breezewood didn't just switch to briar is anyone's guess.

Rad

[RadDavis]

I mentioned Jerry Perry in another thread about Mountain Laurel. Apparently, he's still making pipes from Mountain Laurel:

http://www.perryspipesandrepair.com/jerrymisc.htm

Rad

[pierredekat]

I guess I just can't imagine any company in the US researching and developing a certain product line, then developing a supply chain to produce that product, carving out a market for that product, and so on, and then just suddenly disowning the whole operation ... unless something seriously, seriously went wrong along the way.

[RadDavis]

I guess I just can't imagine any company in the US researching and developing a certain product line, then developing a supply chain to produce that product, carving out a market for that product, and so on, and then just suddenly disowning the whole operation ... unless something seriously, seriously went wrong along the way.

Me neither, but what went wrong could've been something as simple as mismanagement leading to bankruptcy or just a declining market for pipes made of Mountain Laurel. Who knows?

Look at The Pipe. Venturi did an awful lot of researching and developing and carving out a market and went along fine for a few years with several different lines, and then they went out of business because people weren't buyiing their pipes anymore.

I know nothing about pipes made of Mountain Laurel, I just think it's a big leap to assume that they were poisoning and even killing people. It seems to me that the pipe smoking public would have heard about that and nobody would dare use Mountain Laurel ever again for a pipe, yet at least one guy still does.

Rad

[Frank]

Interesting facts. Sorry Rob, but I can't give you one of my Sherlock Calabash pipes until you and Rad thrash this out, even though I have about 40+ of them.
Looks like this might be an interesting discussion. Now, who was the silly bugger who first mentioned Mountain Laurel here?

[pierredekat]

I got an interesting email from Mike Leverette, who is currently waiting for his user account to go through here on the Pipemakers' Forum. He and I have been discussing various alternative pipe woods, and I got his approval to go ahead and post his email here:

"Robert, etal
Mountain Laurel has been used for pipe material by several pipe makers; two of which are, as you have pointed out, "Breezewood, and I believe, M. Linkman and Company’s Dr. Grabow. It is with this material objective M. Linkman & Co. originally moved their Dr. Grabow operations to North Carolina.

Below is the specifications of Mountain Laurel taken from the Federal Database of Plants:

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plan ... t/all.html
""IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:
Mountain-laurel's leaves, buds, flowers and fruits are poisonous and may be lethal to livestock and humans [4,77]. However, white-tailed deer, eastern cotton tails, black bear, and ruffed grouse are known to utilize this species especially as winter forage or during years of food shortages [30,48,60,61,69,109,110,118].

OTHER USES:
Extracts from mountain-laurel have been used to treat diarrhea, upset stomach, skin irritations, and as a sedative [60].

Wood Products:Mountain-laurel wood is heavy (green weight: 63 lbs/ft3), hard (1,790 lbf), and strong, but rather brittle, with a close straight grain. Mountain-laurel sapwood is yellow, while the heart wood is yellow-brown with red spots [4]. The wood of mountain-laurel has a long history of uses by native and Euro-Americans. It has been used in the manufacturing of pipes, wreaths, roping, furniture, bowls, utensils, and various other household goods and novelties. Economically, mountain-laurel is the most important member of the genus Kalmia. The species is sold commonly as an ornamental and the foliage is used in floral displays [4,60].""

(Numbers in brackets are references by author which I did not copy.)

Please notice that it is only the leaves, buds, flowers and fruits which are poisonous to humans while extracts from the wood/bark are used as medications. Honey made from the flowers are toxic though not necessarily fatal to humans.
I have a couple of Breezewood pipes which are good smokers and I am actively looking for an MLC Dr. Grabow made from ML."

[pierredekat]

Ooooor...

Scenario #2: Nobody dies. But there is a public panic, mass hysteria, people all in a tizzy, "Hey, Lester, ain't that mountain laurel what kilt your best milk cow."

"Yep."

Suddenly any pipemaker with nothing but domestic briar pipes on his hands is doing little more than swatting flies at pipeshows. Sometimes there's the curious onlooker who stops to ask a question, but that's about it.

Not only that, but if people even think there's a remote possibility that your pipes are made from something other than the very best grade of Mediterranean briar, you're swatting flies.

"I've got an idea, Mr. Milford. Let's stamp our pipes 'Imported Briar', just so there's no question."

"Sounds good, Douglas. How soon can we get the stamp made?"

And the rest is history.

[kbadkar]

Rad said:
...maybe it was just that briar is a superior pipe material and became widely available again after the war.

Historical conjecture requires historical evidence. Otherwise, I tend to believe the simplest and most obvious supposition.

[Frank]

Rad said:
...maybe it was just that briar is a superior pipe material and became widely available again after the war.

Historical conjecture requires historical evidence. Otherwise, I tend to believe the simplest and most obvious supposition.

Generally speaking, I think it's probably a pipe smoker/collector mindset more than anything else. They probably believe that anything other than Mediterranean briar can't be as good. It would probably take a side-by-side test over months or years to judge a difference in quality.
Thus far, Robert has no complaints about his Manzanita pipe(s).

[hazmat]

Rad said:
...maybe it was just that briar is a superior pipe material and became widely available again after the war.

Historical conjecture requires historical evidence. Otherwise, I tend to believe the simplest and most obvious supposition.

Generally speaking, I think it's probably a pipe smoker/collector mindset more than anything else. They probably believe that anything other than Mediterranean briar can't be as good. It would probably take a side-by-side test over months or years to judge a difference in quality.
Thus far, Robert has no complaints about his Manzanita pipe(s).

You mean collectors will make baseless claims as to the goodiness(or badiness) of one material versus another with zero evidence one way or t'other? I can't even imagine!

[Frank]

You mean collectors will make baseless claims as to the goodiness(or badiness) of one material versus another with zero evidence one way or t'other? I can't even imagine!

It's been known to happen on extremely rare occassions. BTW, it's spelled gooderiness (or badderiness)!

[hazmat]

Thanks, Frank. Added to my spellcheck and will not make the same mistake again.

[kbadkar]

I didn't mean to imply that I believe Mediterranean briar is superior to Mission Briar or even Mountain Laurel. So I'll rephrase Rad's comment to reflect what I think is the most obvious reason for the return to Med. briar

... maybe it was just that Mediterranean briar is assumed to be a superior pipe material by manufacturers and/or consumers and became widely available again after the war.

That being said, it would be very interesting to see how pipe purchasers these days respond to alternative native pipe materials. There is perhaps an untapped niche here. With all the negative connotations that are now associated with "imported", there is probably a good marketing angle with "domestic briar" or "grown and carved in good ole US of A". I'm really glad that RPerkins aka Pierre is so inquisitive and has such enthusiasm for alternative native woods. With his research, tests, and investigations, we all benefit, especially if he creates a demand and we get a domestic briar supplier! Keep up the good work Robert!

[hazmat]

I didn't mean to imply that I believe Mediterranean briar is superior to Mission Briar or even Mountain Laurel.

Not sure that anyone thought you implied that. My remark was a well-intended rib-nudging to collectors.

[pierredekat]

That being said, it would be very interesting to see how pipe purchasers these days respond to alternative native pipe materials. There is perhaps an untapped niche here. With all the negative connotations that are now associated with "imported", there is probably a good marketing angle with "domestic briar" or "grown and carved in good ole US of A". I'm really glad that RPerkins aka Pierre is so inquisitive and has such enthusiasm for alternative native woods. With his research, tests, and investigations, we all benefit, especially if he creates a demand and we get a domestic briar supplier! Keep up the good work Robert!

Thanks.

Yeah, it's funny. I took my girlfriend and her daughter up to Missouri to meet my parents for the first time at Christmas.

We stop at a Chinese restaurant on our way back, and had a great meal. And then we got our fortune cookies.

This is always one of our favorite parts of eating Chinese, as we have a little ritual about how we decide who gets which one. Then we read them and decide if we chose correctly, try to figure out if and how they apply, and so on.

I got this one here:

Finding exotic uses for what others ignore will make your special fortune.

Hmmm.

Had to stick that one in my wallet.

[Mike Leverette]

Robert, my take on this subject is:

When briar was first used for pipes, everyone herald it as the ultimate pipe wood and actually went wild over briar. In less than ten years from the first English maker to use briar, there were over a dozen briar pipe makers in London alone and all exclaiming the virtues of briar. Even the great salesman, Alfred Dunhill, exclaimed over the properties briar. So I believe everyone has, more or less, become brainwashed that briar is the only wood worth using for pipes. Surely, it is a great wood for pipes which I cannot say anything against but there are other great woods out there as well. We have been told many times over the past decade or so that briar is best for pipe making because it is A) ‘fire resistant,’ it is B) ‘very hard wood,’ it has C) ‘extremely tight grain,’ etc.
A) “Fire Resistant” - briar is wood and wood burns; there is no ‘fire resistance’ to it!
B) “Very hard wood” - yes it is hard, yet there are many woods out there which are harder per any hardness scale one wishes to use.
C) “Extremely tight grain” - again I agree. Briar has some tight grain, interesting grain and even beautiful grain. Yet there are woods out there with just as beautiful grain as briar.

The two alternative woods mentioned in this topic, manzanita and mountain laurel, have been used for centuries, first by the American Indian and then the pioneers. Mountain Laurel was a favorite pipe making wood of soldiers on both sides during the War of Northern Aggression. Yes, before you ask, there were more wood pipes smoked in that war than clay pipes. Actually, the soldiers would make pipes from any wood handy but preferred mountain laurel. I am sure that the local population were using briar long before the fable pilgrimage to Napoleon’s place of captivity, or was it his birth place? A very interesting article on pipes of other woods is Ben Rapaport’s article “Un-Briars: The Antecedents of Erica Arborea,” Spring 2001 issue of “Pipes and Tobaccos” in which Ben lists 29 different woods used for pipe making through the centuries.

Anyway, to stop preaching and return to the topic, brainwashed is too harsh a word for here but we have been treated to literature, word-of-mouth, etc about briar being the best and only wood for pipes to the point that immediately after WWII, everyone hasten to get briar pipes back on the market; hence forgetting about the two war-time substitutes.

Then again - - -
I wrote the above two days ago while waiting to be activated. During this time I have heard another pipe smoker state that he thought the pipes made from the two alternative woods, manzanita and mountain laurel, were placed into production so fast (because of the sudden stoppage in briar supply) that they were not cured properly which led to pipe smokers having problems with the pipes made from these woods. Therefore, the pipe smoking community of that day wished only for the imported briar after the war. This also makes a lot of sense!

[Matt]

i like the taste of manzanita when smoked the best way i would say to get it is harvest it yourself