Jaume Hom briar - first thoughts

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:11 pm

As you guys know, I decided to buy a pile of briar from Jaume Hom in Spain. No particular reason for going with him, other than the fact that he had pricing info on his website, and showed pictures of select blocks as examples.

So, I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket a couple months ago and decided to pull the trigger on some Extra ebauchon, which I need to launch a new line of pipes. I ordered two 50-ct packs, total price was somewhere in the realm of $360 shipped to my door. Not a bad price. I figured, worst case scenario, my screwups and the block that are obiously trash will cost me 50% of what I've been paying for ebauchon from US sources. That was reason enough for me - I mean, I end up using some 30% of the block in the smoker right off the top, and another 20% get trashed after rough shaping when I find flaws that are too big to justify leaving. That's a full 50% of every briar shipment I get that gets used to make my food tasty instead of burn tobacco in.

So, with that in mind, I had expectations of at least making out with spending half what I had been, and getting the same waste rate. Boy was I in for a shock.

I've gone through and looked at each and every block, and there isn't a single one that I can point to and say "that one is garbage", or "that one will have a fissure inside". So already I'm ahead 30% over my normal shipments.

Of the half dozen pipes I've made with this briar, not a single one has been tossed due to flaws. In fact, one pipe that was supposed to be rusticated for a customer, had to be left smooth because it was just so attractive and I couldn't bear to hide the grain. Yeah, yeah I know - your heart bleeds for me....

One *very* nice feature is that every block came squared off. Someone actually sat down at a saw and squared off every block. That saves me a load of time, and I appreciate it mightily.

As far as grain, thes blocks are Extra quality. There is some crossgrain, some odd and uneven grain, and some grain that is just plain wierd. However, a good 15% of these are actually *straight* grain. Oh yeah, *straight*. Another 20% or so could easily become straight grain with careful shaping, creative thought, and attention to detail - and probably drilling after shaping.

So, to sum it up, I am very pleased. *Very* pleased. I can't say enough good things about Jaume's briar so far.

Next month he gets my business for plateaux as well. Jaume done good!

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 9:57 am

This briar took about 9 weeks from when I placed the order - 7 weeks from when he notified me it was ready to go and I PayPal'ed him the funds. That was via ship/ground. Air would have cost about twice as much, but would have arrived in two weeks.

I forgot to mention that the mix of R and MF blocks is about 1:1. The size of the blocks is at least MF2-3 and R2.5 with some much larger.

jeff · Post by **jeff** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:05 pm

Kurt,

Can you decipher the coded sizes for us?

Also, It would be great if you could post some photos of a few pieces to give us an idea of the good, the bad, and the ugly (of which you said there were none).

Thanks,

Jeff

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 1:10 pm

I use the measurments pretty close to what Mark Tinsky uses. IIRC, the below is what he has on his site.

R2.5 (or R2-1/2) is *approximately*:
H= 3" L= 3-1/2" W=1-3/4"

MF2-3 is *approximately*:
H= 2-1/2" L= 4-1/2" W= 2"

There are some considerably larger. There are a few MF3-4 block mixed in, wich are about the same size at MF2-3, but are 5" or longer. Good for long-shanked pipes, like canadians and so forth.

I'll try to find some time to take pics.

jeff · Post by **jeff** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 1:35 pm

That helps out, thanks Kurt.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 7:54 am

Too cool. Thanks Kurt!

Jeffery · Post by **Jeffery** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:57 am

Kurt,

I couldn't agree with you more on Jaume Hom's briar... it's not too often i lose a block because of fissues or cracks...

I don't think you'll be disappointed with his plateaux... (It's all I've gotten from him, so I can't speak of his ebauchon). The Extra is very nice...

Random,
I've gotten 12 blocks from Jaume in Spain, 7 days door to door... (I'm on the east coast so I'm not sure what you would add on to that for you).

Hope this helps...