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Can someone out there recommend a place where I can get the cheapest briar available? I'm still learning and in the process, I don't want to break the bank. I was practicing on other types of wood like, cherry, pear and walnut. I got pretty good at precisely drilling those blocks but now that it has come time to work on briar, it seems that I'm messing up a great deal and my mistakes are getting quite expensive . I see that Tim West has some tiny ones for $6.50 but, I mean they are TINY! I don't need good quality briar just some cheep stuff to work with. I'm willing to buy a lot of 20 or so if that means I can get a better price. I love this hobby but I need a lot more practice.(the inexpensive way.)

Thanks,

Dave

When I first started making pipes, there was a seller on ebay that sold really small ebauchons. I think I'd buy about 6 for $40, shipped. I haven't seen those lots lately, however. They were really pretty small though. Tim will probably be your best bet. The small blocks don't leave you much room to play with shaping, but as you said it beats breaking the bank.

Can anyone recommend a wood thats cheap and good for practice so that I don't spend a small fortune on briar? Ya know, somewhat similar to briar.

http://www.briarblocks.com/pipes/index.htm

look for the 25 piece package of extra ebauchons.

Nice, thank you very much....I have not seen that site yet.

If you plan on being a pipe maker, . . . . . Plan on spending money.

Yeah man, It's worth it. I did find a dealer that sells practice pieces for a great price! He said they may have a crack in them or some kind of visible damage but hell, I'm not making works of art just yet. They're not small blocks either! Some of them are jumbo. But I hear ya man, I've already spent a lot of money on just the tools, now I need the briar.

Back when I didn't care about flaws (e.g. fissures that entered the bowl from the outside), I bought seconds from Tim West/JHLowe.com.

Great practice blocks and I still smoke a few of them myself.

Cool man,

I got with Tim West and we working something out. Thanks for leading me in the right direction.