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I have a piece of briar that I really like and want to make a horn pipe out of. I am hoping to make it paneled with a thickish flat stem. Would just like any advice for this shape.

rev

I find that if you'd like to do a horn, using a bit that will produce a conical tobacco chamber will give you more room to shape as opposed to a cylindrical one. Seems to me that most horns are also 1/4 bends. That's about all I know about it.

Horns are hard to make look snazzy. Take a look at some of Nordh's horns. They're pretty snazzy .

There's a l'Anatra horn with a really great-looking stem that you might want to take a look at. It's on sale on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121042069040?ss ... 1438.l2649

The stem flattens out into what could be described as a spade shape. Ocelot is right that most of the horns seem to be 1/4 bends with a gentle bent stem, but the l'Anatra has a straight stem. I guess whatever the desginer wants is what's right. You might also want to look at some il Ceppo horns -- he makes some really nice ones with a interesting way of shaping the mouth -- they're at an angle to the chamber and the lips are rounded, not flat. Very elegant looking.

But these examples, of course, are just what other folks are doing.

no offense but I found that l'antra hideous

I am definitely looking to go more in the Bo direction

rev

Rev, I agree about the pipe itself (why the one flat edge? was the block weird?), but I really liked the stem. I just like the possibilities of the shape, although I'd like to see it on other pipes before I made any final decision. Or, for that matter, I'd like to try smoking with that stem before making a final decision.

Just a general question: Are horns one of the least-made shapes these days? True horns (rather than just, er, horny? looking pipes) don't seem to come up too often. I own an il Ceppo that is a true horn and it takes real concentration to smoke, without dropping hot coals on my lap, but I still like it a lot.