pipemakersforum.com

I have almost completed my first pipe kit and I am itching to try more, however with my skill level I can't really justify spending $17-25 per block for briar plus a stem. Is there a good resource for cheap briar? I understand it may not be the same quality as the $20 per block material, but I figure that it won't matter with my skill set.

I get my basic blocks from Jaume Hom over at Briarblocks.com (in Spain).

His shipping is rather pricey, but apart from that he has decent quality blocks for cheap. Decent sized ebouchons in extra grade are €75 (= USD 103) for 25 so just over 4$ a piece.

Including shipping to the US they would run you 180$ for 25 blocks which is 7.2$ each...
PS: if you would order from him and want to order different types of blocks (small, large, extra and extra extra, whatever), mail him for an updated shipping cost instead of ordering through the webshop, that will save you considerably in shipping. I just paid €60 for shipping 3 different types of blocks, which would have been over €100 if I'd ordered through the webshop.


Tim west at JH lowe is also a great guy, his small blocks start as low as $4.5/each , if you want "seconds" aka lower quality blocks you can even get them for half of normal price which would get you extra large ebouchons for less than $10 each.
http://jhlowe.com/briar.htm

And then ofcourse there are vendors on ebay such as Samantha in Greece or alexander-zavvos who have cheaper blocks in their listings as well.

Vermont Freehand has briar starting at $5.00 a block. His blocks seem to be larger than others that I’ve seen. I started with twenty of his $5.00 blocks Grade 3 Plateaux and Grade 1 Ebauchons.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7946

I got a bunch of Vermont Freehand's mini blocks (grade 3 plateaux and grade 1 ebauchon Algerian blocks) for $5 each and was very pleased with the quality. Not one block I couldn't make a pipe from and a couple I got 2 out of. And don't let the mini fool you, they are generously sized blocks.

Thanks. That is more like it. I cam afford $5 a block, and when I screw up the first 50 I won't be completely broke.

Go with Vermont Freehand for sure. He has some very affordable stuff in stock.

Hi jholder, Let me know if you want some briar sent out. You can private message me here, or by direct email, stevenorse at gmail.com