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Heya folks, I was wondering if this sort of thing is the norm' for this chap at Alexander Briar in Greece.

I ordered 10 blocks of Briar from him and when I got the shipment to my horror 4 of the 10 blocks are riddled with bore holes from some sort of wood worm.

I have tried contacting the chap, I have sent him 3 polite emails since last week and each one he has completely ignored.

I realise we are to expect and put up with some level of natural problems with the Briar we order but seriously, am I supposed to just accept blocks turning up riddled with wood worm holes, the blocks have huge bored out cavities inside of them, they're utterly useless even for making tampers with.

Anyone else have this sort of thing with this guy!?

Yeah it's pretty common with his stuff. He used to be real good about exchanging it, but I guess maybe he's sick of hearing about it.

Nobody else's wood is infected with that shit.

If you bought it thru eBay leave some nasty feedback and fire some rockets off to the UK eBay administrators.
That will usually get their attention.

Sasquatch wrote:Yeah it's pretty common with his stuff. He used to be real good about exchanging it, but I guess maybe he's sick of hearing about it.

Nobody else's wood is infected with that shit.

Not to the extent there, but I've had worm holes in good supplier's stock too. Much less frequent. I think I've found two in five years.

andrew

Another thing to watch out for are tiny beetles that will eat your briar slowly. If you see briar dust around your briar and no machine that made it, you may have beetles. Freeze it up!

I once had some sort of bug go into a drilled mortise on a block that I wasn't going to use and deposit its little baby and seal the whole thing up with sawdust. I opened it up and found a little green worm living in there. I smushed it. Was that wrong!?

I've found the worm holes you describe every now and again in blocks (like 1 out of maybe 100), but 4 out of ten is pretty outrageous.

Rad

I have the pest control company spray my shop, mainly for the spiders that find their way into the nooks and crannies. Never had briar problems.
Premal and Rad need to clean their shops. The green worm, of Rad's, is disgusting.
These are the cute critters, the killer Davis smushed:

Thanks for the replies folks, I figured it was acceptable to be unhappy with the 4 out of 10, oddly the chap totally ignored 3 of my emails to him and last night after posting here I got fed up and sent a 4th email telling him (politely still) that I would be leaving a negative feedback on his ebay site, low and behold this morning I got a reply from him stating he was sending 4 replacement blocks. I must say I didn't like his attitude by stating each block gets inspected before it leaves his shop, the four blocks have numerous holes on the surface of the Briar, they were immediately obvious. At least he is replacing them so that is good.

Yep, negative feedback is the kiss of death for eBay marketers. The threat of that will usually resolve things.
I've bought a lot of blocks from him in the past with no problems other than sand pits which blasting took care of. Most of what I've received from him has been very old from outward appearances. I've not gotten any from him for over a year. There are other good sources out there so shop around. A Cut Above has some pretty good Greek briar.

Or you could just order from Steve Norse.

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d.huber wrote:Or you could just order from Steve Norse.

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For sure but I would wonder about shipping costs after two trips across the pond.

oklahoma red wrote:A Cut Above has some pretty good Greek briar.

I'll try contacting Makis, thanks for the suggestion.

d.huber wrote:Or you could just order from Steve Norse.

Steve's prices are already pretty steep but that's to cover his investment, this I understand but to have his Briar shipped to me in the UK on top of his higher prices, it would just make it more expensive than I can stretch to especially as right now I am just making experiment pipes to try to develop my pipe making abilities.

For the odd commission pipes I get asked to make I do need to find a reliable source, I used to buy from Marco in Germany but last batch I brought from him were all severely split blocks.

This was the best block out of a lot of 7 blocks,





I tried contacting him about them but got no response, alas prior to that batch all the Briar I've had from him was superb, no idea what that batch was all about but that was the end of that beautiful relationship.

Fair enough. How much are you paying per block now? Also, how often are you encountering issues like these?

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If we can find you a more reliable source in your price range I think we'd all be happy to help.

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Makis has a good reputation. Jaune Hom has decent blocks, but Mimmo isn't terribly priced if you order enough blocks.


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The Plateaux blocks I last got from Germany were £11.51 each, still trying to recover from that financial loss to be honest, I know it aint much to some folk but a loss of just over £80 (around $135) is a really BIG deal to me. Those blocks were more expensive than I can afford to be honest but my thinking there was invest a little more and get some really good quality Briar to make some better pipes with, boy did that bite me in the bum.

I brought some Briar from a lass in Spain but when it arrived I found it was extremely small, my fault I didn't read the listing on ebay properly but most of them have been dried too quickly and the blocks are twisted. They weren't all that costly to be honest but they were just small ebauchons, they will serve well enough for my experiment pipes, but yeah, finding a reliable source for the future would be wonderful. I'm going to try contacting Makis tomorrow as his site doesn't give any price guides, it's really a blow to the confidence when a once trusted supplier turns sour isn't it, I bet you guys know all about it.

I'm grateful that I haven't encountered these kinds of issues with any frequency and I'm sorry to hear that you have.

Makis has a good reputation and so does Mimmo. Buying from either of those guys will save you headaches.

Here's my advice: spend a little more money per block on higher quality briar from a reputable dealer and you'll SAVE money by having less waste and having a dealer who will not vanish when issues do arise. That's why I recommend Steve Norse to everyone, even those not in the states. Working with him will get you better briar, save you money in the long run, and he will respond immediately if any issues arise. He's established a reputation for exceptional customer service and rewards his loyal customers. I can't recommend him highly enough.

No affiliation, just a dedicated and incredibly happy customer. He's the only supplier I use now.

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sandahlpipe wrote:Jaune Hom has decent blocks

I can second that one. I've only yet used his extra Ebauchons, Extra extra Ebouchons and his medium Extra grade Plateaux blocks. So far I've had only 1 block (out of 20-25) that was useless due to a big inclusion (an extra ebouchon).
Most extra grade (which is the lowest) ebauchons won't make it into smooth pipes, but that would seem to be expected for €4 each (included shipping).
So far the Extra grade plateaux blocks are really nice, especially for the price (€10/$13.5 each including the shipping I paid).

I've had junk blocks from Jaume, also some extremely excellent blocks, but for me, the pricing structure doesn't work if I look at failures/excellent.

Right now, I feel Makis is your best all-around bet for useable blocks that aren't terribly expensive. Mimmo is your best bet if you want softer wood for blasting or if you want specific cuts.

That stuff you posted Kirk is junk and dried too quick somewhere, either before or after you got it, and split because of it.

Every vendor will sell blocks that have pits, and if you are buying wet blocks, they will crack if not taken care of.

I would say that Makis, Mimmo, Domenico Geordano, and the Manno mill are the best overall wood right now, each having it's own peculiarities, and you just have to sort out what works for you.