When we started making our own pipes last year John and I decided to leave some of the pipes in a natural finish, without stain. This way our clients could appreciate the true beauty of the natural grain of the briar.
Two days ago a client of ours who bought one of our pipes about six months ago returned to buy more. He said that he was so pleased with his pipe that he wanted to buy one similar for a friend of his who had admired his. On taking his pipe out to light up ( in the Pipery with a big notice on the wall saying 'No Smoking', number one in a series of notices to be ignored) I was amazed to see that over time the briar had taken on a beautiful deep chestnut hue. I had noticed this before with old quality pipes like Dunhill's before the war that their pipes take on a glow, rather than a glossy shine.
Here are the two pipes. His is on the left and the new one for his friend is on the right. Over time that too will acquire the same deep chestnut glow of the other.
The lesson here is Quality Counts - start with the finest materials and they just get better.
