Daily Archives: December 10, 2013

A Review – A Penguin Briar Straight Apple

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I commissioned a straight apple pipe from Kim Kendall of Penguin Briar in August of 2008 and I have had the years since to enjoy it now. It is a beautiful little straight apple sporting a hand cut Cumberland stem. It is stamped with laser cut lettering – Penguin Briar with the emblematic Penguin over 0808 Algerian. It was cut from Algerian briar that was well cured and had been in Kim’s shop for a while getting acclimated. The briar has one small flaw on the bottom of the shank between the stamping and the stem on the underside of the shank and a small one on the right side low on the bowl. Otherwise it is a very clean piece of wood. I don’t have the weight of it. But the measurements are as follows. The tobacco chamber is drilled ¾ inches by 1-3/16 inches deep. The pipe itself is 1 5/8 inches wide and 1 5/8 inches tall.The overall length of the pipe is 5 inches.
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Kim did a great job laying out the shape on the briar. The grain is a mix of flame and straight around all sides, front and back of the bowl and the sides of the shank. There is birdseye on the rim, bottom of the bowl and the top and bottom of the shank. The pipe has a smooth finish and is stained with a 2-step process to bring out the grain. The bowl is round and an apple shape. It was Kim’s take on a Dunhill 3101 shape. The grain is decent on the pipe. I am not sure which stain Kim used first but the understains appear to be darker and serve to make the grain stand out. The overstain is almost an orange red. The combination gives a dimensionality to the finish and matches the Cumberland stem colour well.
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The stem is a hand cut Cumberland taper that angles back to the sloped button where it flares to the same width as the shank junction. It gives the pipe a stubby look like a nose warmer even the pipe is five inches long. It is made of quality material as it has not oxidized in the years I have had it. The tenon is an integral part of the stem and is chamfered inward to form a dished end that is well-polished. The button is the size and shape that works for me–an oval that curves from the edges with a rise to the centre top and bottom, forming an eye shaped end view. It is also slanted from the front of the button to the slot giving it a slightly pointed look.The lip on the button fits well behind the teeth for a comfortable feel. The slot in the end of the button is also funneled and flattened to deliver a mouthpiece that has the same diameter from start to finish. Kim also rounded the ends of the slot giving it a finished look. It is a comfortable and well executed pipe. A pipe cleaner passes easily through the pipe with no obstruction.
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Kim has well-crafted airflow dynamics in his pipes. The draught is clean and easy with no whistling or tightness. It has an easy draw that makes smoking it a pleasure. The bowl chamber is drilled to 3/4 of an inch diameter. The tobacco chamber was uncoated and sanded smooth. The cake built up on the bowl very easily. The draught hole is centered perfectly above the bottom of the bowl and seems to have a slight funnel leading into the shank and stem. The fit of the stem to the shank is excellent – smooth and tight with no light showing at the joint. The tenon fits well in the mortise and sits deep in the mortise against the bottom. The airway is in the centre of the mortise and aligns with the airway in the tenon. The edges of the tenon have been polished and rounded and the airhole countersunk so that it meets the airway in the mortise. Looking at the airways with a flashlight it is clear to see that they are smooth and polished with no rough edges. The interior of the pipe is smooth and polished from the button to the bottom of the bowl.

I broke this pipe in, as is my custom, with some aged McClellands 5100. I have kept it as a dedicated Virginia pipe and it has always delivered a good tasting smoke. It continues smoke cool and dry and deliver good flavor with the Virginias that I choose to smoke in it.

I had been smoking the pipe for some time and was quite pleased with the craftsmanship of Kim’s work. Then out of the blue Kim contacted me with an apologetic request to be given the opportunity to rework the stem and button area on the pipe. He said he had refined his stem and button work and really wanted to bring the one he had made for me up to date with a refined stem and button. I shipped the pipe back to him for his reworking. He sent me the following two photos of the stem work while the pipe was in the mail.
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When it arrived it was clear to me that he had changed the taper on the stem making it thinner and thus more comfortable in the mouth. He also thinned down the button itself making it less chunky and more defined in its overall look and feel. The angles of the junction of the taper and the button were cut sharper and cleaner. The overall comfortableness of the stem was greatly improved and the feel in the mouth was superb. Though I am not a clencher, the pipe was now easily clenched behind the teeth. Here are some pictures of the pipe after Kim’s stem work.
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Kim has provided me with a great smoking pipe, light weight and comfortable in the hand and mouth. If you have not given Penguin Briars a look, here is the link to the website http://www.penguinbriar.com/ . I don’t think that you can go wrong with his pipes.

The Pipe Hunt – Rule # 6: Never let them see your excitement

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Growing up I remember a wrestling coach in high school giving us his wisdom regarding our opponents from a particularly tough school. “Never let them see you sweat” was his rule about setting a climate in which you could win over an opponent. For me Rule #6 is a variation on that adage. While a seller is not an opponent they are nonetheless your opposite in the purchase of a particular pipe. To put it simply Rule 6 is “Never let a seller see your excitement about what you have found”. I know this goes contrary to everything in me that wants to shout when I have found a super deal. When I turn over a pipe of a certain shape or colour, or move a pipe from underneath several others I can feel the adrenalin rise as my instinct about the pipe is met with an affirmative. It is at that moment that I hold back my exclamatory “yes” and carefully add the pipe to the lot I am carrying around the shop or have the seller carry it to the cash register to hold until I finish my hunt through the shop. I hold “yes” in and save the exulting until I am in the car or on the pipe forums!

Truthfully, this rule should probably be moved somewhere toward the top of the list of things I keep in mind when on a pipe hunt, because it has become a part of me on the hunt. I am quiet as I move through the store with the clerk as they unlock the cabinets that hold the pipes that I want to see. To help tame my enthusiasm I pick up pipes from the pipes on display that I have no intention of purchasing and “carefully” look them over and make quiet comments. Finally when I have gone through the lot I pick up the object/s of my attention and make a few general comments about the condition. Typically the clerk then carries it to the front for me and I am free to keep looking for more pipes. Though sometimes I carry the new find around the shop with me while I look at other pipes.

Even at the cash register I do not let on about my excitement over a find. I keep up the banter if I am in the mood or just quietly pay the bill and leave the shop. I have found that most sellers in shops or antique malls have no idea regarding the value of their old pipes and rather see them as stage props – hence a high price, or as dirty items that have a minimal value – hence a low price. The only time I talk about the prices is if the prices are outlandish. For instance recently I was in a Northern Alberta town here in Canada and the owner was selling a relatively new Grabow with a chewed stem for $120. I showed her on my phone what a new cost and she shrugged and said that in her town the local theatre guild and actors pay the prices she has for these items to use in their plays. Needless to say I kept my coin in my pocket and shook my head as I walked away.

I am looking for seller who sees the pipes they have as old and dirty items that they hope will sell but are not holding their breath over. I have found some great deals this way. I will give three examples from different times and years of my pipe hunting to illustrate the point. I found a nice mid 50’s Dunhill Shell billiard at a local thrift shop for $12. The sticker covered the white dot on the stem but the shape and blast caught my eye.
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I found a small group 2 sized saddle billiard Dunhill Tanshell from the 60’s for under $20 in an antique mall in the US. It was hidden in a box of old junk pipes in a far corner of the shop. It was not locked in a cupboard but rather in an old porcelain jar with the stems inserted in the jar and the bowls sticking out the top. The blast on the pipe caught my eye so I pulled it out of the jar for a better look and found that I was holding a Dunhill.
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More recently I came across a beautiful Comoy’s Gulidhall Liverpool for $30 in a shop in the Edmonton. It was on a shelf with other old beat up pipes and ratty pipe bags, broken pipe racks and old tins. It was toward the back of the shelf but the grain on this pipe caught my eye and it came with me the rest of the hunt in that shop.
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The trick to this rule is to look and when you see them either pick them up and carry them with you or if the case is locked, note the case number and get the dealer to take them out of the case for you to examine. If the dealer unlocks the case for you then they typically want to carry them to the front for you. Play it cool with this and say that you will continue walk about the shop to look and “think” about your purchase.

You might wonder about the necessity of this rule but I can tell you it is critical in working deals and ongoing future deals with sellers. They key is to know that when you walk away happy with your amazing find, that they also are more than happy to have rid themselves of what they see as an eyesore. I have watched the price change drastically when a seller picks up on my excitement about the great price on a particular pipe. They read my reaction and I have seen the prices both escalate and de-escalate based on my response. I have had them decide quickly to not sell the pipe and when I came back at a later date the price was pushed through the roof and no longer something I would buy. I have also had them immediately back peddle and raise the price while I was standing there with excuses of mismarked prices or mistaken identification. It is critical to play your cards close to your chest when working a deal on these pipes. The words of a Kenny Rogers song, the Gambler hold true here; “You have to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.”

I have learned the lessons of this rule the hard way. It is very difficult to contain my excitement when I find highly valuable, collectible pipe. It is hard to not get worked up with the joy of the find. But I have found that if I do not let the cat out of the bag while I am looking the seller will let go of it at a bargain price of even less than it is marked or at the very least will not jack up the price so that next time you pass through the pipes are marked double and triple the price you paid for the first one. This rule is well worth remembering and practicing as you work the hunt.

Good hunting!