MAKING A WOODEN PIPE 



THE annual consumption of wed in the United 

 States for use in the manufacture of smoking 

 pipes is close to one-half million feet, board measure, 

 says R. K. Hclphenstein, Jr., of thi United States For- 

 est Service, in Lumber. 



French briar is used in the largest quantity by the 

 industry, and represents over 66 per cent of all wood 

 consumed by pipe makers in this country. 



French briar or "bruyers," as it is often spel'ed, is 

 a small tree belonging to the heath family. It is found 

 in commercial quantities in Southern France, Italy, 

 and a number of other countries bordering on the Medi- 

 terranean Sea. Only the root of the briar is used for 



pipes, but in Italy there is followed the practice of 

 cutting each year the long, tough young shoots, which 

 are bound together and sold to manufacturers of street 

 brooms. Aside from this the plant is allowed to grow 

 for three or four years, when the roots will have de- 

 veloped sufficiently to permit cutting for pipe stock, 

 enough of the plant being left to provide for future 

 cuttings at three-year intervals. 



Second in importance among the woods used for 

 pipes in this country is kalmia, better known as moun- 

 tain laurel. As in the case with French briar, only the 

 root is made into pipes. Though the commercial sup- 



ply comes principally from North Carolina, laurel is 

 abundant in many other regions. 



Applewood is also employed for pipes, its chief 

 value being its attractive color, which is darkened by 

 long steaming at low pressure. The raw material is 

 obtained from old orchard trees which have ceased to 

 bear fruit. A little red gum and some birch are also 

 used by the industry, but only for very cheap pipes. 

 In addition, a small quantity of ebony, olive wood, and 

 other rare imported species ure employed. 



The pipe maker is extremely particular in his se- 

 lection of raw material, especially for pipes of the 

 highest quality. A rich dark color is an important 

 requisite, but this may be obtained artificially if the 

 wood does not already possess it. The finished pipe 

 is of some dark shade, usually a rich mahogany. As a 

 rule, French briar and mountain laurel require little 

 artificial coloring to make them suitable for pipe man- 

 ufacture. 



An essential quality in pipe material is the ability 

 to burn slowly. In addition, the wood must be more 

 or less brittle, with a tendency to crumble under the 

 cutting impact of +he tool. Any inclination to split 

 renders the wood unsuitable for use. It must cut the 

 same in all directions in order that a smooth surface 

 may be obtained. Soft porous woods with well-de- 

 fined annual rings of growth are undesirable, for the 

 reason that the bands of pores oflfer less resistance to 

 cutting tools than those in hard denser woods, and a 

 rough uneven surface is the result. This is especially 

 true in the case of pipes which have the bowl and stem 

 made all in one piece. A number of high grade pipes 

 are manufactured in this form, the hole through the 

 stem being made with a fine drill. This is a difficult 

 operation and if there is a soft porous band present in 

 the wood the drill is likely to follow it and spoil the 

 piece. The almost total absence of growth rings in 

 laurel and French briar makes these two species es- 

 pecially valuable to the pipe industry. 



English and French pipe manufacturers own land in 

 the briar-producing regions and maintain warehouses 

 and small workshops on or near their holdings, to 

 which the freshly cut roots are shipped. When re- 

 reived they are washed, boiled and roughly shaped. 

 They are then sorted by size, quality and color and 

 shipped to France, Great Britain and other countries 

 for manufacture into pipes. 



American pipe manufacturers using French briar 

 receive their raw material in the form of roughly cut 

 pipe blanks. In the case of mountain laurel the stock 

 is shipped direct to the pipe manufacturers in the form 

 of roots or burls. They are cleaned and sawed into 

 blocks of various sizes and shapes, and the blocks then 

 pass through numerous machine operations until the 

 finished article is produced. The attached sketch 

 shows the evolution of a high grade pipe bowl. 



