170 The Soverane Herbe 



Briar heats very slowly, and the tobacco, burning at 

 a low temperature, gives off less nicotine, making the 

 briar a most hygienic pipe. 



Ten or fifteen years ago the majority of briar pipes 

 smoked in England were made in France and Germany, 

 but English manufacturers now supply their own land 

 and other countries with briars at cheaper prices. 

 About 400 tons of briar-root are imported to London 

 annually. Nuremburg and Ruhla do a big trade in 

 briars, the average annual output from each place 

 being 500,000 pipes. 



The briar is imported in sawn-up, roughly-shaped 

 blocks, 3 or 4 inches square, ready seasoned, the 

 bags holding between 200 and 300 blocks each. 

 At the factory they are first sorted out in sizes for 

 larger or smaller pipes, and then steamed in vats for 

 twelve hours, to give them the familiar yellowish- 

 brown tint. 



The workman takes a block in hand, decides into 

 what form it can best be fashioned, and places it in 

 the boring machine. This has three knives ; the 

 middle knife, revolving 4,000 times a minute, bores 

 out the bowl of the pipe, and the two outer ones cut 

 away the wood on the outside, forming it into the 

 shape of a pipe. The roughly-formed briar is then 

 placed in a lathe used for cutting irregular forms. 

 A metal pattern of the shape the pipe is designed to 

 become is fitted in ; the circular cutting tool, with its 

 peculiar knife-like teeth, is set in motion ; the briar- 

 block turns with the metal model, and is mechani- 

 cally cut to pattern. The pipe is then finished with 

 coarse and fine sandpaper (by machine), and a final 



