There are many different types of smoking pipes, each person will have there own type that they use and enjoy, I am going to talk about a few different types of pipe so that even if you are a beginner to smoking a pipe you will have some idea of what is the right one to buy for yourself or find the right gift pipe for someones speical.

Briar Pipes

This is the most popular type of pipe today; they can be hand or machine made using a type of wood called briar. Briar is good pipe making wood for a few reasons; the most important reason is that it has a natural resistance to fire making it the perfect choice for crafting smoking pipes out off. Then it also has the great ability to absorb moisture.

Clay Pipes

Clay pipes are nearly always made from very fine white clay. These clay pipes are made in a labour intensives process:

• First the clay has all the air beat out of it
• Then each pipe is hand rolled before moulding it
• The pipe is then pierce with a very fine wire
• Finally they are fired very carefully.
• Most of the time pipes are un-glazed.

Unlike most other types of pipe clay pipes will get hot while you are smoking them, meaning that most of the time beginners to pipe smoking will find it hard to smoke a clay pipe. The people who do smoke clay pipes claim that they give a “pure” smoke, gaining no additional flavours from the pipe bowl.

Corncob pipes

Corncob pipes are made from maize. These pipes are very cheap but at the same time they are also very effective. Some smokers regard them as inelegant because of how cheap they are. To make a corncob pipe you:

• Dry the cobs for two years
• You then hollow them out to make a bowl shape
• The bowls are then dipped in a plaster based mixture and then the outside is varnished.
• A shank is then made from maple and added to the bowl.

Corncobs are still very popular today because they are so cheap. They also have to “break in” period like briar pipes. Because they are so cheap they are often recommended to beginner pipe smokers.