While you might think that all tobacco pipes are made out of briar wood, you'd be mistaken! Wooden tobacco pipes can be made from a variety of different materials. Here's our top list!

• Briar
• Cherry
• Olive
• Pear
• Elder
• Maple
• White Ash

Each of these woods has a different width, hardness, scent, flavor, and more. Some burn hot while others burn cooler. You'd be surprised what some wholesale tobacco pipes are made of. Olive wood is pretty obscure, after all!

Tobacco pipe accessories come in different kinds of wood too. Some collectors like to have a variety of woods, while others like to stick to one and have a cohesive collection.

Let's go over the different types of wood used for tobacco pipes!

Briar

Briar is the ultimate tobacco pipe material. It comes from the white heath tree which grows in Europe. The whole tree used to be harvested to get the wood, but now there are different methods that let the tree keep growing after harvest.

Briar is hard and heat resistant with a neutral smell. It also has a gorgeous grain. The wood fibers grow from one point out towards the outer bark. A flame grain is when the grain looks like it's flaring because of how it lies. There are also straight grains and bird's eye grains.

Briar sometimes has bits of debris or air pockets in it because it grows underground. That's partially why a hand-carved briar pipe is so expensive.

Cherry

Cherry wood is similar to briar wood in density and color. Cherry wood was originally known for imparting a great flavor on smoked meats. At first, it was the favorite material to make pipes out of.

Briar wood took its place over the years. At first, you won't notice a difference between a cherry pipe and a Briar pipe. Over time, you'll notice that the Briar pipe creates a slightly better flavor than the cherry pipe.

This is because the Briar wood is able to soak up the tobacco's moisture. While cherry also soaks up moisture and flavor, it's not to the same extent.

Olive

Olive is cheaper than Briar and is usually used for elaborately carved tobacco pipes. To illustrate, olive runs for about half of what Briar runs for per block. Olive is easy to carve out of.

Some people say that olive smokes hot, while others report a cool bowl with no heating problems. That can be said of most types of wood because everyone's smoking style is different!

Olive has a wonderful grain that is beautiful when carved. The olive wood gives off a beautiful olive smell and adds a sweet flavor to your smoke.

Pear

Pear is a decent wood to make pipes out of. If you want to enjoy smoking out of a pear pipe, you need to build up a good cake to create a cooler and more flavorful smoke.

Pear can add a slight sweetness to your smoke, although some people don't like that. They smoke hotter than Briar pipes do and can crack or char easily if not properly cared for.

They heat up quickly and are good at retaining that heat. Some people like smoking hot, while others hate it. It also depends on the kind of tobacco you're smoking.

Elder

Let's start with some folklore. In Harry Potter, Elder wood made up the most powerful wand, "the deathstick." Judas was believed to have hanged himself from an Elder tree in the Biblical era. In the Middle Ages, the tree was believed to house witches and it was thought that cutting it down brought bad luck.

Elder has a soft pith that can be drilled out, making it perfect for shafts. It's soft and difficult to work with. Since it's a shrub, you'll be hard-pressed to find anything besides shafts made of elder wood.

Maple

Maple is decently heat resistant, but not super stable when it comes to moisture. The soaking and drying cycle isn't great for maple and makes it crack easily.

You can enjoy maple pipes, but they won't last you decades the way other woods will. If you have some maple lying around and enjoy making pipes, it's a good wood to practice on. It's a very hard wood.

White Ash

Surprisingly, plenty of pipes are made out of ash. Churchwardens particularly tend to be made out of White Ash. And some claim they can't tell the difference between smoking out of a Briar pipe and a White Ash pipe!

White Ash is an extremely hard wood. Smoke it slowly and build up a good cake. It's a very flammable wood so it's vital to stay slow and cool while smoking.

Final Thoughts

You might just want to try out some new woods now!

Some of these woods are mainly used by craftsmen and aren't utilized on a commercial scale. Other woods, like the obvious- Briar- are used for nearly most pipes.

We recommend giving different types of wood a shot. You might end up liking the sweet taste that pear imparts, or you may love the deep tones in cherry. Or perhaps you make your own pipes and are looking for a change in pace!

No matter the reason, it's good to know as much as possible about tobacco pipes. The more you know, the deeper your practice becomes. Smoking pipes isn't just a pastime. It can turn into a life-long love affair if you give it the attention it deserves.