Briar grain, aesthetics or heat dissipation?

[Mad Hatter]

I think in the end an even cake plays a greater roll in the coolness of the smoke than the grain does. It is the cake that keeps the heat in the tobacco and away from the wood. Just my

[RJpuffs]

... and so on and so forth ...

and the consensus seems to be (not withstanding the 20% who don't know what grain is), grain is purely eyecandy.

Makes sense though, people are more likely to pay a premium price for a "visual beauty", given you can never tell if a pipe is any good before you smoke it. Better briar blocks getting better attention, making better pipes - while the "children of the lesser root" get sent to the machined pipe-mills where they are churned out like strands of spagetti.

But, I love a well grained pipe bowl!