Two Questions:

[Uncle-Festus]

Hi All,

I had two questions, both of wich have probably been answered somewhere in here before but I felt compelled to ask.
s
1) Anyone know anything about Mario Grandi pipes? I have seen them on EBAY for very reasonable prices, I am just not sure of thier quality. (the pictures look very nice but everyone knows how that goes, photoshop is magical.)

2) Has anyone been experimenting with alternate bowl materials? I've always been a Briar guy - I do have a few meers but has anyone tried the "bog wood" material from people like Talbert, or Olive wood, or black meerschaum from africa?

[SidRox7]

Originally Posted by Uncle-Festus

Hi All,

I had two questions, both of wich have probably been answered somewhere in here before but I felt compelled to ask.
s
1) Anyone know anything about Mario Grandi pipes? I have seen them on EBAY for very reasonable prices, I am just not sure of thier quality. (the pictures look very nice but everyone knows how that goes, photoshop is magical.)

I was wondering the same thing a few days ago and found this on here. I will be purchasing one as well..... lets not get into a bid war lol
These are quotes from Sound7 on this site.
The two pipes arrived today. Let me say they are wonderful and I want to offer the following praise. These are two of the nicest looking pipes in my whole collection and that is saying alot considering some of the makes I have in there. If you stamp another Itallian Makers name on these they could easily pass for $900-$1200 on the market because the quality and artistic beauty is there. They are that nice and I detect not a single flaw in either grain, stem, bowl or drill hole. The finish is stunning. My prediction is there is no way he stays this cheap for long. Sooner or later recognition will come his way and he will adjust his prices accordingly.

At the request of "Futurepipes" here is his reply to those who read this forum

"Hi,
we've just read your pipe forum and the comments written in it.
Please, copy our message there.
we want to thank you and the other smokers for the positive comments on our work and pipes.
We guarantee we'll go on selling our pipes in ebay at an affordable price because we want that all the smokers around the world can buy and try a beautiful really hand made pipe at a real price.
We'll go on working like this everyday
Thanks to you
future pipes rome"

- futurepipes
Sorry I can't link you the post.

[SidRox7]

After logging into this site look at the top right of the page - click search - type MARIO GRANDI and there are several good posts on these pipes but the one I snagged those quotes from is 10 posts down after search.
Hope this helps........

[Uncle-Festus]

Very interesting, and most excellent news!!!!!! (as for a bidding war.....I am sure our tastes differ hehehe, plus I am at work and cant get to ebay from here so no fears, you have me beat sir! ROFL)

Now hopefully someone else has experimented with some of the other materials. I have seen some interesting Olive wood but dont know how it smokes, as well as Black Meerschaum would be a unique piece to have in my collection.

[SidRox7]

I missed 2 I wanted that ended yesterday but found one that ends in a few days I might bid on.

I have seen some interesting Olive wood but dont know how it smokes

I read they smoke great but for a few bucks more I am going to stick with their Briar's.

[Uncle-Festus]

As long as there are affordable good briars, so shall I. However; I may pick up an Olive and would love a Black Meershcaum just to be able to say "oh yea, I got one of those". You can't have too many pipes ROFL.

[blackop555]

uncle festus. i always wanted to try those bog wood ones. they are beautiful. the thing is they are damn expensive in the 200$ + range. thats alot to drop. if you can afford one sure get one. im sure its the same as a meerschaum tho. maybe a little different

[Col. Craggyblast]

Originally Posted by Uncle-Festus

Hi All,

I had two questions, both of wich have probably been answered somewhere in here before but I felt compelled to ask.
s
1) Anyone know anything about Mario Grandi pipes? I have seen them on EBAY for very reasonable prices, I am just not sure of thier quality. (the pictures look very nice but everyone knows how that goes, photoshop is magical.)

2) Has anyone been experimenting with alternate bowl materials? I've always been a Briar guy - I do have a few meers but has anyone tried the "bog wood" material from people like Talbert, or Olive wood, or black meerschaum from africa?

I have meerschaums, an African meerschaum, and I used to have a lemonwood pipe by Spanu. I lost interest in the lemonwood, so I traded it to smokingpipes.com for my last Cavicchi. Jim Benjiman opened up the lemonwood pipe for me a couple of years before he died as the drafthole was way too narrow. Ultimately, it was too heavy for me, but it smoked pretty well after Jim opened it up. I rarely smoke meerschaums anymore for some reason. I sure would like to have one of Talbert's Morta pipes.

[Crazycoonass]

If anyone has smoked one of those huge ceramic monstrosities that are like 2 feet long let me know, Im curious, I was thinking of getting one to put one on my wall next to my swords.