Briar Spirit
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2012
- Messages
- 2,660
- Reaction score
- 0
I am in receipt today of the most splendid pipe from Ian at Northern Briars.
A bit of history:
A while back Jim (Jimbo) very generously sent me a Northern Briars pipe as a gift, see this thread: http://www.pipesmokerscubby.co.uk/showthread.php?1201-Northern-Briar-gift-from-Jimbo
Well, I set about giving this beautiful pipe a thorough clean prior to trying it out with some choice tobacco, but when I came to cleaning the inside of the bowl my finger sank into the bowl walls, as if the walls were made of a sort of brittle but soft foam material. I proceeded to move my finger around the bowl interior only to find the entire bowl wall just past half way down the chamber was in this state of foam like texture. It was apparent to me that the bowl had suffered quite a significant burn-out, now I must stress that even with a good looking over prior to getting to work inside the chamber the pipe looked 100% perfect.
There was no way Jim could have known the bowl interior had suffered this burn-out, the reason it had burnt-out so badly became apparent only after I cut the top half of the bowl of and started an investigation. I figured the pipe was done for and should just be thrown in the bin, but I was loathe to do so as it was a gift from Jim, so I contacted Steve Laug to see if he knew any way of salvaging the remainder of the pipe. Steve suggested I contact Ian of Northern Briars about the pipe, I didn't see much point in doing so but I did as Steve suggested. Ian contacted me and requested I send him the pipe, again I didn't see why but figured he may want to investigate it himself just out of curiosity, so I sent it off to Ian.
Next thing I know I get an email from Ian saying he would be willing to send me a replacement pipe, now keep in mind that Ian knew I wasn't the original buyer and that Jim was and that the burn-out was not his fault, it was due to a large amount of sand particles hidden deep within the Briar which he could never have known about. Ian asked me to choose any pipe from his website, the naughty kid in me screamed out "choose the Sea Urchin", now as much as I am in love with that peculiar pipe I knew it was wrong to make such a high value request. So I eventually opted for the G5 Plateaux.
Ian told me I would have to wait a staggering 8 weeks for the pipe, then later he told me I would have to wait an additional 2 weeks as he was doing the West Coast Pipe Show. As incredibly kind and generous as his offer of a replacement pipe was, I didn't fully believe anything would come of the offer. I've had numerous promises made to me broken during my life, so many in fact that I find it hard to believe when some one makes me a promise these days, so I figured the matter was closed, Ian had made a magnificent gesture in words, better than I usually get from promises but thought that was as far as it would actually go.
This morning the doorbell rang, the postie was stood there with a small package in his hand which was to be signed for, I took the package and looked it over, it had a return address for Northern Briars. It took a few minutes for it to sink in, could it be real, surely not, seriously, could this curious little box hold what my heart was daring me to believe, surely it was some sort of prank. With hands trembling I opened the package, inside the box was a leather pipe bag with Northern Briars pressed into it, there was obviously something in the bag as the weight and bulge in the bag was telling me. I tentatively put my hand into the bag and found the end of a stem touching my fingers, gripping the stem tip I gently eased out the object in the bag, this is what I found inside the bag:
I cannot express enough just how fabulous this pipe is in the flesh, not only had Ian proved good to his word, he had sent me a most beautiful pipe, it is absolutely prefect in every single way.
After recent events, my emotional state has become 'very very low', I can honestly say that this has brightened my spirits immensely, thank you so very much Ian, you are a damn fine man and a gentleman to the core.
A bit of history:
A while back Jim (Jimbo) very generously sent me a Northern Briars pipe as a gift, see this thread: http://www.pipesmokerscubby.co.uk/showthread.php?1201-Northern-Briar-gift-from-Jimbo
Well, I set about giving this beautiful pipe a thorough clean prior to trying it out with some choice tobacco, but when I came to cleaning the inside of the bowl my finger sank into the bowl walls, as if the walls were made of a sort of brittle but soft foam material. I proceeded to move my finger around the bowl interior only to find the entire bowl wall just past half way down the chamber was in this state of foam like texture. It was apparent to me that the bowl had suffered quite a significant burn-out, now I must stress that even with a good looking over prior to getting to work inside the chamber the pipe looked 100% perfect.
There was no way Jim could have known the bowl interior had suffered this burn-out, the reason it had burnt-out so badly became apparent only after I cut the top half of the bowl of and started an investigation. I figured the pipe was done for and should just be thrown in the bin, but I was loathe to do so as it was a gift from Jim, so I contacted Steve Laug to see if he knew any way of salvaging the remainder of the pipe. Steve suggested I contact Ian of Northern Briars about the pipe, I didn't see much point in doing so but I did as Steve suggested. Ian contacted me and requested I send him the pipe, again I didn't see why but figured he may want to investigate it himself just out of curiosity, so I sent it off to Ian.
Next thing I know I get an email from Ian saying he would be willing to send me a replacement pipe, now keep in mind that Ian knew I wasn't the original buyer and that Jim was and that the burn-out was not his fault, it was due to a large amount of sand particles hidden deep within the Briar which he could never have known about. Ian asked me to choose any pipe from his website, the naughty kid in me screamed out "choose the Sea Urchin", now as much as I am in love with that peculiar pipe I knew it was wrong to make such a high value request. So I eventually opted for the G5 Plateaux.
Ian told me I would have to wait a staggering 8 weeks for the pipe, then later he told me I would have to wait an additional 2 weeks as he was doing the West Coast Pipe Show. As incredibly kind and generous as his offer of a replacement pipe was, I didn't fully believe anything would come of the offer. I've had numerous promises made to me broken during my life, so many in fact that I find it hard to believe when some one makes me a promise these days, so I figured the matter was closed, Ian had made a magnificent gesture in words, better than I usually get from promises but thought that was as far as it would actually go.
This morning the doorbell rang, the postie was stood there with a small package in his hand which was to be signed for, I took the package and looked it over, it had a return address for Northern Briars. It took a few minutes for it to sink in, could it be real, surely not, seriously, could this curious little box hold what my heart was daring me to believe, surely it was some sort of prank. With hands trembling I opened the package, inside the box was a leather pipe bag with Northern Briars pressed into it, there was obviously something in the bag as the weight and bulge in the bag was telling me. I tentatively put my hand into the bag and found the end of a stem touching my fingers, gripping the stem tip I gently eased out the object in the bag, this is what I found inside the bag:
I cannot express enough just how fabulous this pipe is in the flesh, not only had Ian proved good to his word, he had sent me a most beautiful pipe, it is absolutely prefect in every single way.
After recent events, my emotional state has become 'very very low', I can honestly say that this has brightened my spirits immensely, thank you so very much Ian, you are a damn fine man and a gentleman to the core.
![3-Size[6pc] Fitting Cleaning Brush Set (1/2, 3/4, 1.0-inch) Copper Pipe Cleaner for Power Drill, Stainless-Steel Wire Bore Brush, Metal Tube Brushes, Prep Copper/Bronze/Brass Fittings for Soldering](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41puQGBrVFL._SL500_.jpg)
![[3-Size Set] Copper Pipe Cleaner for Drill, Clean 1/2, 3/4, 1-in Copper Pipes & Tubes for Soldering, 3 Tube Cleaning Brushes, Model InerLok050, 075, 100, w/ Stainless-Steel Wire Bristles & 1/4” Shank](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41QVxunlqML._SL500_.jpg)
