Brigham Pipes

[Foxfire]

I was browsing smokingpipes.com today and noticed an affordable brand of pipes that I have never heard of: Brigham. Apparently they have some sort of maple wood insert, like a filter or something.

Anyone have any experience with these? They look good, but I'm not familiar with any kind of wood insert and whether or not that is a good thing or not.

 

[user 2031]

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[flytyer]

My first two pipes were Brighams and both are good smokers. I think they are a good buy for the money. Brigham filters are basically wooden tubes that allow the smoke to pass freely wile absorbing some moisture and tar. They also allow a cleaner to pass all the way to the bowl if needed.

 

[Mikem]

I believe back in the day they were made in Canada (many a moon ago). I am not sure who makes them know. IMHO they are a good pipe for the money. Sometimes it is difficult to find the maple wood tubes/filters. I prefer the maple wood to the Savinelli balsawood filters although I think the Savinelli's are a better made pipe (not taking away from the Brigham's, I own several).

 

[Foxfire]

I forgot about the Savinelli balsa filters. I usually just throw them away. I guess I could do the same with these maple ones.

So would yall say that Brighams are a better value than Savinellis, or about equal?

Thanks for the comments!

 

[Mikem]

That's a hard question to answer. I would say that Savinellis have the edge on the quality of briar and craftsmanship, but if memory serves me the Brigham's are a little cheaper (pipe for pipe) than the Savinellis. It all depends on your wallet and if you have a preference of shape when comparing the two brands. IMHO you can't go wrong with either as far as smoking quality goes. I have several of each brand and prefer the maple tubes compared to the balsa filters. But as you say you can through out either type and it probably doesn't make that much of a difference in the smoking quality. If "looking" for a pipe with a filter I think the best type of filters are the 9mm filters on the Vauen (Germany) pipes. They run the gammit as far as price goes. I have seen them from the mid-$50's too the mid-$300 price range depending on grade and shape. I personally like the Vauen's for quality, craftsmanship and value for the money over the two brands we have been talking about. Your mileage may vary.

 

[DrT999]

I have a brigham, just bought late last year and smoked a few times. I like their shapes and prices. I don't know if the maple insert really makes much difference; it certainly isn't anything like a filter, plus or minus. The filters don't work well with fatter pipe cleaners, but that's the worst I can say about them -- you're supposed to change them every 20-30 smokes unles you clean them a few times with alcohol, in which case they should last a bit longer.

In any case, mark me down as a satisfied customer. If you like classic shapes on their prices scales, they are worth considering
The thread I opened on this is here:
[url=/t14731-brigham-pipes]https://www.brothersofbriar.com/t14731-brigham-pipes [/url]

 

[Foxfire]

Oh blast, I hate being that guy who starts new threads about old topics. I apologize.

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

 

[Natch]

I own a Brigham churchwarden I bought off Sasquatch a while back and am very happy with it. It has the maple wood insert and as indicated above, I wouldn't really call it a filter, certainly not like the Balsa wood filters Savanelli makes. It's an interesting little maple dowel with a holl drilled down the middle (seems to be about the same diamater as the draft hole of the rest of the pipe), so the smoke passes right through the middle. There is a bit of a metal "stinger" at one end, but again it's hole is the same diameter as in the rest of the pipe. It does seem to hold enough moisture that I've never had a gurgle or sucked up some of that delicious "drippings" we all love to ingest. :lol:

After each smoke, I run it under hot water for a few seconds, and they seem to last me about dozen smokes or more before I toss them.

Natch

 

[dougc905]

My first few pipes were Brighams, mainly because they were sold everywhere in Toronto where I live. I bought mine at Eaton's - one of the late, great Canadian department stores. This was in the late 1970's. I still have the first which I will keep forever. It is extremely light weight and traditionally sized - that is, it is about 5.25" long. Three dot pipes were their mid-range with one-dots being the cheapest (~$20 in 1977) and I believe 7-dots being the most expensive (well over $100 in 1977). I think I paid $35 which was a lot for a 15 year old. Brigham had a B&M store in Toronto's financial district and distributed across Canada through every imaginable retail source. If you went into a drug store or corner store and saw pipes on a board, they were probably Brighams. Pipes like Medicos were also around but not as prevalent.

Here's my first pipe:

Business fell off in the 1990's with the cigar boom and anti smoking sentiment. The company eventually was faced with going out of business or going off shore. I think that the pipes are made in Italy right now. The pipedia page is not current but gives history.

As for the filter, it gets really wet when Amphora and Captain Black type tobaccos are smoked - the extent of my knowledge in the late 70's. If you simply remove the filter the pipe will whistle. Don't know what the filters look like now, but they were wood with an aluminum bevel combination when I was buying those pipes. I unscrewed the wood tube from its aluminum bevel and stuck the bevel back into the pipe to stop the whistling.

By (I think) 1982, I discovered what a real smoke shop was and Brigham pipes were a thing of the past for me.

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

If I'm not mistaken this was posted by an actual Brigham rep in the previous thread:

For the record, Brigham Filters aren't filters at all. In fact, you can pass a pipe cleaner through the middle of them. The air hole is the same diameter as a "regular" air hole. The benefit is that the smoke passes through wood for a longer period rather than through the lucite/rubber stem. As it does so, tars and moisture are wicked to the outside of the wooden tube (filter). The smoke and draw is not impeded in any way. I hope this brief description is helpful to the discussion.

 

[Slow Puffs]

A few of my Brighams:



The following "big" President Brighams:



The system.... maple filter goes into the aluminum piece. The top is a non-system Brigham "platinum".



I tend to smoke latakia blends in my Brighams.

 

[Sasquatch]

Hand over that tin of King Street, Slow Puffs, and no one gets hurt.



I love that stuff!

 

[Slow Puffs]

I gifted (actually) traded it, in it's annivery year, with an old member from Sonora, tj, who has since passed on to tobacco heaven when we were active on the old Knox BB. He sent a tin of aged Marlin Flake in return. One of the few cross border trades I made. Might have been the first.

I often was suspicious that it was actually Dunhill 965 tinned for Brigham's anniverary and renamed.

 

[Sasquatch]

I'm not a big fan of 965, so that would come as a big surprise to me, although I can certainly see some similarities.



Good stuff either way.