The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-12-27
WHERE PIPES
ARE GROWN
THE FRENCH BRIAR THAT COMES
FROM ITALY-SELECTED ROOTS
THAT ARE BOILED BEFORE USE.

The wood from which briar pipes are
made is the root of the large heath
known in botany as the Erica arborea.
Our "briar" is but the corruption of the
French bruyere. The British Vice
Consul at Leghorn states that the briar
root industry has had a somewhat Gu
rious history. First begun in the
Pyrenees some fifty years age, it trave
led along the French Riviera and the
Ligurian coast (taking Corsica by the
way), to the Tuscan Maremma, and has
now reached Calabria- in the south
which is at present its most flourishing
centre.
BY the very nature of the business,
when a certain district has been ex-
hausted of all its roots, the industry
must come to an end there, and the
opinion has been expressed that the
Italian branch of it cannot last much
more than another ten years. Leghorn
has always been the centre of the eX-
port of Tuscan briar-root since the Ma
remma industry came into existence;
but as the South Italian briar is of
admittedly superior quality, a large
quantity of the Calabrian root is also
imported into Leghorn for selection and
subsequent export. The total export
from Leghorn is estimated at $4,000 cuts
year, valued at $4,000. Fully one
half the export is Calabrian root. All
the root that comes into Leghorn, has
already been cut on the spot into the
shape in which it is to be exported to
the pipe manufacturing centers, which
are principally-at least as regards TIA
liam briar-St. Claude i'm France, MI
remburg in Bavaria, and various towns
in Ehenish Prussia and Thuringia. The
roots, which are sometimes of a cir
conference of two feet or more, are
cut into blocks and then boiled. If there
i3 any defect in the root which has not
been discovered before the boiling pro-
cess, the blocks are bound to split soon
er or later,
Briar-root blocks are cut into about
twenty-five different sizes and three
principal shapes. The shapes are Mar
seillaise," Relieve" and Belgian" The
first two are the more usual shapes;
from the "Marseillaise" blocks are cut
the ordinary briar pipes which have
bowl and stem at right angles; Re
leve" blocks are oNt into a shape for
converting into hanging pipes and
Belgian" blocks, for which there is but
small demand, are shaped to fashion in
to pipes which have bowl and stem at
an obtuse angle.
The minimum size of "Marseilaise"
blocks is about inches in length, 3
The Calabrian blocks, selected at Leg
horn and exported thence, seem to be
in favor with the trade, for the reason
that they remain so long on the dealers
hands that they would be almost GER
tain to split before export if they were
defective. A Leghorn dealer, who does
his own cutting in Calabria, has first to
have the roots sent by wagon to his
workship, where they are boiled and
cut, thence again by wagon to the sea
coast, where they are placed in light
ers for shipment to LeghOrn. At Leg
horn they are once more transferred to
lighters, and placed in carts for trans
port to the warehouses where they are
unpacked for selection They are then
repacked in bales, and carted to the
goods station for conveyance abroad;
but considerable time must elapse
before they leave the hands of a mer-
chant who does his own cutting in Ca
labria.