Smooth, Rusticated or Sandblast?

PappyJoe

What's your preference? I have more smooth than anything else but it's not by design?

Stoney

I love the grain of a smooth pipe.  But a well-done sandblast is a beauty!

drac2485

I love them all.  If it has a beautiful grain with good birds eye or flames I love the look, but too many pipes are only ehhh in my opinion especially when they use fills and such and keep it smooth. I normally hold my pipes as I found I like to chew on the stems if I try to clench, and I like monster sized pipes, so I prefer texture.  I love sandblast and wish more people would sandblast their pipes.  I also like rusticated but I like the randomness that comes from sandblasting and rustication can end up to patterned, but not consistently, and that drives me nuts.  As much as I love my Peterson pipes, and generally have been collecting their holiday pipes since I started smoking, their older pipes had a nice craggy rustication but their newer pipes are just a wavy pattern (which is a pattern) carved into the pipe and doesn't look as nice, personally.  I know rustication can be used to cover up flaws in the briar but I don't want to know its a cover up.

PipeProfessor

It depends on what complements the pipe the most. I like sandblast, but a good grain looks classy when its all smooth and shiny. 

Subtilis87

All my pipes but one are smooth, but I have one sandblasted full bent that I am just in love with. With my smooth pipes I feel a certain nervousness when handeling and smoking them, not wanting to add any scratches or scuffs to the surface. I do not feel this way about my sandblast.

drac2485

@subtilis87 I agree with how you feel about smooth bowled pipes.  I'd rather not ding them up but sandblast and rusticated I have a tendancy to be a little more rough with.

thesubcon

I tend to love smooth more than anything, but carved can be pretty sweet! Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of sandblasted pipes, but I have only seen 1 or 2 that I have liked in practicality.

Kirbyb

I lean more towards rusticated but I have all in my collection

thewanderingdude

I am a sucker for sandblasts. I have a few smooth but almost always pick a sandblast over anything else.

IndyJG

Have all three types in my collection, but a well-done sandblast is my favorite type.

Woodsman

I always admire a good smooth display of grain so smooth is my 1st choice but, I have all 3 types.

Mjhalbach

My pipes are either smooth or sandblast, I never found rusticated pipes appealing but if I came across one I liked I wouldn't pass it up on finish alone. When I first started smoking pipes I only purchased smooth pipes, but at an unknown point I turned to sandblasts. Now it is rare that I buy a smooth pipe, I find the texture and depth of a good sandblast hard to beat.

judandhispipe

It really depends on what catches my eye. I have no real preferences.

woofstick

I have all three in my collection, but I don't have a strong preference.

Corey562

I tend to lean more to a smooth pipe as well but I have a few that are sandblasted that are nice as well.

Bphasty

Rusticated, I know people think its just there to hide ugly grain but I love my Rustic Bing's Favorite, its pretty great.

woofstick

Nice pipe!

Darmon

I like the grain in smooth pipes but here recently I've been more drawn too sandblasted, and I like the appeal of not worrying about dinging a rusticated. so I see the up side to all of them.

Jeepnewbie

I love nice grain of a smooth but I would really love to have one of Cannoy Suede blast pipes. I have quite a few of smooth, rusticated, and a couple blast. My first pipe was a Grabow Collector 2003 rusticated. I recently purchased my first artisan pipe, a blasted Sloth Acorn that is a amazing pipe.

tim12string

Definitely smooth. Doesn't get dirty as easily & is breeze to clean.

xDutchx

It really depends on the pipe. I prefer smooth when smooth will take full advantage of the grain. I also prefer a smooth rim, because it's much easier to keep the rim clean.

Some folks always prefer sandblast over rusticated, but if the sandblast it not craggy enough to accentuate a good ring grain, then the blast can just look washed out. I have actually seen some carvers who have unique rustication techniques, that actually look far more eye catching than their sandblasts.

abcbill

Until this question, I rarely gave this subject one bit of thought. Now that I have reflected, I realized as far as finish is concerned, I really don't care. It is REALLY I just don't care one way or another. 

My thing with pipes is all about the shape. I am drawn to certain bowl configurations and bowl/stem combinations...Prince, billiard and billiard-based shapes (the GBD "Grecian Urn" as an example) and apple. Stem preference is half-or three-quarter bent...

Yah know, sometimes, it takes a simple question to prompt a bit of introspection...thanks for the asking...

Kmhartle

I have all three in my collection but I tend to lean towards rusticated and sandblast as the most appealing to me.

JosiahWN

I gotta side with sandblast. I just love the way it feels in my hand.

Woodsman

I've said I like smooth, but I prefer Unvarnished Smooth above all. 

piperdave

While I like the grain pattern that a smooth pipe shows I find it hard sometimes to choose between smooth and blasted. A really good blast will show the grain as well as give a nice relief and tactile feel in the hand that a smooth doesn't. If anyone has seen a J.T. Cooke pipe I think they will know what I mean. I wish that I owned one of his pipes they are amazing to look at and have an incredible feel.

ghostsofpompeii

I prefer the sandblasted and rusticated look over smooth, then actually looked at my collection and discovered it's pretty well evenly divided.