Briar, a discovery of French craftsmen in the nineteenth century, comes from the erica arborea, an indigenous shrub, common to the Mediterranean area that develops just under the surface of the soil, forming a wooden growth called a “burl”.

The shrub must be at least thirty years old in order for the burls to reach an acceptable minimum size for pipemaking, weighing about 3 kilograms.

The briar root is vastly superior to all other woods such as.