50 blocks of briar...

Well, I bit the bullet and bought 50 blocks of briar from Alexander of Greece. I have seven of his pipes from the early 80s-90s and all of them are great smokers. These blocks come from his stocks and are of the ebauchon grade (not plateau). Most of them have been aged (dried and cured) for about 27 years in his sheds. I'm aiming at carving freehands, and that means complete freehands - drilling and all. We'll see what happens! There are some interesting shapes and sizes in there, not one the same, just how I intend the pipes to be...