It's not that I'm afraid to die.  I just don't want to be there when it
happens.                                                         Woody Allen

sleep is lovely, death is better still, not to have been born is of course
the miracle.                                                   Heinrich Heine

Those who welcome death have only tried it from the ears up.
                                                                Wilson Mizner

A man properly must pay the fiddler.  In my case it so happened that a
whole symphony orchestra had to be subsidized.   John Barrymore

Decency.....must be an even more exhausting state to maintain than its
opposite.  Those who succeed seem to need a stupefying amount of
sleep.                                                              Quentin Crisp

The final delusion is the belief that one has lost all delusions.
                                                                Maurice Chapelain
A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no
property, and vulgar employments.        Aristotle

Democracy encourages the majority to decide things about which the
majority is blissfully ignorant.                  John Simon
                                                                   
Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not
as they ought to be.                                    Ambrose Bierce

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is
one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.  
                                                      Sidney Harris

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by
those who have not got it.                        George Bernard Shaw

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern.  Every class
is unfit to govern.          Lord Acton

Clergyman, n.  A man who undertakes the management of our spiritual
affairs as a method of bettering his temporal ones.
Ambrose Bierce

A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without
working at the expense of the rascals who work to live.
Voltaire

If all these sweet young things were laid end to end, I wouldn't be the
slightest bit surprised.            Dorothy Parker on Coeds

God must hate the common people because he made them so common
Philip Wylie

Communism is like one big phone company.       Lenny Bruce

it could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no
distinctively native American criminal class except Congress.
Mark Twain
This photo was taken only days before my beloved San Francisco
store, Sherlock's Haven was closed for good in June of '06, thereby
diminishing the quality of life on this planet no little and quite some.  
The man to my right was my trusty pipe tobacco and cigar taste-tester,
Johnson, of the sensitive palate.  He is now  plying his trade in Phoenix.
 The tall gent behind him is Jimmy Walker, hand picked to be my
successor until lease negotiations broke down.  The hoodlum looking
character to my left is my good friend and Consigliere, Steve Brunner.  
Among the regulars are a number who are still friends with whom I
have regular intercourse.  There has never been a more congenial spot
than Sherlock's Haven, the Camelot of tobacco stores.  As its
proprietor is how I'd like to be remembered.
I wanted to caption this photo, "I knew more about pipes when I was
seven than you know now," but my P.R. firm nixed that idea.  So, let's
try, "With the pristine palate that accompanies youth, Marty smokes a
blend without a full complement of Latakia for the first time in his life."
I don't actually know what was going through my mind at the time, but
the photo was taken circa 1950, and probably in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Shortly after my mother met my wife, she told Joy that all it took to
keep me happy in the back seat of our 1938 LaSalle during our annual
one week vacations was a pipe in my mouth and a cap on my head.  
Joy responded with the fact that nothing has changed except that now
I'm in the front seat.  
Above is my sister, with whom I contentiously shared that large back
seat, and my father.  The sweater was knitted by my Aunt Rae.  The
site was most probably Niagara Falls and the year 1949.  I'm guessing.
Welcome to Pulvers Briar
This website is devoted to pipes and my enjoyment of talking
about and showing them.  For your part, I hope you derive some
pleasure in seeing and reading about briar and meerschaum
pipes.
There are plenty of pipe websites and lots of good pipes other
than mine.  What will distinguish my site from most of the others
is the willingness to voice my  opinion in the relatively rare
occurrence when a pipe is not superior, or has a noticeable flaw.
Mostly, I'm pleased with the pipes I choose to offer for sale, both
in pipe quality and price.  But please, look and decide for
yourself.
You will see new and used pipes for sale, the new often having
been hand picked and the used always having been cleaned
and reconditioned and ready for you to smoke upon arrival.  
Please enjoy your time spent here today, and please come back
again.
I'm almost always happy to hear from you and to field your
questions, concerns, ideas or other input.
Feel free to write.
Marty Pulvers
Pulvers' Prior Briar
P.O. Box 61146
Palo Alto, CA  94306

Phone/Fax:
(650) 965-7403
Email:
mpulvers@aol.com
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Feb.7, 2010
Circumstances dictate that I make a couple of gentle
changes to my policies.  I do not think that anybody will
be even slightly upset at the changes, but it should
make life a little easier for me and actually, better for
some of you.  I intend to start by requiring a deposit, a
small one will do, on pipes that are held in reserve.  
Obviously, this does not include those pipes for which
the hold is only for as long as it takes a check or money
order to reach me, which should be two or three days.
  But, if somebody needs two or more weeks to come up
with the money, I will ask for a deposit.  It has been my
own fault, due to laxness and a desire to please, but
sometimes the reservation goes on far too long and the
opportunity to actually sell the pipe to interested parties
comes and goes.  Plus my layaway cabinet gets filled.
  As I said, I consider this a gentle enough request, and
even the most benificent retail store asks for a deposit
on layaway items.  I suspect that imposing such a policy
offends no one.  And, of course, it you have a pipe on
hold now, I am not making the policy retroactive, so no
action on your part is required.  
  I also want you all to know that the old  laissez-faire
policy has only rarely been abused.       
  In somewhat the same vein, I am going to ask the
person reserving a pipe when I can expect payment.  I
am not imposing some hard and fast rule on how long a
pipe may be held, but each person should be
responsible for meeting the deadline that they create.
If a deadline is not met,  (and again, I am not going to be
here with a stop watch) I will feel free to sell the pipe to
a ready and willing buyer.  Yes, I have a philanthropic
spirit....I just do not have a philanthropic-type bank
account.  If I do sell a pipe that had been reserved, yes,
of course, I will return the full deposit.  This is not a ploy
to make money and lose friends.  
  The other change will be an increase in postage.  I
never hope to break even on what I charge on postage,
but with the recent postal increase on USPS Priority, I am
often charged 50 cents or more over the $5 I assess, and
that does not include the nearly $2 I spend on boxes for
each shipment.  Not that you need to know my figures,
but I do fear that some people will think I am getting
greedy so I feel the need to explain.  I am not going to
implement the change immediately because I need to
research the new rates, which are more complex that the
old flat rate.  Just checking on the new rates feels like
work.  I will get to it when I get to it.  I will keep you all
informed and even post the rates on the ordering and
shipping page.  
Marty