>>1420801If you want interesting materials, I’d recommend a Falcon pipe. They’re still (surprisingly) made here in England, and are relatively inexpensive. The basic construction is a solid metal lower bowl and stem, with a vulcanite or lucite mouthpiece and replaceable upper bowl.
The metal body comes in four styles: standard (chrome), extra (brown), hunter (black) and international (a completely different pipe made for traditional filters). Despite the names, the only difference between the first three is the colour. All four have a straight version and a bent version. Sometimes you’ll see a third called “curved” - this is just a straight stem with a slightly curved mouthpiece. Falcon have also done them with nickel plating. They offer three different bits - plain (a normal fishtail), multipurpose (some slight indents to aid clenching), and dental (deep indents and a lip, intended for people with false teeth).
The upper portion of the bowl can be changed at will - the standard offerings being briar and briar with a meerschaum insert. They both come in smooth and rusticated. There’s a Turkish company making pure meerschaum bowls for Falcons, which you can find quite easily too. Falcon have also sold some more exotic bowls in the past, like briar wrapped in carbon fibre.
I don’t have a pipe handy, so here’s an image I lifted from the internet. It’s a bent falcon extra with a multipurpose bit and a rusticated bulldog bowl.