Is it really a "sitter"?

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Big John Shea

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 22, 2019
104
223
I've purchased a number of pipes that were advertised as "sitters" or "sitting pipes", and then in practice they are really just barely holding themselves up on some irregular surface features at the bottom of the pipe.

Contrasting these are the obvious poker shapes that literally will sit on their flat ass though a windstorm...

TobaccoPipes.com appears to define a sitter as "...not so much an individual pipe shape as it is a classification for pipes. A pipe that is referred to as a Sitter is a pipe that stands upright on its own due to a flat foot or shank."

Does the hive mind of the pipe collecting community actually have a different definition of a "sitter" that includes rounded bottom pipes that have the lucky feature of sitting upright?
 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,570
27,077
Carmel Valley, CA
"Does the hive mind of the pipe collecting community actually have a different definition of a "sitter" that includes rounded bottom pipes that have the lucky feature of sitting upright?"

Can't speak for the Hive Mind- couldn't even find that section- but, no. Sitters are made to sit. I have one that won't sit unless it's loaded. And have no non-sitters that do sit.
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
It's true, the term sitter can be true or far-fetched or simply a fib. Some of my rounder bowled pipes that do in fact stay upright mostly were not sold as sitters. So take the description under advisement in each case. It is a real convenience when a pipe can sit bowl-upright on a flat surface.
 

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
It feels misleading to call this pipe a "sitter" (and those similar) when a light shake of the table will spill the bowl. ?View attachment 3038
Yeah, I wouldn't call that pipe a sitter. It's just a pipe that happens to have decent balance.

My definition of "sitter" is a pipe that was specifically designed to sit on a flat surface, The bowl should be upright and the stem suspended in air to keep it away from any nastiness on the table surface. Very well designed sitters will maintain balance whether the bowl is packed or empty.
 
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