Oval chambers.

[schaum]

During my surfing I've noticed a few oval shaped chambers on pipes. What advantage would this have?

 

[huntertrw]

schaum:
I believe that such pipes were marketed as being "pocketable," which is to say that they were to fit into one's vest- or shirt-pocket unobtrusively. Other than that, I see no advantage over a round-chambered pipe.
I do have an old Ehrlich Opera pipe which has an oval bowl, and I was surprised to find that it smokes every bit as well as any of my round-chambered ones.

 

[buroak]

As usual, huntertrw provides a succinct and satisfying answer. KB&B made "The Pocket" and "Vest Pocket" pipes with very narrow oval bowls - the shape looks like the pupil of a cat's eye. The shape was apparently OK for smoking, but the dual draft hole set up was obviously unsatisfactory to many smokers, as examples of these pipes have often been modified by cutting out the draft holes to make one very large opening in the bottom of the bowl.

 

[huntertrw]

buroak:
Thank-you for the education concerning the Kaufman Brothers & Bondy oval-bowled pipes, as I was unaware that they were manufactured with dual draft-holes. My Ehrlich has a single draft-hole, and my initial fear was that the tobacco would burn unevenly. Thankfully it was unfounded.

 

[buroak]

huntertrw, Glad to be of use. The airway on those pipes ran under the bowl with two drafts holes drilled through the bottom of the bowl. My understanding is that the design led to uneven burning.

 

[klause]

Schaum, I have a few, and no problems with how they smoke, or any discernible difference to a standard round bowl.
Hunter hits the nail squarely and firmly on the head.

 

[stvalentine]

I would buy one but haven´t found a pipe reamer for oval bowls yet..... :| :lol: :wink:

 

[snagstangl]

I thought the two holes were to fix the poor burning of oval bowls. But my oval bowls burn just fine. I have a couple of yello bowls with the stinger and two hole bowl and a couple where the bottom of the bowl has been removed. I thought the two hole briar bowl bottoms most likely burned out because they are pretty thin so anyone not being careful would burn it out. Not careful would be most people who smoked a pipe at that time when it was just a piece of wood to hold the burning tobacco.

 

[huntertrw]

"Oval Chambers"
Sounds like it should be the name of some historic member of Parliament.

 

[mso489]

'Seems like an oval bowl would be labor intensive to bore out, since you can't do it with a single drilling,

and therefore they'd be more expensive. It strikes me as a needless complication of the simplest part of

pipe construction, but if they smoke well, all is forgiven. They look kind of neat, unusual. Yes,

Oval Chambers pretended to be a friend of Benjamin Disraeli, the British Prime Minister, but worked tirelessly

against him behind his back.

 

[buroak]

snagstangl, I only have one Yello Bole pocket pipe, and it has had the bottom of the bowl removed (I see no sign that it was burned away). I wish I could make a comparison to an intact specimen. The only problem I experience with mine is that tobacco will fall into the airway. As a fix, I remove the stinger so I can clear obstructions with a pipe cleaner.
huntertrw, Would he have belonged to House of Commons or the House of Lords? And what would have been his position on the Corn Laws?