Pipe Shape You Never Buy, Or Finally Did

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aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
He wasn't one of history's good guys, that's for damned sure. Strangely enough, I had always heard of that shape as an "Oom Paul". It wasn't until fairly recently I heard it called a "Hungarian", even though that seems likely to be an older, more traditional name for it.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,748
27,346
Carmel Valley, CA
You got me googling a bit, but I was stopped by this passage from Wikipedia. None of my distaste for Kruger was or is based on his appearance, but get this!
The impression of Kruger garnered by the British envoys in Pretoria during early 1877 was one of an unspeakably vulgar, bigoted backveld peasant.[78] Regarding his austere, weather-beaten face, greying hair and simple Dopper dress of a short-cut black jacket, baggy trousers and a black top hat, they considered him extremely ugly. Furthermore, they found his personal habits, such as copious spitting, revolting. Shepstone's legal adviser William Morcom was one of the first British officials to write about Kruger: calling him "gigantically horrible", he recounted a public luncheon at which Kruger dined with a dirty pipe protruding from his pocket and such greasy hair that he spent part of the meal combing it.[79] According to Martin Meredith, Kruger's unsightliness was mentioned in British reports "so often that it became shorthand for his whole personality, and indeed, his objectives".[79] They did not consider him a major threat to British ambitions.[79]
Quite the assassination, huh?
If anyone knows how the Hungarian shape came to be known in some circles as "Oom Paul", please post!

 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,966
31,891
34
Burlington WI
I only like classic shapes as well. I enjoy looking at the strange artisan pipes I see sometimes, and I appreciate the art work and skill but would never buy them.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,448
109,394
Oom Paul name origin.
To explain the 'Oom Paul' label, it was a designation given to a 19th century South African politician named Paul Kruger, their first President. He smoked a pipe shaped similar to what's called the Oom Paul or Hungarian today. 'Oom' in Afrikaans, means uncle.

 

cersono

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 11, 2016
178
258
Vallis Lacrimarum
No wonder Brits disliked poor old Oom Paul in that article. After all, they brutally conquered his country in the Boer War.

I never buy anything but Zulus. They seem to me like most natural and comfortable shape. Somehow I own several other shapes, Oom Paul inclusive. What I wouldn't even own is a freehand.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
Cersono, my favorite zulu/yacht is the Sav 404, also sold as Rossi 8404. Nice ample bowl, light weight, nifty balance. You can get the shape as a no-fitler Sav Oscar Lucite, or as any of various Rossi series without filter.
doctorbob, princes are often wide-chambered and perfect for "complex" blends, four or more tobaccos. Some see them as fussy looking, but you can find them often as black blast pipes that look pretty macho.

 
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