How the shapes got their states

edgreen · Feb 12, 2015

I was just mind wandering with a bowlful and began wondering about pipe shapes and their names. I've never seen a Zulu smoking a Zulu or, for that matter, anyone at Woodstock either. The only pipes I've seen from those colonials in Rhodesia are standard billiard shapes, never seen one smoke a rhodesian. And then there is our Irish makers, Peterson. I don't remember ever seeing a Peterson dublin. Apple, brandy, egg, scoop and churchwarden I get. The rest are a mystery. You can see that my life is really tough to have such things to ponder.

mcitinner1 · Feb 12, 2015

Then there is the question of a smoking volcano.

mso489 · Feb 12, 2015

Yeah, a few of the shape names are inscrutable. How did the names yacht and zulu get applied to the same

shape? Billiard seems a little esoteric -- maybe the rounded base of the bowl looks like a billiard ball? Since

it is even difficult to agree on which of the identified shapes apply to specific pipes, I take the whole shape-name

exercise as a general sort of convenience and a playful game. I am a little annoyed when retailers online don't

even attempt to designate what shapes their pipes are, especially when most of them are clearly settled traditional

shapes. It shakes my confidence in the rest of their credibility, but that's on them. Some pipe names clearly refer

to shape associations, like volcano. Others are arbitrary and probably just the whim of pipe makers.

misterlowercase · Feb 12, 2015

I was pondering a similar line of thought recently, wondering which of the British classic shapes are actually of British invention, because most are of French origin.
I could only come up with the Lovat and the Prince, but I'm probably missing something.
Then Sixten Ivarsson came along and changed the whole game.
Today,

I think maybe a blowfish is the most difficult shape to make,

but also a simple straight billiard is difficult as well.
I've always wanted a churchwarden, but I have no fireside.
If we were to make a family tree of the Zulu/Woodstock,

it'd look something like this:

Yachtsman - Zulu - Woodstock

|

Horn

|

Dublin

|

Cutty

Maybe,

I dunno?
An interesting video,

he shows the old traditional Zulu pipe,

a cattle horn...

:

:

:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3fIEL3yVlc

edgreen · Feb 12, 2015

I love the video. Thanks, misterlowercase

anthonyrosenthal74 · Feb 12, 2015

The video was great! I could sit and chat with that guy about pipes all day.

cortezattic · Feb 12, 2015

The video was interesting and informative, but I do wish pipe smokers would not smoke while doing the video.

Don't they realize that no one on this side of the tube wants to sit through their puff, puff, puff, punctuated by just a syllable or two?

We all know the puffing part, so just put the pipe down and convey the information you have to share, please!

literaryworkshop · Feb 12, 2015

Some of the names I could guess at. The churchwarden, the poker, and the Dublin, for example, seem pretty obvious. I'm sure others, such as the prince, the diplomat, and the Canadian all have stories behind them.
The only one I'm really sure about is the freehand, which is only a shape on Pipedia. :D

buroak · Feb 13, 2015

I am baffled by the "Oom Paul" shape. Whose uncle was so malformed that they inspired that shape? :wink:

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