What Do I Have Here?

badmedicine · Oct 13, 2015

I found this pipe on a beach a few years ago, and it looked like it had bee there for while. I'm not a pipe smoker though I've thought about trying it. I'm just curious what I have found. Is this just a talented carver's home-made pipe, or something else? Looks like maybe ebony or maybe a look-alike to me. It's very well-used and was probably someone's much loved pipe. I notice the bowl wood is cracking and I'd like to stop that. What would you recommend? Can it be restored to smokeable shape?
Not sure why the pic isn't showing, maybe I don't have enough posts. But you should be able to paste the link.

http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/Wayne6000-99/pipe.jpg

pruss · Oct 13, 2015

In your shoes I'd either shelve it as a curio, or bin it and move on.
The pipe you've posted looks to be a single piece of material. I can't even tell what material that is from the photo. I also wouldn't smoke anything I found on a beach.
If you're interested in picking up smoking, I'd dig through the threads here for how to start and what kind of kit to build in order to do so.
Welcome to the forums.
-- Pat

badmedicine · Oct 13, 2015

Thanks for the reply. I'm really more interested in the pipe for its own sake than for using it myself. Being an ex-heavy cigarette smoker I'm not sure that starting pipe smoking is really a good idea for me anyway. It just got me thinking about this old pipe.

newbroom · Oct 13, 2015

I hope someone will have an answer for you. It's an interesting shape and carving. Someone among us could restore it as well as it possibly could be, I am sure.

As for the ex cigarette smoking..if and when the addiction strikes, a pipe, properly smoked will open new worlds of taste and a much cleaner (lung wise) smoking experience.

Also possibly (readers here now laugh heartily) save you money if you do succumb to the Nicotine Mistress.

critter · Oct 13, 2015

Do you have any other pictures of it? It's really neat! Do you think it's made of some sort of hard wood? If there are no maker's marks on it anyplace I would guess it's either something that is mass produced or hand made. My guess would be leaning towards mass produced. IF the bowl is shallow I would bet it was designed to smoke something a little more green

If you can give us a better idea of it we might be able to make an educated guess.

wayneteipen · Oct 13, 2015

Very cool. If you found it on the beach it may have washed ashore from a sunken ship. It looks very old to me but the material it's made of is a mystery to me. It looks like the style of a clay or pewter pipe but the color and cracks may suggest otherwise. I hope someone chimes in that knows something about it.

warren · Oct 13, 2015

Very cool. Now the sleuthing begins. There are a few pipe museums around. I'd take a couple more pictures top, bottom and front, at least and send them out with a query. Restoration might destroy any value. For an old cop this would be a real adventure. Have fun.
Your position on smoking is commendable. Stick to it! It's healthier and you'll have more moneys to play with.

badmedicine · Oct 13, 2015

Its got a deep bowl. I'm familiar with the "greener" types...from my distant past.
I found it on Lake Superior so there are many old shipwrecks it could have come from. I never even thought of that. I found it near an Indian Reservation and had been thinking it might have belonged to and/or been carved by a tribal member. But it could have come from anywhere on the lake.
My guess is ebony but it could be other dark woods that I'm not so familiar with. I'll try to get some more pics. Its a very cool and well-bitten old pipe, definitely not tossing it away. It does have some sort of metal tube inside the stem.

johnnyreb · Oct 13, 2015

It it is ebony or some other wood I would treat it like an acoustic guitar and hydrate it in something like a Tupperware or Rubbermade box with a damp sponge inside, especially during the dry months (depending on where you live). It has cracked because it has been too dry over a long period of time. I would store it in the box and just dampen the sponge once a wk or so. If the cracks begin to close up after being hydrated you will know it is wood. If it is clay the hydration won't hurt it any.
It is a nice piece. Maybe it came from a shipwreck & was in water for a long time before washing up on the beach.

badmedicine · Oct 13, 2015

Some more pics. Its definitely wood. Maybe walnut? I dunno...it has more swirl than my ebony fingerboards but I'm not sure what ebony looks like after 50 years under water/on a beach
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/Wayne6000-99/pipe1.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/Wayne6000-99/pipe2.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/Wayne6000-99/pipe3.jpg

gloucesterman · Oct 13, 2015

My guess is that it's an old and very unique piece. The cracking is probably the result of drying to quickly. You very well may own a special piece of history. Conservators at a local museum might have both information about the pipe itself and some recommendations as to how it is best preserved.

johnnyreb · Oct 13, 2015

I found it on Lake Superior

Wow, it's probably from the Edmund Fitzgerald then! LOL!

badmedicine · Oct 13, 2015

That or a few hundred other wrecks. :D

prairiedruid · Oct 13, 2015

The one picture showing the back and bottom seems to show an open grain pattern which could be oak which would match the leaves on the bowl.

oakbear · Oct 14, 2015

That's bog oak, or something made to look like bog oak (probably fumed or stained oak).
Carved pipes like this were once relatively common, usual from Ireland and often as a souvenir. Anywhere between 100 and 30 years old mostly, although this looks like it has some age.

Usually they have a horn or ebonite stem, but i've seen one piece ones like this before. They crop up every now and then on the estate market, and relatively uncommon but not particularly rare either. No huge value i'm afraid, or indeed smoke-able given the cracks in the bowl, but a pretty cool item.

badmedicine · Oct 14, 2015

It does resemble bog oak. I don't think its stained.

mso489 · Oct 14, 2015

It's an interesting piece of wood carving. If it appeals to you, hang it on the wall or put it with other curios. I don't think it would be much of a smoker for various reasons, durability and lack of soundness for starters. It's a pretty good find from the beach; it looks like it might have spent some months in the water.

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