When Does a Dublin Become a Horn?

Shapes are not absolute. One man's brandy is another's apple, and so forth. I am interested

in the distinction between a Dublin and a horn. Many Dublins are plainly conical, wider at the

brim than the base. I think of a typical Dublin as coming to its base more or less perpendicular

to the brim, whereas a horn tends to sway a bit toward the shank at the bottom of the bowl.

(Some Dublins aren't all that conical, but more blockish in shape, but let's leave them out,

since they don't resemble horns, so cause no confusion.) Is a horn a type of Dublin, or is there

a clear distinction. This is just a fun discussion; shapes can get pretty abstract. But what are

the defining aspects of a horn versus a Dublin, or do they merge?

Good point. The two pipes I have that I consider yacht/zulus don't widen much from the

base to the brim of the bowl, slight. And they have a definite cant forward to the bowl.

Whereas a horn can lean a lot or very little; I think the horn idea comes more from the base

of the pipe not being squared up under the brim but kind of swooping back toward the shank.

I think the shape charts show different versions. Sometimes the horn is canted a lot, as if

that's its trait, and other times hardly at all. Also, my "yacht/zulus," as I think of them anyway,

are slim pipes that don't expand a lot from the shank to the brim, whereas Dublins and horns

widen at the brim quite a bit. Maybe all this is just talk, but that's why it is somewhat entertaining

to try to figure it out. Disagree as needed. I'm just puzzling it out.

The photos posted illustrate a clear distinction to me. I think there are still pipes that would fall in the middle, but

the zulus posted are exactly what I would identify as such, and those horns are the paradigms for that shape.

The zulus have a distinct bowl and a distinct shank, more or less, whereas the horn presents the mentioned flow.

I guess for those zulus to cross into Dublin territory, they would need wider brims and thicker bowls. I would never

insist to someone showing me a zulu and announcing it was a Dublin that they were wrong. Shapes are somewhat

in they eye of the beholder, but it's useful to have some points of reference.
There's some crossover between the Calabash shape and the Dublin, with Dublin's given a domed top at the brim.

Those seem to get labeled either way, if they are briars. A gourd Calabash gets to be just that.
Then there are some pipes that are sharp cross-bred shapes, filling the bill for two shapes. There is some

cross-talk between bulldogs and Rhodesians -- Rhodesian-looking pipes with diamond shanks, etc.

Models or paradigms for the zulu are the Dunhill zulus (Chacom does one very similar to the small Dunhill zulu)

and maybe even more defining, though it came after the Dunhill (I think) is the Savenelli shape 404, also done

in the Rossi line as an 8404. This is such a formal and longstanding shape that it sets the standard.