There was an interesting pipesmagazine thread about the history of pipe shapes that was closed in 2015. @cosmicfolklore made some interesting contributions to that thread so I hope he will chime in.
What got me thinking about this topic was @Fralphog's post about his restoration of an antique store Rhodesian. If you look at the photo of his pipe, you can see its resemblance to the stock photo of a briar calabash. It's pretty clear the briar calabash derived from the gourd calabash. But does the Rhodesian/bulldog also derive from the calabash, which I assume was an earlier design? The conventional wisdom seems to be that the shape originated (in France?) because it was easier to make the two cones of the bulldog than the rounded shape of the billiard. Looking at broad flat bulldogs like @Fralphog's, however, I wonder if the idea for a two-part bowl, separated by a bead or ridge line, didn't originate with the calabash.
What got me thinking about this topic was @Fralphog's post about his restoration of an antique store Rhodesian. If you look at the photo of his pipe, you can see its resemblance to the stock photo of a briar calabash. It's pretty clear the briar calabash derived from the gourd calabash. But does the Rhodesian/bulldog also derive from the calabash, which I assume was an earlier design? The conventional wisdom seems to be that the shape originated (in France?) because it was easier to make the two cones of the bulldog than the rounded shape of the billiard. Looking at broad flat bulldogs like @Fralphog's, however, I wonder if the idea for a two-part bowl, separated by a bead or ridge line, didn't originate with the calabash.