Ukranian Porcelain Pipes

[michaelmirza]

While exploring a rabbit trail on Etsy I came across a Ukranian antique shop that sells porcelain pipes. I've been toying with buying one but ultimately decided against it, so I thought I'd share them with you all in case any of you want to add some truly unique pipes to your collection. A couple thoughts I had:
- Being that they're porcelain, they probably get extremely hot while smoking, like a tea cup. You'd have to hold the pipe somewhere besides the bowl.

- If you click through to the listings I linked to, note the draft holes and bowls in the pictures... absolutely massive! We're talking BIG smoke. Maybe too big.

- Not sure how you'd ever get these clean, or even run a pipe cleaner through them.

- The Etsy store sells antiques but there's no telling how old these are. There's also five different versions of the 8" white pipe, so I'm not sure how vintage these things really are. Could be just street fare.

- Basically I wouldn't recommend buying one of these unless you're willing to take the risk that it might smoke terribly and will thus just function as decoration.
Here are the three pipes on the site:

8". Reminds me of Levias from Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Main listing / Mirror listings

6.5". Not sure about the draft hole.

Pipe listing

6.5". The perfect pipe for your grandmother.

Pipe listing
Again, I can't pull the trigger myself, but maybe some of you will want these.

 

[easterntraveler]

Curious, they look more decorative than functional.

 

[oldreddog]

Looks like you'd spend more time picking porcelain shrapnel out of your face,than enjoying a smoke if you fired one of those up.

 

[stanlaurel]

One of them might look good hanging from the mantelpiece.
I have always wanted one of the racks of clay pipes that used to hang by the fire in old English and Irish pubs.

 

[stanlaurel]

 

[michaelmirza]

Stan, that's a nice display!

 

[mso489]

The porcelain pipes look strictly and only decorative to me. They'd be too hot to hold and would lose their pristine paint jobs with smoking until they looked really bad. The delicate little chains are a tip-off. Strictly for hanging on the wall, and not in your man cave or other masculine area. They offend me in some way, just too fussy and pretty. A pipe should look a little rugged, serviceable anyway.

 

[michaelmirza]

They offend me in some way, just too fussy and pretty.

This made me laugh. :lol: