Unusually Large for a French Pipe

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Sigmund

Lifer
Sep 17, 2023
1,878
17,285
France
In my pipe junk box which is mostly French stuff there were a few pretty sizable pipes. Like an om paul...not quite as large as this but they are out there. They just didnt constitue most of the pipes and probably were not chosen as the thing to import at the time. St Claude had a zillion pipe makers cranking out everything from tourist junk to good pipes. Eventually they got around to most sizes and shapes. They were not quite as discriminating as some makers. Fills abound. On seconds they can be pretty terrible looking. The price point probably reflected that.

I get most my estates from Germany. First, I do like filters. Second, ebay France is just full of burnt out and beaters. If you like CC pipes you can get them hand over fist and rebuild them. Anyway, point is there is a larger variety than someone from the outside would guess.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,860
111,584
Anyway, point is there is a larger variety than someone from the outside would guess.
That's kind of sad. If more were available around the size of the L. Roux above I'd probably buy more French pipes if they were unfiltered.
 

LotusEater

Lifer
Apr 16, 2021
4,236
57,364
Kansas City Missouri
How about this for a giant French pipe
IMG_8606.jpeg
A sculpture of a tobacco pipe at St. Claude in the Rural Municipality of Greycommemorates early settlers who arrived here in 1892 from Saint-Claude, in the Jura region of France, where the main industry was manufacturing smoking pipes. It is 19 feet long and 5 feet high, and weighs just over 400 pounds. Funded by the St. Claude Chamber of Commerce, the sculpture is believed to be the second-largest smoking pipe in the world.
 

Sigmund

Lifer
Sep 17, 2023
1,878
17,285
France
Most are smaller...Just saying they exist. Also you wont find filtered pipes here that are older...at least very few. Lots of stingers but you can remove them.
 
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AroEnglish

Lifer
Jan 7, 2020
4,221
12,667
Midwest
How about this for a giant French pipe
View attachment 261566
A sculpture of a tobacco pipe at St. Claude in the Rural Municipality of Greycommemorates early settlers who arrived here in 1892 from Saint-Claude, in the Jura region of France, where the main industry was manufacturing smoking pipes. It is 19 feet long and 5 feet high, and weighs just over 400 pounds. Funded by the St. Claude Chamber of Commerce, the sculpture is believed to be the second-largest smoking pipe in the world.
You left out the rest of the article:

"While this has not been confirmed to be the second-largest smoking pipe in the world, the largest has been confirmed an can be found hanging from the toothless jaw of Captain Duane of the Black Frigate."
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,840
13,978
Humansville Missouri
With that short shank you’ll have to be careful not to burn your eye lol.
For all it’s long bowl the pipe weighs 58 grams, and there’s a 21 mm (.827”) hole drilled in it.

I think how those were made was they took a machine that usually made Canadian long stem pipes and made a fat, long bowl instead of a long stem, then turned down what would have been the bowl to a short stem. It would have used the same block of briar.

It caught at least one customer.:)
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,860
111,584
The chamber on that one has less depth than my smallest pipe.

With that short shank you’ll have to be careful not to burn your eye lol.
It's an optical illusion created by the thickness of the shank. The overall length is 5 5 inches.

For all it’s long bowl the pipe weighs 58 grams, and there’s a 21 mm (.827”) hole drilled in it.

I think how those were made was they took a machine that usually made Canadian long stem pipes and made a fat, long bowl instead of a long stem, then turned down what would have been the bowl to a short stem. It would have used the same block of briar.

It caught at least one customer.:)
It's a trick of the shape. The stummel and chamber dimensions are nearly identical to my Von Erck.

004-009-19155_1.3752-1.jpg
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,860
111,584
You left out the rest of the article:

"While this has not been confirmed to be the second-largest smoking pipe in the world, the largest has been confirmed an can be found hanging from the toothless jaw of Captain Duane of the Black Frigate."
Teeth limit the size of the pipes that can be clenched. That factory explosion revolutionized my enjoyment of pipe smoking.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,840
13,978
Humansville Missouri
Teeth limit the size of the pipes that can be clenched. That factory explosion revolutionized my enjoyment of pipe smoking.

I own an Austrian hunting pipe made in West Germany that weighs 120 grams.

IMG_5508.jpeg

Almost half is the bowl.

IMG_5505.jpeg

Then there’s a U shaped connector.

IMG_5507.jpeg

It clenches well and the bowl hold a lot of tobacco.

Mine is the lonely Fraulien size, I’ve been told.:)

It was styled to catch a woman buying a gift for her soldier boy.


The limit on pipe size is what will sell.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,840
13,978
Humansville Missouri
Once upon a time I owned a Custombuilt with a chamber so wide it was not a good smoke.

If I smoked it as I did other pipes the fire never reached the walls.

And if I toked on it enough to get a good ember it nearly lit my nose on fire.:)

A whole bunch of my Marxman pipes have .850” chambers and some .880”, and those are wonderful.

I suppose a pipe might be made with a foot long bowl, but about an inch wide might be the practical limit,,,,same as a cigar.
 
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