Why Do Bamboo Shanks Not Count?

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tobefrank

Lifer
Jun 22, 2015
1,367
5,005
Australia
Can someone explain why a billiard with a long bamboo stem is not a lovat but a billiard? It's like the bamboo doesn't count when considering the length of the stem.

Just a random example:
 
Jul 17, 2017
1,692
6,284
NV
pencilandpipe.home.blog
I'm going to venture a guess based completely on what I see.

Unless it's briar there, it doesn't really look like a lovat. The same material extending from bowl through shank creates the signature lovat look. The bowl material just transitions on and on further than you'd expect a billiard to, and you get a lovat. The bamboo doesn't create that effect.

So basically, to me the bamboo doesn't count. ?
 

tobefrank

Lifer
Jun 22, 2015
1,367
5,005
Australia
I'm going to venture a guess based completely on what I see.

Unless it's briar there, it doesn't really look like a lovat. The same material extending from bowl through shank creates the signature lovat look. The bowl material just transitions on and on further than you'd expect a billiard to, and you get a lovat. The bamboo doesn't create that effect.

So basically, to me the bamboo doesn't count. ?
I hear what you are saying, but with that tiny bit of briar shank it is barely a billiard.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,604
14,671
I prefer beast. But monster works too.
Proper proportion distinguishes beasts from monsters.

Beast:

img_4802__51590-1574218451-jpeg-jpg.89601


Monster:

ALTINAY_MEERSCHAUM_0793_2021-02-01-800x571.jpg
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,254
108,359
I agree with the sentiment that what makes something that shape is in the mind of the carver. Heck if I could carve I'd make a nosewarmer bulldog and call it a Canadian just to prove the point that no official standard is maintained as far as shape charts go. Though it makes it harder to get the pipe into the right hands.
Canadian bulldog

1-1.jpg
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Shapes are shape-shifting in terms of nomenclature, so I agree it is the carver's call. My wife gave me an extra big-bowled Johs that certainly had the brandy bowl, it seemed to me, so for a month or two after Christmas, when I got the pipe, I called it just that. Then, cleaning up, I came across the invoice and saw Mogen Johansen had called it an apple, so I immediately accepted that, appreciating that since my wife had spent her career in NYC and the area, I could now confer upon the pipe the distinction of being The Big Apple. Or My Big Apple. I also have a Lovat by Johs, but it has a short shank, so technically it isn't in the Canadian long-shanked family, but I still accept it as a Lovat. To me, if there is room for doubt, the carver gets the call.
 

5star

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 17, 2017
727
2,018
PacNW USA
IMO the paying customer gets the final call if looking for a particular style of pipe, that is. He’ll pass up those who don’t meet the usual description or never see the listing if using a search engine.
 
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Reactions: CoffeeAndBourbon
Jul 3, 2020
1,082
15,964
53
Scottish Borders
Bamboo belongs on fishing rods or feeding for pandas ??it’s as ugly as sin on a pipe in my opinion, that’s what I love about pipes is the variation in taste.
Happy smokes
Ettrick puffer