Need help with pipe ID

[Aurora1959]

I found all this stuff in the same place. I realize a white clay pipe with visible mold seams is not NA, but probably a Euro trade item. Just curious about the design on the bowl, which looks Indian-esque. Did the Euros make trade pipes with Native designs?

 

[Tdog]

I can't answer your question but that pipe is in pretty good shape. Was the bowl and stem from the same piece? If so, is enough there at the break to glue the bowl to the stem? I understand some of those types of pipes were made in America. I can't remember for sure but possibly in Ohio.

A few links about pipe threads here...

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/614124-help-identify-fake-smoking-pipe.html
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/595957-pipe.html
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/n...9209-thurs-fri-creek-finds-am-i-dreaming.html
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/n.../579310-interesting-day-out-today-effigy.html
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/569597-pipe-gurus.html
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/n...tifacts/504273-parker-melvin-estate-sale.html

 

[sandchip]

Hopefully, RedCoat will chime in. He knows his stuff.

 

[Aurora1959]

thanks for the links Tdog! The pipe and stem were right next to each other in a creek, so we can assume they were once attached. The bowl is only half a bowl, so I never bothered to re-attach it. It is nice and black inside - well-used!

 

[newnan man]

Tavern pipe made by the thousands in Ohio, Kentucky, & several other states. You can still buy some that are almost perfect at online auctions. Various styles were made, some were quite elaborate.

 

[Red-Coat]

Maybe you guys use different definitions, but that's not a 'tavern pipe' as I would understand it. Tavern pipes have longer stems, designed to give a cooler smoke. With a stem that short, I would call it a 'cutty pipe' (sometimes called a 'nose warmer') and, setting aside reed-stem pipes, those became the dominant pipe style from around 1850 onwards. Typically an ordinary utilitarian labourer/workman's pipe. It's a thankless task working through catalogues to attribute designs without a bit more to go on... I assume there are no imprinted mould marks of any kind? Without those, and going by style alone, I would say the bowl decoration, thick stem with reeding and absence of a nipple on the end suggest somewhere between about 1850-1880.

 

[Aurora1959]

Thank you Red-Coat...lots of interesting info there...cheers, mate!

 

[newnan man]

Good info on the pipe Red Coat. I always called any old clay pipe a tavern pipe.

 

[smokeythecat]

I totally concur with red-coat. The time frame is right on. The earliest tobacco pipes had tiny bowls, and they got larger with time.

 

[Red-Coat]

Tavern pipes traditionally had a long slender stem to improve the cooling and smoothness of the smoke. They were unwieldy (although not always as unwieldy as the repro shown below) and the stems were fragile. Much more suited to smoking indoors in a comfortable environment (tavern or at home) than while working.



One other feature of traditional tavern pipes is that in the earlier times when tobacco was expensive, you could rent one in a tavern. You got the use of a pipe filled by the landlord with a charge of tobacco (usually a pennyworth) and gave the pipe back when you had finished. The length of the stem allowed a short section to be snapped off and it was then ready for the next customer. Eventually, you ended up with a short-stemmed ‘cutty’, which taverns discarded but working men would scavenge as a more convenient form that could be clamped between the teeth, leaving both hands free… but with unfortunate long-term consequences for your teeth.



The ‘cutty’ became the preferred form for working men, to the extent that pipes were purpose-made to this form with short, stout, strong stems. Later examples have a ‘nipple’ at the end that helps stop the pipe slipping out of your mouth without the need for such strong teeth-clenching.

 

[villagenut]

Here are several stems I have dug showing the nippled stem mouthpiece that redcoat explained so well......