The Shape Of A Pipe

The look of a pipe is also called a "shape". It is the basic outward appearance. This includes the shape of the bowl and stem, the bend, the proportions of the parts to each other and the mouthpiece. Certain forms have evolved over the many decades since pipes have been smoked. Depending on the available material, tools, tobacco, personal taste or just the zeitgeist, different shapes and sizes were always dominant.

One possibility of the essential distinction is the bending of the shank towards the bowl. In the shop, the rough division is bent, half-bent and straight. There is no particular angle that needs to be present, but is a means of easily dividing the pipes. In most cases, the bowl itself is based on a basic geometric shape such as a cylinder, cube, sphere or pyramid.

The shape is primarily an optical feature, but the smoking behavior is a factor that should not be underestimated. There are some shapes that are difficult to smoke because the pipe gets hot or the tobaccos are difficult to control. Particularly extreme angles between the shank and the bowl can lead to difficulties. Over the years, therefore, some forms have prevailed that look good and smoke well. These can be found again and again and have been in production for decades by various manufacturers and pipe makers. The classic par excellence is straight billiards.

In addition, there are always design shapes. Usually freely designed by a pipe maker, who works along the grain of the material, so to speak, and works out the individual shape of each raw wooden block in such a way that the most beautiful surface possible can be seen. With clean bores, sufficient material thickness and not too extreme bending, there will be no problems with smoking.
Pipes are as individual as the pipe smoker and the pipe maker. The shapes are not always clear and can also be a mixture of 2 or more different shapes.

We determine the bend and bowl shape for each pipe in the shop and store it so that it can be selected more easily using a search filter. An overview of some common shapes can be found here:
https://www.pfeifen-shop-online.de/Pfeifenformen