What is a Calabash pipe?
Emily Ross
Published Jan 22, 2026
Definitions of calabash pipe. a pipe for smoking; has a curved stem and a large bowl made from a calabash gourd. synonyms: calabash. type of: pipe, tobacco pipe. a tube with a small bowl at one end; used for smoking tobacco.
How does a calabash pipe work?
The large hollow chamber allows for the smoke to swirl round and cool before being smoked. This combined with a Meerschaum makes for a cool and dry smoke. The inner chamber also collects any other moisture and keeps the tobacco dry in the bowl.
What are calabash pipes made from?
The archetypal Calabash is made from the hollowed-out hull of a hardened calabash gourd (from which it derives its name), achieving its desired shape through a special process undergone while the fruit is still growing.
What is a gourd calabash pipe?
INFORMATION ABOUT CALABASH The Calabash pipe is named after the plant it is made from, the “Calabash Gourd.” The Calabash Gourd is a large fruit that once harvested and matured can be dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe.
How do you make a gourd calabash pipe?
How to Make a Gourd Calabash Pipe
- Trace a circle around the body of a calabash gourd with a tracing pencil where the neck begins to widen. ...
- Remove any seeds or pulp left inside the neck of the gourd. ...
- Sand the inside of the gourd neck using coarse sandpaper. ...
- Drill a 1/4-inch hole into the end of the gourd.
What is a billiard pipe?
Billiard. This is the most common shape of a straight pipe. A Billiard has straight stem and straight bowl, set at a 90 degree angle. The shank the usually the same length as the bowl height. Almost every pipe maker has their own Billiard and many other shapes are a derivative of this.
What is a cavalier pipe?
The distinct feature of the Cavalier pipe is that its round shank extends well below the entirety of the bowl, eventually becoming the “foot” of the pipe. The bowl is usually Billiard shaped, if only a bit more rounded, and rests atop the shank like a rose bud on a thin branch.
What is meerschaum made from?
Meerschaum is composed of the fossilized shells of ancient sea life that collected and compressed over millions of years. Meerschaum has been used for pipe making since the early 1700s and instantly replaced clay pipes as the favorite smoking implement of the day.
Can you still buy clay pipes?
Clay pipes are durable and long-lasting. You can still find clay pipes functioning today from over 100 years ago.
When were meerschaum pipe made?
The first recorded use of meerschaum for making pipes was around 1723. It quickly became prized as the perfect material for providing a cool, dry, flavorful smoke. Because of the porous nature of meerschaum moisture and tobacco tar are drawn deep into the stone.
What kind of pipe did Sherlock Holmes smoke?
In the original chronicles, such as "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", Sherlock Holmes is described as smoking a long-stemmed cherrywood, which he favored "when in a disputatious, rather than a meditative mood." Holmes smokes an old briar-root pipe on occasion, for example in The Sign of the Four, and an "unsavory" ...
What is the best wood for pipe making?
The majority of pipes sold today, whether hand made or machine made, are fashioned from briar. Briar is a particularly good wood for pipe making for a number of reasons. The first and most important is its natural resistance to fire. The second is its inherent ability to absorb moisture.
How do you know if a pipe is meerschaum?
Determining meerschaum pipe quality
The quality of meerschaum can be distinguished by testing its porosity. Rub a wet finger across the meerschaum, high quality meerschaum will absorb the moisture; low quality meerschaum will not.
Why is it called a churchwarden pipe?
A churchwarden pipe is a tobacco pipe with a long stem. Some churchwarden pipes can be as long as 10 feet! Churchwarden pipes were reputedly named after churchwardens who used to put their pipes' long stem out of church windows so they could smoke in church.
What is special about meerschaum pipe?
Meerschaum is one of the most naturally porous substances in the world, which makes it perfect for pipes as it absorbs the tars, oils, and nicotine in tobacco. This allows for a cool, dry smoke that most smokers would say is unparalleled.
What is a Zulu pipe?
The bend of the pipe is what defines a Zulu. Unlike most bent pipes, the Zulu has a straight shank, jutting out of the bowl at a ninety-degree angle; it is only the stem that is bent.
Which smoking pipe is best?
Top 10 Best Tobacco Pipes To Buy Online For All Budgets
- Savinelli Miele Honey Tobacco Pipe.
- Chacom Atlas Taupe Smoking Pipe.
- Comoy's Tradition Smoking Pipe.
- Missouri Meerschaum Country Gentleman Corncob Pipe.
- Vauen Auenland Shire Churchwarden Pipe.
- Peterson Irish Harp Fishtail Pipe.
- Erik Nørding Freehand Rustic Tobacco Pipe.
What is a panel pipe?
Panel pipe is one of the newer develop- ments in subsurface drainage, having first been used in the mid-1980s. The product (also known as geocomposite drainage pipe) consists of a perforated panel-shaped plastic core wrapped with a soil filtering geotextile.
What is a big pipe called?
Huge pipes are also known as fat pipes.
What is a bent pipe?
Bent-pipe definition
Filters. In reference to a typical satellite configuration in which a satellite repeater, or transponder, accepts the weak incoming signals, boosts them, shifts them from the uplink to the downlink frequencies, and transmits them to the earth stations.
What are the long smoking pipes called?
A churchwarden pipe is a tobacco pipe with a long stem. The history of the pipe style is traced to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Some churchwarden pipes can be as long as 16 inches (40 cm).
How do you turn a gourd into a bowl?
Scrub off the mold with a copper pot scrubber. Rinse well, and dry overnight. Mark the circumference of the gourd about 1/3 of the way down to create an open bowl: Hammer a small nail in the stem end, tie a piece of twine to it, and loop a pencil in the other end. Run the pencil around the gourd to draw an even line.
How do you finish the inside of a gourd bowl?
Melt a block of paraffin wax to prepare to seal the interior surface. As soon as the wax is completely melted, remove the gourd from the oven, and, quickly but thoroughly, paint the inner surface of the gourd with wax. Apply two or three additional coats of wax, allowing the gourd to cool completely between coats.
What do you do with a gourd?
5 Things to Do with… Gourds
- HOUSE A BIRD. Photo: gonzalesmastergardeners.org. It's fun and easy to make a birdhouse from a hollowed-out gourd. ...
- HANG A GARLAND. Photo: asoftplace.net. ...
- MAKE A LANTERN. Photo: makezine.com. ...
- CARVE A JACK-O'-LANTERN. Photo: southernliving.com. ...
- CRAFT A CANTEEN.