A Salmagundi of Briar Pipe Shapes and Names: Difference between revisions

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A Salmagundi of Briar Pipe Shapes and Names (view source)

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Sadly, the search of “pipe types” did not yield anything significant. In particular, the second quotation is archaeological, ethnographic, and demographic, not industry, research.
Sadly, the search of “pipe types” did not yield anything significant. In particular, the second quotation is archaeological, ethnographic, and demographic, not industry, research.


Now to “pipe shapes.” One of the challenges I experienced was the liberal use of alternate words for “pipe shape” in the Press and in ads. As well, ads from that era did not always use the most appropriate words to promote a brand. Many of the descriptive terms are not synonymous with the word shape, which brings me to explain how I treat shape in this narrative: literally, rigorously, precisely, without interpretation. (Some readers may conclude that this inflexibility reduces the scope and colors the substance of this article … that it’s mere hairsplitting, an unnecessary academic exercise.) Shape is as the dictionary defines it: appearance, configuration, structure, etc. Everything we see in the world around us has a shape. To shape is to give something a shape, outline and definition, and style is to create or give a style, fashion or image. This is a dictionary definition of style: “A particular manner or technique by which something is done, created, or performed.” Shape and style were and are still often used interchangeably. Model, type, form, and design, also used in old ads, are not exactly synonyms for shape. The French have a phrase, ''le mot juste'', the right word, connotationally correct, temporally appropriate, and specific. It’s also about context, e.g., how was pipe shape and pipe-shape name used in the text. As you read further, consider the following, because it sets the tone for this discourse. Naming is describing, identifying, detailing, defining. Giving something a name makes it real as well as something that can be communicated. The name can be distinctive, but it should also be understandable. <br>
Now to “pipe shapes.” One of the challenges I experienced was the liberal use of alternate words for “pipe shape” in the Press and in ads. As well, ads from that era did not always use the most appropriate words to promote a brand. Many of the descriptive terms are not synonymous with the word shape, which brings me to explain how I treat shape in this narrative: literally, rigorously, precisely, without interpretation. (Some readers may conclude that this inflexibility reduces the scope and colors the substance of this article … that it’s mere hairsplitting, an unnecessary academic exercise.) Shape is as the dictionary defines it: appearance, configuration, structure, etc. Everything we see in the world around us has a shape. To shape is to give something a shape, outline and definition, and style is to create or give a style, fashion or image. This is a dictionary definition of style: “A particular manner or technique by which something is done, created, or performed.” Shape and style were and are still often used interchangeably. Model, type, form, and design, also used in old ads, are not exactly synonyms for shape. The French have a phrase, ''le mot juste'', the right word, connotationally correct, temporally appropriate, and specific. It’s also about context, e.g., how was pipe shape and pipe-shape name used in the text. As you read further, consider the following, because it sets the tone for this discourse. Naming is describing, identifying, detailing, defining. Giving something a name makes it real as well as something that can be communicated. The name can be distinctive, but it should also be understandable. <br>(Plumbing pipes, by the way, is a science with universally understood and accepted definitions, types, shapes, and names.)   
(Plumbing pipes, by the way, is a science with universally understood and accepted definitions, types, shapes, and names.)   


I often use analogies in my stories to advance a complex topic, and this topic is complex. I am reminded of Miquel Brown’s 1983 hit, “So Many Men, So Little Time.” Quoting Jeremy Hillary Boob, PhD, the Nowhere Man, in the movie, Yellow Submarine: “So little time! So much to know.” Or Peter Stead’s biography,''Richard Burton. So Much, So Little''. So many shapes, so many shape names, so little explanation!  
I often use analogies in my stories to advance a complex topic, and this topic is complex. I am reminded of Miquel Brown’s 1983 hit, “So Many Men, So Little Time.” Quoting Jeremy Hillary Boob, PhD, the Nowhere Man, in the movie, Yellow Submarine: “So little time! So much to know.” Or Peter Stead’s biography,''Richard Burton. So Much, So Little''. So many shapes, so many shape names, so little explanation!  
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In brief, from the mid-1700s through the early 1920s, the porcelain pipe was a product of Western European countries—Germany, France, Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands—and, like meerschaum pipes, factories produced whatever bowl shapes were popular. The focus was not on bowl shape; it was on the bowl’s art work, whatever the hand-painters employed at the factory were capable of creating. “…and The Thuringian forests of Middle Germany for their porcelain pipes, which are pressed onto every possible shape, and ornamented with every known color” (“The History and Mystery of Tobacco,” ''Harper’s New Monthly Magazine'', No. LXL, Vol. XI, June 1855).
In brief, from the mid-1700s through the early 1920s, the porcelain pipe was a product of Western European countries—Germany, France, Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands—and, like meerschaum pipes, factories produced whatever bowl shapes were popular. The focus was not on bowl shape; it was on the bowl’s art work, whatever the hand-painters employed at the factory were capable of creating. “…and The Thuringian forests of Middle Germany for their porcelain pipes, which are pressed onto every possible shape, and ornamented with every known color” (“The History and Mystery of Tobacco,” ''Harper’s New Monthly Magazine'', No. LXL, Vol. XI, June 1855).


=== ''Briar Pipes'' ---
=== ''Briar Pipes'' ===
In the early stage of manufacture, “Briar-root blocks are cut into about 25 different sizes, and three principal shapes. The shapes are ‘Marsellaise,’ ‘Relevé,’ and ‘Belgian.’ The first two are the more usual shapes” (“The Briar-Root Industry in Italy,” ''English Mechanic and World of Science'', September 21, 1900). It’s only after manufacturers turned blocks into finished pipes, did these manufacturers choose various names for the shapes they produced. Beginning in the late 1800s, there were more than a handful of briar pipe makers in England, but no written record exists as to how or why they gave names to their shapes, some of which continue to be produced to the present day. Most of these attempts do not mention the origin of briar pipe shapes and names. Was it ''terra incognita'' for all those 20th century correspondents and reporters?  
In the early stage of manufacture, “Briar-root blocks are cut into about 25 different sizes, and three principal shapes. The shapes are ‘Marsellaise,’ ‘Relevé,’ and ‘Belgian.’ The first two are the more usual shapes” (“The Briar-Root Industry in Italy,” ''English Mechanic and World of Science'', September 21, 1900). It’s only after manufacturers turned blocks into finished pipes, did these manufacturers choose various names for the shapes they produced. Beginning in the late 1800s, there were more than a handful of briar pipe makers in England, but no written record exists as to how or why they gave names to their shapes, some of which continue to be produced to the present day. Most of these attempts do not mention the origin of briar pipe shapes and names. Was it ''terra incognita'' for all those 20th century correspondents and reporters?  


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== Mission Unaccomplished ==
== Mission Unaccomplished ==
Jacques P. Cole, the son of J. W.  Cole (''The GBD St. Claude Story''), a founding member of the International Academy of the Pipe, was steeped in the pipe trade. After WWII, he joined his father at GBD in Saint-Claude, then to Comoy as a factory manager, then to Charatan, and back to Comoy as a sales manager. His four-page pamphlet, ''Briar Pipe Shapes & Styles''. Pipe Line Guide No. 1 (1985/1990) shed some light on this topic. He also wrote a brief article, “PipeSmoke Guide to Pipe Shapes & Styles” (''PipeSmoke'', Fall, 1998) that you can read in full at pipesmagazine.com. A detailed explanation of the origin of pipe shape names or nomenclature might have become public knowledge if Cole’s manuscript, ''A World of Pipes. A History and Study of Briar Pipemaking'', had been published. In 1985, he had sent me a copy of the draft for review, so I am very familiar with its contents. He was invested in tracing the origin, cataloging, and classifying some of the standard pipe shapes … serious research into a little-understood facet of tobacco-pipe terminology that did not see printer’s ink. After he passed away in 2014, his personal papers were donated to the National Pipe Archive (NPA). In October 2023, when I asked David Higgins, an NPA co-founder, if those papers were now accessible, he replied: “It is one of several large ‘to do’ jobs on our pending list.” When available, Cole’s research will, no doubt, be a valuable resource for the study of the briar pipe industry in Great Britain and France. (The NPA holdings—although its major research focus is clay pipes—include records and trade catalogues from briar-pipe manufacturers and retailers, such as BBB, Charatan, Civic, Comoy, GBD, Lecroix, Oppenheimer, Orlik, Peterson, and Tranter.) <br>
Jacques P. Cole, the son of J. W.  Cole (''The GBD St. Claude Story''), a founding member of the International Academy of the Pipe, was steeped in the pipe trade. After WWII, he joined his father at GBD in Saint-Claude, then to Comoy as a factory manager, then to Charatan, and back to Comoy as a sales manager. His four-page pamphlet, ''Briar Pipe Shapes & Styles''. Pipe Line Guide No. 1 (1985/1990) shed some light on this topic. He also wrote a brief article, “PipeSmoke Guide to Pipe Shapes & Styles” (''PipeSmoke'', Fall, 1998) that you can read in full at pipesmagazine.com. A detailed explanation of the origin of pipe shape names or nomenclature might have become public knowledge if Cole’s manuscript, ''A World of Pipes. A History and Study of Briar Pipemaking'', had been published. In 1985, he had sent me a copy of the draft for review, so I am very familiar with its contents. He was invested in tracing the origin, cataloging, and classifying some of the standard pipe shapes … serious research into a little-understood facet of tobacco-pipe terminology that did not see printer’s ink. After he passed away in 2014, his personal papers were donated to the National Pipe Archive (NPA). In October 2023, when I asked David Higgins, an NPA co-founder, if those papers were now accessible, he replied: “It is one of several large ‘to do’ jobs on our pending list.” When available, Cole’s research will, no doubt, be a valuable resource for the study of the briar pipe industry in Great Britain and France. (The NPA holdings—although its major research focus is clay pipes—include records and trade catalogues from briar-pipe manufacturers and retailers, such as BBB, Charatan, Civic, Comoy, GBD, Lecroix, Oppenheimer, Orlik, Peterson, and Tranter.) <br>
Where else might one look for information? There are a few YouTube videos, e.g., “Tobacconist Field Guide: Pipe Shapes,” “Pipe Shapes & Tobacco Types,” and “Different Types of Tobacco Pipes.” But don’t look to ''The Tobacconist Handbook. An Essential Guide to Cigars & Pipes'' for information about pipe shapes. As one reviewer noted: “I recommend this for cigar enthusiasts but pipe lovers should look elsewhere.”<br>
Where else might one look for information? There are a few YouTube videos, e.g., “Tobacconist Field Guide: Pipe Shapes,” “Pipe Shapes & Tobacco Types,” and “Different Types of Tobacco Pipes.” But don’t look to ''The Tobacconist Handbook. An Essential Guide to Cigars & Pipes'' for information about pipe shapes. As one reviewer noted: “I recommend this for cigar enthusiasts but pipe lovers should look elsewhere.”<br>'''Navigating the Net … Surfing for Substance'''
'''Navigating the Net … Surfing for Substance'''


I turn to the decentralized Web as the second source for information, knowing that not all Web sites are created equal, that they differ in quality, purpose, and bias, and that anyone can post anything. (I am not a loyal friend of the Web!) I hoped that, by interrogating the Internet, I might find the Holy Grail, or the Delphic Oracle, or the Wise Man of pipe terminology or, maybe, a Darwin’s On the Origin of the [Pipe Shape] ''Species''.  
I turn to the decentralized Web as the second source for information, knowing that not all Web sites are created equal, that they differ in quality, purpose, and bias, and that anyone can post anything. (I am not a loyal friend of the Web!) I hoped that, by interrogating the Internet, I might find the Holy Grail, or the Delphic Oracle, or the Wise Man of pipe terminology or, maybe, a Darwin’s On the Origin of the [Pipe Shape] ''Species''.  
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This table lists traditional pipe formats and a few new ones. I As you might expect, there is some variance in the content and character of each glossary. reviewed each to identify those pipe shapes and names that most should agree on I have not included any variants, such as bent, half-bent, full-bent, paneled, and squat, or the many different mounts and mouthpieces.
This table lists traditional pipe formats and a few new ones. I As you might expect, there is some variance in the content and character of each glossary. reviewed each to identify those pipe shapes and names that most should agree on I have not included any variants, such as bent, half-bent, full-bent, paneled, and squat, or the many different mounts and mouthpieces.
{| class="wikitable"
!acorn/pear
!cutty
!opera/oval
!
|-
|
|
|
|
|-
|
|
|
|
|-
|
|
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|}




acorn/pear
cutty
opera/oval
apple
apple
diplomat
diplomat
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