The Wizards of Oddities, Yesterday and Today: Difference between revisions

If you rely on the Web for your pipe education, bespokeunit.com is as good as any online tutorial for some introductory information. Its “Different Tobacco Smoking Pipe Types: Shapes, Shapes, Styles, Designs & Materials” posits that pipes are divided into nine families, one of which is the “Curiosity Pipe Family,” pipes that have “…no real place to call home.” The twin-bowl is not included in this family, nor is it included in “Smoking Pipe Shapes Guide” (thepipeguys.com). It’s not identified in “A Complete Guide to Tobacco Pipe Shapes... Almost” (tobaccopipes.com). It’s not recognized in any current pipe-classification scheme, nor listed in any company’s pipe-shape chart. Collectively, they are not pipe pariahs; they are pipe outliers. Do these unique creations need to be recognized as a special group? I don’t think so because, individually, each is distinctive in form and character, each a stand-alone, each sui generis.