@Charles I'm drooling with delight. The second one in the second batch of photos looks like it was fashioned from an old time cash register. They are magnificent. I just have a cheezie pipe rack and stick it on my book shelf. I have another hanging pipe rack gifted to me by my son that has a glass window with Sherlock Holmes etched in the glass. It's hard to see because of the glare. But my pipe rack is nothing like what you have.
From an early age I was always attracted to the Calabash pipe. Obviously influenced by book covers and illustrations I'd seen of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. I guess the future generation of pipe smokers might point to the Churchwarden as their inspiration due to the popularity of Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings films. But as a Baby Boomer growing up in the 50s', who spent countless hours in the library reading Conan Doyle's tales and watching the loose adaptations with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce portraying Holmes and Watson on television each Sunday afternoon ... I will always associate pipe smoking with Holmes. Yet strangely enough Holmes never appeared smoking a Calabash pipe in any of Sidney Paget's original illustrations of the Holmes tales in "The Strand Magazine", nor was it the pipe of choice for Basil Rathbone in any of his 14 movies. Yet thanks to stage actor William Gillette, who was the first to use the Calabash pipe as a prop in his portrayal of Holmes, that famous silhouette of Sherlock Holmes smoking a Calabash pipe can be found on everything from book covers, coffee mugs, tote bags, and clothing. For today's photo shoot I've assembled my entire collection of Calabash pipes.
@ghostsofpompeii - LOL! Last year I went to a charity beer tasting event wearing one of my white straw Fedoras and my walking stick. I stopped and talked to a couple of friends while having a beer. A little while later, one of them came over to where I was sitting and said that his adult children and a couple of others had asked him how long he had known Richard Attenborough from Jurassic Park.
@ghostsofpompeii, shouldn't you stage those calabashes with a violin? Didn't Holmes play a violin? You also play stringed instruments, I think. Anyway, I love your collection. Wish I had my father's calabash. My brother inherited it, and it is now gone. Oh well...
@ghostsofpompeill - I'll have to measure it. How much tobacco it holds really depends on whether I want to smoke it with the top on or not. The top extends about halfway down into the bowl.
@ghostsofpompeii - inside circumference is 7/8" bowl depth is 1.5" So not really all that big of a bowl.
As with any piece of art like this pipe, the devil is in the cleaning. The stem has to be disassembled into three pieces (mouthpiece and two meerschaum segments) and each piece cleaned separately. To clean the base airway, I found it easier to remove the nylon tenon and insert the pipe cleaner and as a result I found what to me is one of two imperfection in the pipe - the pipe cleaner doesn't go into the bowl itself. Much like a Cavalier style pipe, the airway passes under the bowl and a air hole is drilled from the bowl into the airway. It is easy to insert the pipe cleaner into the bowl and into the airway to clear any blockage though.
The other "imperfection" is the way the top of the lighthouse is designed you can only fill the bowl about halfway if you want to put the top on the pipe.
As a piece of artwork that will eventually sit in a display case, it's a beautiful piece of artwork. While a functional piece of artwork designed to be smoked occasionally, it is unique and it does smoke well but it was obviously not designed to be an every day smoker.
l love it. The next pipes on my "nautical" list will be the perfect "sea captain" figural to complement the Sailing Ship and the Lighthouse. I am also on the lookout for a Mermaid/Sea Serpent pipe.
I can't imagine people clicking the dislike button unless they're looking to create a problem. I'm not on Facebook although my wife is and I guess the Like and Dislike button are a big thing. Usually if I like what someone wrote I'll respond with an actual message. I hope by people using the Like and Dislike buttons it doesn't limit the actual discussion.
@ghostsofpompeii - I think the like and dislike button is just part of social media these days. I can see using the like button on posted photos but would only use the dislike as sarcasm or an attempt at humor. Now, if they named it "Disagree" it might get more use.
Comments
@Charles I'm drooling with delight. The second one in the second batch of photos looks like it was fashioned from an old time cash register. They are magnificent. I just have a cheezie pipe rack and stick it on my book shelf. I have another hanging pipe rack gifted to me by my son that has a glass window with Sherlock Holmes etched in the glass. It's hard to see because of the glare. But my pipe rack is nothing like what you have.
From an early age I was always attracted to the Calabash pipe. Obviously influenced by book covers and illustrations I'd seen of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. I guess the future generation of pipe smokers might point to the Churchwarden as their inspiration due to the popularity of Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings films. But as a Baby Boomer growing up in the 50s', who spent countless hours in the library reading Conan Doyle's tales and watching the loose adaptations with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce portraying Holmes and Watson on television each Sunday afternoon ... I will always associate pipe smoking with Holmes. Yet strangely enough Holmes never appeared smoking a Calabash pipe in any of Sidney Paget's original illustrations of the Holmes tales in "The Strand Magazine", nor was it the pipe of choice for Basil Rathbone in any of his 14 movies. Yet thanks to stage actor William Gillette, who was the first to use the Calabash pipe as a prop in his portrayal of Holmes, that famous silhouette of Sherlock Holmes smoking a Calabash pipe can be found on everything from book covers, coffee mugs, tote bags, and clothing. For today's photo shoot I've assembled my entire collection of Calabash pipes.
@PappyJoe No one wears a hat quite like you. I swear you look like you should be out unearthing dinosaur bones or Egyptian mummies.
The grain on that pipe is beautiful.