Churchwardens, love em or hate em?
Londy3
Master
The History of Churchwardens
Tobacco and pipe history at large is fraught with mystery and mystique, and the noble Churchwarden is no exception there.
Some believe that the shape takes its name from night watchmen of
churches, hearkening to a time when churches would always remain
unlocked, with the distance between face and bowl allowing the
"churchwarden" to smoke while keeping his line of vision clear. Others
believe that the added length of stem allowed for the night watchmen to
smoke with their pipes out of the church window, while some assert that
the name is derived from the ability to rest the pipe on the church pew
directly in front of the smoker. Regardless of however you imagine the
church's night watchman smoking his faithful briar, it's clear that, in
order to explore the shape's origins, one must step back, practically to
tobacco's inception in the western world.
The Churchwarden was once as ubiquitous to the pipe smoking community as the noble tamper is today, with roots as far back as the late 18th or early 19th century (depending on who you ask).
Though pipes have been produced from such materials as brass, pewter,
and even lead, clay was the primary medium used in American pipe
creation until the latter part of the nineteenth century. Longer clay
pipes were among those seen in pioneer-era taverns, where they would
occasionally be owned by the establishment for use by patrons. This
convention is perhaps what grants the Churchwarden its colloquial
association with moments of stationary respite, but, make no mistake,
the elongated configuration stuck around well after the advent of the
briar pipe. The shape retained popularity for quite some time, but fell
out of fashion as the pipe smoking population became increasingly more
mobile and in need of handier, more compact designs.
Comments
Most of you know that I have a twisted sense of humor some days, and at night things can get even more out of hand. I have a couple churchwardens myself in my collection. When I read the title of the thread, the skit "Men on Films," happened to be the first thing that came to mind.
At the time, it just seemed like the right thing to do. :^)
https://thispipelife.com/tpl-article/29/
Excerpt: << ...... let’s say that you tend to smoke hot and burn your tongue frequently. What’s going to help? One good bet is a churchwarden, as the long stem gives the smoke more time to cool. >>
if you picture it in use, the second one looks weird but would seem to be practical while one is slouched in a comfortable chair.
https://rebornpipes.com/2019/03/29/crafting-a-churchwarden-for-a-lord-of-the-rings-enthusiast/