Sherlock Holmes and the Calabash Pipe
So that explains what a calabash pipe is made from and how it gets its name. The calabash pipe is one of the most famous pipes because it was commonly used by Sherlock Holmes during on stage performances. The calabash pipe won this role because of its size and visibility for the audience during a stage performance. To learn more about the calabash pipe as it pertains to Sherlock Holmes click here.
Featured in the movie Inglorious Basterds
Most recently the Calabash Pipe won a Best Supporting Actor role alongside Christoph Waltz for his portrayal of a Nazi Colonel in the movie “Inglorious Basterds” starring Brad Pitt and directed by Quentin Tarintino. The Calabash Pipe was once again enlisted as a result of its stature as Christoph Waltz’s character used it as a means to say without words: “My pipe is bigger than yours”. See Calabash Pipes for Sale.
How do you make a Calabash Pipe?
A calabash pipe is a pipe made for smoking with a curved stem and a large bowl created from a calabash gourd. So what the heck is a calabash gourd? I’m glad you asked. A calabash gourd comes from a vine knows as a calabash. If the vine is harvested early it can be consumed as a vegetable and if it is harvested late it becomes hard and can be used as a smoking pipe, bottle or utensil. The rounder calabash species are known as calabash gourds or bottle gourds because they make bottles out of them. Actually, the calabash gourd is one of the first vegetables ever harvested, for a purpose other than food. I guess that way back in the day they just forgot the calabash on the vine and when the realized it was inedible they decided to use it as a container. Common sense, right. The stem of a calabash pipe is made from the gourd of the calabash fruit. A gourd comes from the same family as the pumpkin. Physically it is the shell of the fruit which is dried but it can also refer to the entire plant. The gourd from a calabash have been used to make African bottle gourds for eons. In the very early years of human civilization gourds become quite popular through trade. Calabash gourds are made to make bottles and bowls among other things like musical instruments which are quite common in the Caribbean. All we know is that a gourd makes for a terrific calabash pipe. Find a Calabash Pipe For Sale
Types of Calabash Pipe
Calabash gourd pipes are typically made with a meerschaum or porcelain bowl that sits inside them where the smoke is released from. Calabash pipes are difficult to make and require quite a lot of labour hours compared to your average smoking pipe. This makes the calabash pipe more expensive to make and therefore more expensive to buy than other smoking pipes. To make the price of a calabash pipe more affordable, makers of the calabash pipe have used wood instead of the standard calabash gourd. They sell wood (traditionally mahogany) pipes with a similar shape as calabash pipes even though the calabash is substituted for another material. Traditional calabash pipes, made from wood or from a calabash gourd have a long sloping shape with an upward curve at the end where the meerschaum or porcelain bowl is placed. Just below the bowl is a pocket of air in which the smoke is allowed to congregate and mature. The other type of calabash pipe is a briar pipe. It does not contain the same air pocket as other calabash pipes do but they are given the same name due to their common shape.