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PRIMER on
Basic Pipe Shape Components
You might find it useful to think about the shape of a pipe as being
a combination of the following:
If any of these terms is unfamiliar to you, you might wish to
examine the Pipe Anatomy section of this site
before proceeding. Don't say we didn't warn you.
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Bowl Shape
You can see the bowl shape by looking at the pipe from
the side (in profile, so to speak). However, the bowl shape is even easier
to see if you look at the pipe with the stem pointed away from you.
It may sound unromantic, but pipe bowl shape is best understood by referring
to geometry. I know what you are thinking--you thought this would be fun,
and now you have to relive the eighth grade. Well, we aren't going to bisect
any angles or anything like that, so those of you who hated geometry can
stop throwing spit-wads at your computer screens. I thank those of you who
went to get compasses and protractors for your kind thoughts, but we won't
need them either.
Actually, all we need at first is to remember elipses. You know, ovals (like
your kid draws all the time in your computer graphics program). Most pipe
bowls have shapes that are pieces of elipses (I know I could just say "ovals,"
but I like the word "elipses"--it makes me feel smart). Just between
you and me, let's call these bowls the eliptical bowl shapes.
Below are the common ones, and their common names.
Eliptical Pipe Bowl Shapes
Not all pipe bowls described by the names above are perfect elipses,
of course. It's just that thinking of them as being variations
of eliptical sections may help you tell one shape from another. In addition
to the bowls at are more or less eliptical, there are a few shapes that
don't seem eliptical at all at first, but are in a sense. Some pipe bowls
are like fun-house mirror distortions of the elipse, with various parts
stretched one way or another. For example:
Fun House Mirror Distortions
Some bowls have other shapes that are not based on elipses. These may actually
be easier to identify:
Other Bowl Shapes
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Basic Shank Shapes
Shanks come in four basic shapes. Most common is a shank that is round
(circular) when the stem is removed and one looks at the shank face (aren't
you glad you looked at the Pipe Anatomy page?).
The shape can also be oval (usually with the horizontal
being the longest dimension). A shank which looks square at the face is
called a square shank if the sides of the square are vertical
and horizontal. If the square is diagonal (so that the sides are not verical
and horizontal, but are at 45-degree angles to the top and bottom of the
pipe) then the shank is referred to as a "diamond." In
addition, shanks can be triangular, pentagonal, and variants of the four
basic shapes above.
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Stem Shapes
OK, now you are ready for an easy one. Pipe stems have only two different
shapes. The stem can be tapered, making a gradual smooth
transition from the thick shank end to the mouth-sized bit end. Alternatively,
the transition can be made by using a step-like shape, creating a saddle
bit stem.
OK, it isn't really that simple...I lied. Stems can also be straight
or bent (curved). I assumed you could figure out for yourself
what straight and bent are. But, that means there are four kinds of stem
shapes: tapered straight, tapered bent, saddle straight and saddle bent.
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Angles
So now you're thinking, "again with the geometry????" Well, alas,
I never did well in geometry, and I guess I feel the subconscious need to
compensate. You see, it all started with my Aunt Rose, who was from Philadelphia
and loved me as her own son. She was always confusing her tangents with
her cosines... But, I digress.
Yes, we need just a bit about angles, since the bend in
a pipe (or lack thereof) has a great deal to do with recognizing some shapes.
If you don't have your protractors handy, I'll provide some illustrations.
A sraight billiard, bowl at right angle to shank.
Generally, a straight pipe is one in which the bowl is
perpendicular to the shank and stem. Most bent pipes are
shaped so that the bowl and shank form an angle of less than 90 degrees.
At the extreme, a full bent pipe is one in which the shank and stem are
almost parallel to the bowl, so that the bowl and shank form a letter "U"
(a 0 degree angle, or 360 if you prefer).
A full-bent Oom
Paul pipe.
In between the straights and full bents, pipes are usually described by
the fraction of 90 degrees they depart from being a straight. Hence, a pipe
with a 45 degree angle would be a half-bent. One between a half-bent and
a straight would be a quarter-bent, and so on.
Bent pipes: (clockwise from upper left) 3/4 bent billiard with saddle
bit stem, 1/2 bent egg, 1/4 bent Dublin with saddle bit, 1/8 bent Dublin.
In addition, some pipes have bowls which bend away from the smoker (thus
forming a bowl-stem angle of more than 90 degrees).
A saddle-bit Dublin and a billiard bent away from the smoker
(either pipe might be called a "woodstock" by some makers).
Length of Stem and Shank
Some pipes get their shape names because of the stem is much longer than
the shank, or because the shank is much longer than the stem. Sometimes,
the thickness of the shank also is a consideration. This is something to
look for.
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