Metallic Tobacco Pipes

[Marc Chevalier]

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No, I'm not saying that the tobacco is metallic. I'm talking about the pipes, wiseguy! Most are from the 1940s.

Here's a massive group of them. Click on each photo in the website, and you'll see even more: http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/gallerys.php


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[OdysseusX]

hmm, i wonder what that would do the flavor of it all. I use a wood pipe, and you can notice the difference between lighting it with a match, or a BIC lighter, i cant imagine the difference between wood and metal

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The metals are usually aluminum, except in the case of the Kirsten pipes. All those grills supposedly cool the smoke, while the "nooks and crannies" allegedly trap unwanted tobacco juice and tar gunk.


Here are some especially odd examples. The first is made of briar and bakelite. (Bakelite is very heat resistant.) Can't get more Art Deco than this one:

http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=298



And here's another with bakelite:

http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=281



And this one is plain old wood, but I had to show it to you anyway:

http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=283


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[Marc Chevalier]

By the way, most of these contraptions were designed by geeky pipe-smoking engineers with extra time on their hands. Dr. Kirsten and Dr. Porsche are prime examples.

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[OdysseusX]

I'm not sure if i would ever smoke those... ok, wait, i would, but im not sure i would buy them. man, those are freaky looking.

i dont doubt that they cool the smoke somehow, and trap some gunk, but im not sure the somke would ever get to your mouth in some of those. if it were me, i'd get lost half way there.

 

[Feraud]

I would not mind adding a metallic pipe to the collection.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Get hot and taste badly.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Look great on display, though.

Actually, several of them smoke extremely well, and don't get particularly hot: a prime example is KIRSTEN. This metallic pipe has been continuously made since the 1930s, and it is still a bestseller:

-----------------------------------------http://www.kirstenpipe.com/ourstory.shtml

-----------------------------------------http://www.kirstenpipe.com/styles.shtml

---------------------------------------- http://www.kirstenpipe.com/pipes.shtml


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[Baron Kurtz]

taste very bad. I picked up one (unused) in a vintage store. I tried it out, and it puts a horrid metallic acid taste onto my tobacco. I am loath to waste any of this tobacco - my local tobacconist is an excellent blender! - so it annoyed me somewhat ...

Very, very nice looking deco pipe, though ...

I must add, also, that one of my local bus drivers smokes such a pipe every day. Must ask him about it. Maybe they age well?

bk