The lengthy period between this issue of the Newsletter and the last one was hard working time. Off-stage activities of which nobody can guess the true extent. For the digitizing lots of other work has been postponed, but I can assure you that our curator has made over 80 hours a week, apart from the outsourced work done. Now, the results of this close to maniac work are appearing, although they will be hidden for the world until Fall. This Newsletter unveils some parts of the new website, describes a few acquisitions and gives some miscellanies. We promise you the launching of the full, new website, containing the largest Wikipipia world-wide, within a few months.

In the mean time the hectic around smoking in general is getting over. Last year the press gave daily updates about the smoking-ban, while now the interest in the joy of smoking a pipe is growing among youngsters.

Digitizing takes shape
If you have followed the plans of the Pijpenkabinet for digitizing its collections, you might expect us to be ready by now. However, in drawing the plans in 2007 we could not have a fully clear look into the future. During the project the technical problems proved to be more difficult than we had thought, which caused some months delay in launching the full-grown site. Eventually, next Fall will be the time to go online and show the world our efforts.

The complicated factor was the technical infrastructure that connects collection, library and documentation, databases of quite different structure at the time of depart. The IT specialists designed this infrastructure, but the museum staff had to standardize all the data. This task has been achieved now. For instance, all geographical terms are standardized, if you type a city or a tribe somewhere in the world, the system enumerates in which state, country, continent it is located. During the work countless inconsistencies were corrected.

In addition the museum staff performed major tasks. This includes the photography for the collection database. We started in 2008 with just under 5,000 photos that had not yet been linked to the database. Currently the number exceeds 25,000 photographs, all included in the object description both as thumbnails and full-screen. With a single mouse click you can shift from the object description to the picture of the same object.

Once the outline of the website had been drafted, a second job performed internally was the design of virtual exhibitions. Initially this was intended to be a web story on one aspect of the history of the pipe, with textual and graphic explanation. Such a web presentation can be navigated on-site. The trial presentation covers the meerschaum pipe with a story as complete as possible. In our enthusiasm we developed three virtual exhibitions. In the autumn of 2010 we expect the new website going online, of course we will keep you informed on further developments and launch. Our current site will stay online as well, a lot of cross links will connect the two sites.

In Holland the Pijpenkabinet receives regular compliments for getting a grant for the digitizing project in an early stage of the national grant program. Others applicants were large institutions with a full staff of curators, registrars, PR- and IT-specialists such as Naturalis and the Royal Tropical Institute. Among those the Pijpenkabinet is a positive exception. We were just in time, because the grant program is stopped for reasons of budget restrains.

Link of the month
Just to stay with websites, we insert the link of the month here: the interesting website of John Loring, an American collector of vintage Dunhill pipes. Loring brought together an impressive collection and placed them on the internet. Although not the most beautiful web design, the site is loaded with detailed information to be of great use to the specialist. In magazines and weblogs Loring showed and shared his impressive knowledge on modern briars. His hobby for years ended when he passed away in October last year. His web information will continue for the future.

http://www.loringpage.com/pipecollection/pipecollection.htm

Objects from the Ethnographic Museum Nijmegen
The Dutch museum field is not as rigid as one might think. In particular the storage function of the museum has been under pressure in recent years. Not for the first time we found some pipes in the antiques trade, recently de-accessioned - as the esquisite word for selling of is - from a Dutch museum collection. The origin is the Nijmegen Museum of Ethnography, a collection started by a monastery and supplied by the missionaries who sent material of indigenous peoples to the home land. Since the group of ethnographic was offered immediately after transfer from Nijmegen, we were able to acquire six of the most interesting pieces. Three of these are set out below.

An almost prehistoric filter pipe
An exceptional pipe, barely recognizable as a pipe, comes from the Central African Republic. The object consists of two distinctive parts. The pipe bowl is shaped like a high chillum, a funnel made out of ceramic. The outside is decorated with a repeating geometric motif of triangles. This conical bowl is inserted into an opening in a large hollow nut up to the point it sits. The connection is that close that no false air comes in. At the front of the nut a simple hole functions as a mouthpiece. At first glance, the nut seems to have a cooling function only, but that is not the case. The fruit is filled with fine grass which ensures that the smoke is filtered.

This object is not only of interest because of its unusual shape, extremely important is also that its origin is exactly known. That is unfortunately not the case with most objects on the market. In this case the information was carefully recorded. The pipe was collected by J. Muermans on April 11, 1964 from the Jacpa tribe in the village called Kembe in the Central African Republic. Muermans even noted down the native name the object was called: Nbago. According to his notes, the pipe was more than one hundred years old at the time. This might be somewhat overdone. That the pipe has been in use for a long time is demonstrated by the intense smoke traces. Meanwhile, the pipe is already fifty years older now. The overall object has a modest size for Africa: the height measuring just over six inches.

Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 20.167

A second pipe with filter system
Also this pipe is made out of two materials: pottery and bamboo. The ceramic pipe is high and narrow and, like the previous acquisition has a slightly conical shape. However, it is significantly a less elegant pipe than the one discussed above. The bowl is carved with a primitive geometric pattern consisting of dashes and zigzags. Because the surface of the pipe is rather uneven, this decoration doesn’t come out well. The pipe bowl is put upright in the straight bamboo stem. This stem is closed at one end with the natural disc of the bamboo, the other end is of course open and has been made slightly taped. The bamboo is left undecorated. This pipe has the same kind of filter system, the stem filled with fine dry grass to clean the smoke.

The exact origin of this pipe is also known. The same Muermans purchased the pipe on October 28, 1965, from the same Jacpa tribe, this time in the village called Aliando, somewhat further down in the Central African Republic. Muermans’ notes recorded the local name gabolo for this object.

We can distinguish similarities and differences between the two pipes. In terms of use the functionality is quite similar: both are a filter pipe. The use of two materials is consistent, although for the stem different natural materials are used. The big difference is to be seen in the overall shape. In the bamboo version the bowl is positioned further from face of the smoker, while in the pipe with the nut the pipe almost burns in the eyes of the smoker. After the introduction of tobacco the Jacpa tribe properly understood this ingenious system of the filter pipe and applied this in various natural materials available.

Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 20.169

An African pipe in wood and iron
The pipe shown from Gabon in South Africa shows a completely different character. Two materials used for making this pipe are inextricably connected. In this case wood and iron are alternated and intertwined in a wonderful manner. The bent shape of the pipe with its up-going stem is fairly general and typical for the region. It is still unsolved why this particular shape of pipe is popular in this region of Africa, while unknown to other peoples.

The bowl in conical shape is made of sheet metal, showing a top end folded outward like a flattened disk. This metal pipe bowl is placed on a wooden stem with an oval diameter. Towards the end the stem broadens in a conical shape, the mouthpiece is getting slightly thinner. The wood is wrapped with spiral metal bands. The stem of the pipe is composed of folded sheet metal, without a special mouthpiece.

Strange enough the ironwork shaping these pipes doesn’t give an airtight form. The connections in the seams of the bowl and the stem are not closed at all. Only after a long period of smoking the leaks tend to fill with tobacco tar needed or a pleasant smoking experience. How smokers handled a new pipe is a mystery, since every smoker knows that fresh air halfway a pipe is destroying the taste and giving problems of sickness.

The cultural origin of this kind of pipe is Gabon, but also in Congo, for example among the Balumbo, the same shape is know. The registration of Nijmegen informs us that this object was taken from the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal on 29th August 1960. Where the pipe was exactly collected is unknown, unfortunately. In a period of over fifty years this pipe was in possession of three different museums. The question arises whether this is what collection mobility among museums means!

Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 20.170

New publications and the web
An extensive article entitled Fabels en feiten over de meerschuim pijp (Myths and facts about the meerschaum pipe, Amsterdam, 2009) is recently published on our current website. It is a comprehensive compilation of all published information about the history and development of meerschaum pipes. The web article illustrates 127 meerschaum pipes of every conceivable shape from the Pijpenkabinet collection.

Some articles that have been published on our site since some time are now published in print. Recent issues of the archaeological magazines Westerheem ("Smoking in a farmer's pub in West Friesland”, Westerheem, 58-4, 2009) and Nehalennia ("The Birth of the Sealand pipe shape”, Nehalennia, 166, Winter 2009) contain the cited articles by Don Duco. The voluminous report the wreck of the Dodtse Kil, also "Zevenhonderd jaar wonen, werken en begraven langs de Achterhaven" (ADC-Rapport 1278, Amersfoort 2010) with an article on clay pipes from page 137. Finally the two-part report on Venlo entitled "Venlo on the Meuse, from vicus to city" (ADC monograph 7, Amersfoort 2009) appeared as individual publications.

Gradually our attention shifts from the old to the new website, which is still under construction. However, the section Smokiana pipeshop is expanded with numerous photographs of objects that have been digitized recently but were in our spare collection for a long time. Check out the long row of thumbnail pictures in the right side of the pages. Each thumbnail image gives access to a new page with a variation within the chosen theme.

Faites diverse

Pipe added to the canon of history
The proposed National Historical Museum (NHM) is again the theme of political discussions, despite two directors and twenty staff-members are already employed. The NHM cooperates with several local museums in various cities in order to show what the new museum will do in future: unexpected exhibitions, discussions and ... a FEBO-like automat of the historical canon. Last June this coin-operated vending machine was opened in the Amsterdam Historical Museum. Later this year and in 2011 the construction will be shown in other Dutch museums.

The idea is simple and unexpected: for a change the well known design of the Febo-automat is not filled with croquettes and meatballs, but with small objects that represent an historical period or historical phenomenon. The Dutch clay pipe is one of the chosen objects, making it into an icon of our national history. The visitor gets an original Gouda pipe bowl, a fine specimen, stroke burnished and with a heel mark. The label attached to the pipe informs with a short historical description its significance. Who wants to know more, the label gives access to a short movie on each different object displayed on a video wall.

Other examples of iconic objects are the ban-the-bomb button and the Philips bulb lamp. You can see and use the historic automat in Amsterdam until 29 August 2010. See the website van het AHM.

Pipe smoking among young people more popular
The interest in pipe smoking goes up and down, a familiar phenomenon for ages. Middle-aged women still swoon at the thought of the sweet caramel tobacco smell of their popular biology teacher thirty years ago. The last few years, however, the common talk about smoking has been negative, especially stimulated by the smoking ban in restaurants.

From the people in Smokiana pipeshop is worth noting that the positive feeling about enjoyable smoking is getting more popular. The number of young people between 20 and 35 that seriously inquire about a pipe increases. Their interest doesn’t go out to a small hash pipe, but explicitly to a serious tobacco pipe in a more or less classical shape. Their goal is not to get rid of the cigarette, because most of them do not even smoke, but to enjoy a pipe of good tobacco from time to time. Of course, besides the choice of pipe tobacco, the style of the pipe as part of their imago is of decisive importance.

Smokiana pipeshop is one of the few remaining shops in the country where aspirant smokers can get good and adequate advice and information. Our pipe smoking course is a unique service in this respect. We keep a close eye on developments and report through this Newsletter.

Special Offer
After several offers of pipes, this time we offer one of our own book productions. During the summer the publication "Opium en Opiumschuiven, een bronnenboek" (Opium and opium taking, a source book) can be purchased at the Pijpenkabinet for only twenty Euros (instead of the normal price of € 30, -). With this special offer we would like to encourage visits to the shop and the museum. Included in the discount price of the book is free access to the museum, meaning an additional discount of € 5, -. A great opportunity to see our permanent presentation of opium pipes and opium paraphernalia, at home you can read all about it!

Offer valid throughout the summer until September 15 next. You can order by post, but then the price is € 25,- including postage within the Netherlands. Foreign orders please by email to info@pijpenkabinet.nl for the current mail costs. After payment the book will be sent, but of course you miss the tour of the museum.

To order send an e-mail to info@pijpenkabinet.nl.

End of this thirteenth Newsletter
Thank you for your interest and till the next issue !
We are happy to respond to any reactions or questions. Just click on mailto:info@pijpenkabinet .
Or continue on our web site http://www.pijpenkabinet.nl/

Benedict Goes
PR and Publicity Pijpenkabinet

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