Carved wooden pipes

The erica arborea, the root wood of the Mediterranean heather, is used as a material for smoking pipes from about 1850 onwards. This root is almost incombustible and does not have any influence on the taste of the tobacco nor the smoke.

With sharp knives and chisels a pipe maker can carve the briar to figurals just like the meerschaum pipes, apart from the fact that briar is extremely hard to work. From 1850 onwards carvers started producing pipes in unexpected designs. A well-known early carver is the skilful Charles Harnisch.

In the early twentieth century the fashion for figurative pipes continues as a curio next to the plain pipes. A certain series of them were mass products, made with the aid of a reduction machine. Wide spread examples are the portraits of Voltaine and Bacchus. Next to these, unique specimen were made in Saint-Claude in the French Jura.

In the United States and Canada the carving of quality pipes got a new impetus after the Second World War. A famous and skilful carver is the American Stanley Jarka, who made beautiful pipes in the seventies of the last century. The subjects being modern, the techniques never changed. In the meantime the stems changed from buffalo horn and vulcanite to colourful acrylic.

 early wooden figural pipe, the bowl interior in metal, Russia, 1755-1780 portrait pipe with bone eyes and teeth, Germany, 1840-1860
pipe in boxwood with two faces, the interior with metal, Germany, 1830-1860
side view of the pipe with bone inlays, Gemany, 1840-1860
pipe bowl with lid in so-called bois-brulé with two faces, France, 1830-1860 bottom view of the pipe bowl with two faces, France, 1830-1860
pipe bowl finely carved as a five towered castle from the middle-ages, Germany, design by Moritz von Schwind, 1840-1860
portrait of a zouave with moustache and beard and simple rimless hat, Saint-Claude, France, 1860-1890
briar root partly carved into a slighty erotic scene, Saint-Claude, France, 1900-1910
a naked women born from the briar, Saint-Claude, France, 1900-1910
briar wood tobacco pipe with carved animals on the stem in fitted case, Germany, 1890-1905
figural pipe representing the bust of Philippe VIII, Saint-Claude, France, 1915-1925
the head of a horse, a general design mounted with a comfortable buffalo horn stem, Saint-Claude, France, 1890-1920
carved pipe bowl with glass eyes, the cap of the soldier is the lid of the bowl, Germany, 1880-1900
portrait of Fernandel, complete with teeth in ivory, France, 1925-1935
front of a pipe having three faces of which two under the same hat, Stanley Jarka, Bricktown, USA, 1975-1985
the back of the pipe having three faces, Stanley Jarka, Bricktown, USA, 1975-1985 finely carved head of a bulldog, Stan Richards, Pittsburgh, USA, 1975-1980 realistic chimpanzee, not realy a design to use in public, Stan Richards, Pittsburgh, USA, 1978
head of a lady, Conrad Ovellet, Canada, 1981
bust of a woman with a rimmed hat, Conrad Ovellet, Canada, 1983 the devil as monster, Stanley Jarka, Bricktown, USA, 1975-1985
three variations on the theme: the head of a duck with acrylic beaks, Stan Richards, Pittsburgh, USA, 1975-1980
skull partly covered with draperies, Stanley Jarka, Bricktown, USA, 1970-1980
this functional decoration shows an elephant with ivory tusks and trunk in acryl, Stan Richards, Pittsburgh, USA, 1975-1980
the head of Christ complete with thorns, Yvan Bourgault, Quebec, Canada, 1970-1980
an Indian with feather hat, Stan Richards, Pittsburgh, USA, 1978
thwe bowl of the pipe represents the head of a wolf, Stanley Jarka, Bricktown, USA, 1975-1980
contemporary image: figure from the Starwars, Stanley Jarka, Bricktown, USA, 1975-1980 an orange as a mascotte for a sportsclub in New York, Stanley Jarka, Bricktown, USA, 1975-1980
All objects on this page are part of collections of the museum Pijpenkabinet, Amsterdam. © copyright Pijpenkabinet