Tobacco pipes in Asia

Asia is a huge continent that shows a wide variety in shapes and materials in tobacco pipes. A general characteristic of the Asian pipe is the small bowl, due to the shortage on tobacco in most areas.

In the Middle-East the pipes are strongly related to the Ottoman products. The shape of the chibouk returns frequently. Most pipes are made out of clay, although not as finely finished as the European and Ottoman examples.

Yemen pipes have a typical appearance, with their ceramic base and metal windshield. This upper part contains the charcoal that keeps the pipe burning. The stems are usually made of coffee tree twigs and can be up to a meter in length.

Apart from the conventional stemmed pipe, smokers in India use a tubular pipe, the so-called chillum. They can be made from ordinary potters' clay as well as bronze, wood or stone. The soft wood pipes are lined with metal in the inside to extend their life.

A specific tobacco pipe that occurs only in Japan is called kiseru. The bowl and the mouthpiece are usually in metal, while the stem is made from bamboo. Decorations in different techniques such as engraving and moulding in relief show the fine Japanese taste. Often, the pipes are embellished with silver or even gold.

In China the dry tobacco pipe is used next to the more common water pipe. A special smoking implement is the opium pipe that has a specific shape and use.

 simple Ottoman pipe bowl with heavy base showing geometrical patterns, East-Mediterranean, 1650-1800 round bottom chibouque with geometrical patterns on the base, East-Mediterranean, 1850-1900
round bottom chibouque with base decorated with geometrical pattern, bronze paint, Istanbul, Turkey, 1850-1900
rare Turksh chibouque in one piece with a stem made in clay, Istanbul, Turkey, 1800-1900
disk type chibouque with shiny brown glaze and goldleaf and silverleaf on the ornaments, Istanbul, 1850-1900
normal type of chibouque with the funnel shaped bowl on a disk, Istanbul, Turkey, 1830-1880
chibouque with an unusual bowl shape and small base, Istanbul, Turkey, 1800-1850
the Turkish chibouque with an extremely large counterpart, 1850-1900
typical ceramic pipe that is covered with brass wire and has a lid, Arabia, 1850-1900 the characteristic pipe for Persia with eight sided bowl on a heavier base, Persia, 1850-1900
clay bowl made in the technique of the Turkish chibouque but in Persian shape including the eight sided bowl, Persia, 1850-1920
the modern Persian pipe with black backed bowl and painted wooden stem, Persia, 1940-1960
elbow shaped pipe with incised floral decoration and black and red slib overlay, Iraq, 1880-1900
the common chillums with stamped decorations filled in with chalk, Kathmandu, India, 1940-1960 large tsjilm with manysided bowl part, complete with interior stone, India, 1970-1980
unusual pipe with elbow shape showing a figural bowl, Iraq, 1920-1950
two nice chillums in cast brass decorated with concentric rings, Karnata, India, 1880-1910
funnel shaped ceramic pipe bowl with iron upper part, Jemen, 1900-1940
pipe made from a jak horn mounted in decorated silver, Tibeth, 1900-1950
silver cigarette holder in niello with a buffalo horn mouth piece, South-Russia, 1880-1920
cigarette holder in carved ivory with design of a dragon. Indonesia, 1910-1930
tobacco pipe made from pressed silverplate around a wooden interior, Nourdistan, 1920-1950
unusual pipe in green stone with rings decorated, Afganistan, 1900-1930
primitive pipe bowl from a two parted mould, Lanna, Birma, 1880-1930 different shapes of stoneware pipe bowls, one covered with brass, Birma and Thailand, 1850-1920
tobacco pipes with wide bowls from bronze, brass and lined metal, Birma, 1850-1900
the traditional Lanna-pipe copied in bronze, Birma, 1800-1880
Chinese tobacco pipe with small bowl and thick stem, engraved Chinese characters, 1850-1900
simple woman's pipe from the Hilltribes, North-Thailand, 1950-1970 two pipes from bamboo, the left one for the tourist market decorated with colourfull wool, Karen tribe, Thailand, 1950-1960
the bowl of the Chinese pipe of very small size, China, 1850-1900
series of Japanes kiserus, the top all metal, the lower two with bamboo stem, Japan, 1850-1920 two kiseru, one in white metal, the other in silver, Japan, 1850-1900
the typical kiseru, in brass with twisted stem, Japan, 1870-1900
figural kiseru showing the lotus flower in the bowl, a frog on its stem, brass with copper and silver inlay, Japan, 1900-1920
magnificent kiseru in silver with copper and brass inlay, Japan, 1880-1920
the bowl of the lotus kiseru with moving seeds on the top, the interior in silverkiseru, Japan, 1900-1920
beautiful decorated pipe in bronze, Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia, 1850-1900
bamboo tobacco pipe with carved and burned geometrical pattern, New-Guinee, 1940-1960
characteristic bronze pipe bowl of the Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia, 1860-1900
wooden pipe bowl with flattened handle on the bottom, Papua, New-Guinee, 1920-1950
All objects on this page are part of collections of the museum Pijpenkabinet, Amsterdam. © copyright Pijpenkabinet