Slinging.org Forum - Pipe Smoking

Bill Skinner

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Pipe Smoking
Jun 28^th, 2012 at 8:55pm

Does anyone here smoke tobacco in a pipe? I have been making replicas of some of the NA pipes found at Moundville and I don't really know what to do with the finished pipe. These are just the bowl, they will need a stem of some kind. And I don't know if they actually smoked them or if they were high status items to be used in the next world. The clay may crack when you fire it, some of the examples are missing part or all of the bowl. If you are a reenactor from the correct period, mid 1500's on, it would be period correct. Right now, I have 4, if you are interested, just say so. I will be making some more, probably next week.

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Pikåru Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Experience teaches only the teachable... Posts: 1636 Colorado USA Gender:	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #1 - Jun 28^th, 2012 at 9:58pm I might be interested. A picture would be nice if you can post one.
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Bill Skinner

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Re: Pipe Smoking
Reply #2 - Jun 29^th, 2012 at 12:25am

Send me an address in a PM and I will try to get it in the mail on Monday or Tuesday when I go to town. Are you going to actually smoke it or get it cause it's cool? I blackened a couple, I don't know what will happen to the blacking if you light it. You blacken pottery by taking the red hot item and put it in a pot lined with green leaves and then put a lid on it to keep it from catching on fire. The pottery absorbs the carbon in the smoke and turns black. If it comes in contact with a fire, it can burn the black off.

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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #3 - Jul 16^th, 2012 at 5:11am You can use the stems from smaller corn stalks as a pipe stem. They work quite well and are authentic.
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jlasud Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Programming stones Posts: 2358 Transilvania Gender:	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #4 - Jul 16^th, 2012 at 5:28am The branches of Sambucus Nigra make the best pipe stems ever imo.I use one,about 11" long,cools down the smoke,looks good.
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Donnerschlag Interfector Viris Spurii Offline I put the 'K' in "Kwality"! Posts: 1045 Portland, OR Gender:	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #5 - Jul 16^th, 2012 at 7:58pm I like biting the ends off of a twizzler (strawberry licorice) and using that.
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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #6 - Jul 17^th, 2012 at 5:16am Donnerschlag wrote on Jul 16^th, 2012 at 7:58pm: I like biting the ends off of a twizzler (strawberry licorice) and using that. Too sticky!
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Bill Skinner

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Re: Pipe Smoking
Reply #7 - Jul 17^th, 2012 at 11:44am

I made a couple of stems from wood. It had a pith, I bored it out with a bamboo skewer and a little sand. I had cut this tree back in October, I used part of the tree for a handle for a stone ax, the rest I just put in the shed to dry. The pith had shrunk, all I had to do is clean it out. Then start to whittle. One pipe head I glued on with hide glue, my brother got that one, the second I am still working on. Still got a couple left.

BK, all the corn stalks I have seen are full of pith and are pretty fragile, are you sure they weren't cane or bamboo?

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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #8 - Jul 19^th, 2012 at 9:05pm There are often smaller stalks on the corn plant that don't produce corn. Wait until the stalks dry out and you should have an easier time finding some the right size.
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towelie

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Re: Pipe Smoking
Reply #9 - Oct 7^th, 2012 at 3:54pm

I smoke a tobacco pipe and have made one of my own in the style of a corn cob, but made entirely from drilled out wood. If I were you, if you haven't already found a solution, I would get a large wooden dowel and find a place that does wood working (whatever it may be, because Home Depot used to do this but no longer does) and has a drill press and a lathe. Make sure the dowel is as large as the outside diameter of the pipe's stem hole, then have the wood worker use the lathe to shape one end to fit inside the pipe's stem hole, then drill through the length of the dowel to make it usable as a stem. Shape the mouth piece as you will and don't worry about the little fibers left over as they will burn off eventually from the heat of the smoke.

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LukeWebb

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Re: Pipe Smoking
Reply #10 - Oct 12^th, 2012 at 11:24pm

Any hardwood will work for a stem, just find something that grows as a shoot and has a small pithy core, ash, maple, etc. all have a narrow pithy core you can burn or push out, elder is also a wood that was historically used on indian pipes, make sure you dry it before you put your lips too it, it is mildly poisonous before it is dried, I tried it once and it made my lips burn just very slightly.

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Thunder Chief

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Re: Pipe Smoking
Reply #11 - Feb 2^nd, 2013 at 4:57am

towelie wrote on Oct 7^th, 2012 at 3:54pm:

I smoke a tobacco pipe and have made one of my own in the style of a corn cob, but made entirely from drilled out wood. If I were you, if you haven't already found a solution, I would get a large wooden dowel and find a place that does wood working (whatever it may be, because Home Depot used to do this but no longer does) and has a drill press and a lathe. Make sure the dowel is as large as the outside diameter of the pipe's stem hole, then have the wood worker use the lathe to shape one end to fit inside the pipe's stem hole, then drill through the length of the dowel to make it usable as a stem. Shape the mouth piece as you will and don't worry about the little fibers left over as they will burn off eventually from the heat of the smoke.

Welp, I'm gonna necro this thread because that's what we do on the Trading Post board.
You don't need a lathe to do that. I've bored out plenty of stock with just a drill press or hand tools. It won't look so pretty, but it'll be more "authentic." You can also split a small branch, scrape out a channel on both sides and glue it back together. I did that on a pipe once.
Bill, what were you making those bowls out of?

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Bill Skinner

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Re: Pipe Smoking
Reply #12 - Feb 4^th, 2013 at 2:18pm

The bowls are fired clay. If, when I make a pot, I have clay left over, I usually make it into a pipe bowl that is similar to one of the pipe bowls displayed in the museum in Moundville. I have also made them by pecking and grinding siltstone and by carving and then firing floatstone. After I make them, I just usually give them away, usually to reenactors at some of the events I go to. Lately, I have just been boring out the center of a piece of ash and just giving it with the bowl to somebody. If they want a finished pipe, they have to whittle out the stem. A lot of the reactors like that, it gives them something to do between the groups that is period, they can set everything down and give their presentation and then pick it back up when the group leaves.

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Thunder Chief Funditor Offline Don't Panic! Posts: 838	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #13 - Feb 5^th, 2013 at 5:16pm What could I do to get my hands on one of those bowls? Any trade-type item you might like?
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Bill Skinner Forum Moderation Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 3292	Re: Pipe Smoking Reply #14 - Feb 5^th, 2013 at 7:52pm I'll have to make some more, I just gave the last one away. I'll make some tonight, let them dry for a couple of days, then put them in the oven overnight and then fire them the next day. Due to all the rain recently, that firing will probably be in a kiln, is that OK?
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