Oom Paul: the Name and Origin of a Pipe Shape

Oom Paul is a full-bent pipe shape with a cylindrical bowl and a shank that curves up almost vertically, with the mouthpiece tip ending roughly level with the rim of the bowl. The body is usually large and the mouthpiece thick; when the pipe is set down, the bowl stands upright.

The name comes from a South African statesman, but where the shape originated and why it also carries a second name remain disputed. For other members of the classic repertoire, see classic pipe shapes.

The Man Behind the Name

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (1825-1904) was head of state of the South African Republic (Transvaal), known by the Afrikaans nickname "Oom Paul," meaning "Uncle Paul." He took office on May 9, 1883. When the course of the Second Boer War turned against the Boers, he left Transvaal by train on September 11, 1900, and after waiting at port for about a month, managed to cross to Europe aboard a Dutch warship on October 20, 1900; he spent the rest of his life in exile, his final months in the Swiss village of Clarens, where he died on July 14, 1904. Newspapers and memoirs of the period describe him as rarely seen without his pipe. Vanity Fair's caricature titled "Oom Paul," dated March 8, 1900, portrays him just this way: black frock coat and top hat, a closed umbrella in one hand, an open book in the other, a bent pipe smoking in his mouth.