Unusual Pipes: a History of Double-Chamber Designs

Unusual pipes are examples that step outside the classic bowl-stem-mouthpiece arrangement, going beyond the ordinary in form or material. A few turn up in every era: some carry a genuine engineering ambition, others were made only to sit in a display case. This article follows the most recurring idea within that broad category — the double chamber.

The Problem Porcelain Had to Solve

In Europe, the first widespread answer to the double-chamber idea grew out of the porcelain pipe. Porcelain bowls, first made in Germany in the mid-18th century, remained popular for a long time in France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary; the trouble was that porcelain is non-porous and does not absorb the moisture released during combustion. Writers of the era criticized the porcelain pipe harshly for this reason. The makers' solution was a collection chamber, called an abguss in German, fitted beneath the body that carried the bowl: tobacco burned in the upper bowl while the condensing liquid collected in the lower compartment. Assembled from separately made parts that fit into one another, this arrangement is known as the Gesteckpfeife and counts as the first widespread form considered "double-chambered" in Europe. Some unusual pipes, by contrast, never grappled with such a problem at all; records show that English and Venetian glass pipes and ceramic "puzzle" pipes were made not to be smoked but for display and show.