Wiener Kaffeehauspfeife

Wiener Kaffeehauspfeife, known in Turkish as the Vienna coffeehouse pipe, is not the mark of a single manufacturer but the name of a pipe type that became familiar in nineteenth-century Vienna. It takes its name from being served to guests in coffeehouses.

It differs from the classic single-piece cast clay pipe types: here only the bowl is made of clay, the stem is wood, and the mouthpiece is most often horn. This three-material, dismountable construction defines both the type's appearance and how it was used.

Structure and Appearance

The bowl is prepared from pipe clay that whitens on firing, and is left unglazed. Its tall, slender, six-sided body makes it recognizable even from a distance — the main feature that lets collectors identify the type. Because clay lends itself to surface decoration, most bowls are ornamented. Decorations include floral and vase motifs, spiraling plant lines, geometric arrangements, and, in some examples, human figures.

The stem is unusually long and made of cherry or sour cherry wood. The length helps the smoke cool before reaching the mouth, and also makes the pipe suited to being smoked seated rather than carried upright. The preference for horn in the mouthpiece was standard for the 19th century; a comparison of materials appears in the mouthpiece materials entry.