Materials
Bamboo Shank
A shank arrangement in which a segment of bamboo, cut between its nodes, is fitted between the briar bowl and the mouthpiece: the material's lightness and moisture absorption, its origin in the East, its entry into Western pipe making, and how the shank is prepared in the workshop.
The bamboo shank is the construction of the section between a pipe's bowl and its mouthpiece using a jointed segment cut from a bamboo stalk instead of wood. The bowl is usually made from briar, but the shank is left short; bamboo completes the remaining distance. Because the rings the nodes leave on the piece determine the pipe's appearance, the bamboo shank is a choice of both construction and form.
What the Material Provides
A bamboo stalk is a hollow tube between nodes; this natural cavity offers a ready-made axis to follow when drilling the smoke channel. The material's density is also low: when the briar shank is shortened and bamboo takes its place, the pipe's total weight drops noticeably. This is the main reason the bamboo shank is favored among smokers who carry the pipe in their teeth. Bamboo's moisture absorption is often cited in the community as a reason for a drier smoke; this should be taken as a widely held view rather than a measured figure.
The distance between nodes and the number of nodes determine the shank's character. For a long time two- or three-node pieces were accepted as the standard; as suppliers' cutting habits changed, four- and five-node pieces also reached workshops from the mid-2000s onward. The small root protrusions left at the nodes are either sanded flat or hollowed out and filled with resin; the second route also seals that point against moisture.
Its Roots in the East and Its Passage to the West
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Source: Pipedia, adapted under the CC BY-SA licence.