Cavalier

Cavalier is a pipe shape whose shank extends downward beneath the bowl, carrying a removable cap at the end of this extension. In an ordinary pipe the shank runs in a single direction, back from the bowl; on a Cavalier, though, the shank doesn't just stay behind the bowl — it descends, giving the pipe a kind of foot.

Thanks to this foot, the pipe can stand upright on a table without tipping over. The shape isn't common today; it turns up mostly in one-off artisan work and in old catalogs.

Structure and Working Principle

What defines the Cavalier is less its look than its drilling layout. Two separate holes run through the shank: the first passes the full length of the shank end to end, the second connects the bottom of the bowl to that main channel. As smoke passes from the bottom of the bowl into the shank, moisture condensing out of it drops by gravity to the lowest point of the shank — the capped extension — and collects there. That way, moisture doesn't collect in the smoke channel or the mouthpiece, the most sensitive spot in terms of pipe anatomy.

The cap at the end of the extension can be threaded or push-fit. When removed, it lets accumulated liquid be emptied and also lets a cleaner be passed straight through the pipe via a direct channel. In this respect the Cavalier is counted among the solutions that push the job of managing moisture onto the body's design; for other mechanisms tackling the same problem from a different angle, see pipe filters and systems.