Pipe Bowl Size

Pipe bowl size is discussed in terms of the diameter and depth of the interior space where tobacco burns, and the volume these two dimensions together define. Because it determines how much tobacco a single packing holds, the duration of the smoke and the bowl's tendency to heat up are also cited alongside this measurement.

Yet there is no binding size standard in pipe manufacturing: the millimeter figures seen in catalogs belong to each brand's own scale. The rise of bowl size into a topic of discussion in its own right is also recent; it has grown largely on internet forums.

The Measurement Left by Archaeology

The field in which bowl size is best documented is clay pipe archaeology. Early examples have small bowls, a smallness attributed to the high cost of tobacco. As tobacco grew cheaper, bowls grew larger, and this trend has been used as a dating criterion for finds. Over the same period, the diameter of the stem hole moved in the opposite direction, dropping from about 9/64 inch (roughly 3.6 mm) in the early 17th century to 4/64 inch (roughly 1.6 mm) by the end of the 18th. D. B. Whitehouse's 1966 study of the stem-hole diameters of Bristol pipes made between 1620 and 1850 is among the well-known examples of this literature. In the Japanese kiseru, the bowl is known for being small enough to hold only a single pinch of finely shredded kizami tobacco. Once briar became widespread, bowl size long ceased to be a subject of study on its own.