Tiki Tobacco Pipes

I'm a bit mystified why there aren't more exemplars of tiki-themed smoking pipes (for this thread's purposes, tobacco-specific) floating around out there. Perhaps it's because the subject of smoking has attracted the politically-correct attentions & efforts of the social busybodies who wish to dispense or withhold their approval of any & all behaviors. The only readily-available tiki pipe I could find online is this fine meerschaum "Olmec Tiki" available here...

http://meerschaumpipe.us/figured-meerschaum-pipes.html

Here's another meerschaum carved by Bekler that turned up on eBay a while back.

This is an especially nice traditional briar pipe in an authentic design (no info on the carver or origin).

Another traditional in a Maori style.

Canadian carver Stephen Downie created this beauty...

Tikiphile stalwarts Coco Joe produced this accessory.

And here's a contemporary pipe holder exhibited by "Tom's Tikis" via christianpipesmokers.net.

And on the subject, let us not forget the "pipe smoker tiki."

If you have any figural tiki pipes, or images of same, please share them. I have a couple commissions in the works that I look forward to posting here once they're done.

Nice collection!!!

Wow, very cool photos! About the "busybodies," they do make a valid point that some of the things we do for pleasure have an impact on society at large. But the real point, to me, is one of moderation or lack thereof. I'm speaking as one who enjoys both cigars and pipe tobacco on occasion knowing full-well about the potential long-term effects. (George Burns' long cigar-filled life notwithstanding, heh...) I find that a good cigar occasionally goes well with a good tiki drink, or a good rum poured neat, depending on who I'm hangin' with. So to each his own, we are a free country, fortunately, and I appreciate your point.

But back on-topic, I would love to see more tiki tobacco pipes become available. Maybe we'll see a tiki carver somewhere moving into an apartment complex where they'll be forced to take up carving on a smaller scale and thereby expand an under-developed area of tiki art.

White Devil: I just re-read your post and see that I overlooked that you've got one or more commissions in progress. I'm looking forward to seeing your work, please keep us posted.

In doing a Google image search, this turned up: an airbrush mural titled "No-Mon, the Tiki God of Knowledge" at the Gnomon Workshop in Hollywood, Ca. Although it's possible those are tongues emanating from the tiki's mouth (or straws going into them, though they seem eerily undersized if they're mugs), it could also be two pipes being smoked simultaneously. Downright Gigeresque.

On 2012-09-08 09:56, AceExplorer wrote:
About the "busybodies," they do make a valid point that some of the things we do for pleasure have an impact on society at large. But the real point, to me, is one of moderation or lack thereof. I'm speaking as one who enjoys both cigars and pipe tobacco on occasion knowing full-well about the potential long-term effects. (George Burns' long cigar-filled life notwithstanding, heh...) I find that a good cigar occasionally goes well with a good tiki drink, or a good rum poured neat, depending on who I'm hangin' with. So to each his own, we are a free country, fortunately, and I appreciate your point.

On visiting a local antique shop that carries a good selection of vintage pipes, I was discussing with the owner my year-long vacation from smoking and all desirable foods as a result of acid reflux. A pipe smoker of about eighty years, he paused between puffs and suggested I find a better doctor.

White Devil, you made me laugh out loud, truly great advice from the old-timer.

Cheers!

On 2012-09-08 10:17, White Devil wrote:
Although it's possible those are tongues emanating from the tiki's mouth (or straws going into them, though they seem eerily undersized if they're mugs), it could also be two pipes being smoked simultaneously. Downright Gigeresque.

That's a hookah-esque image. I wonder if someone has tiki hookahs in production? I'm Googling now...

A related thread that explores another connection between tiki and tobacco pipes can be found here, courtesy of bigbrotiki...

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=27345&forum=16&hilite=tiki%20tobacco%20pipe

A few years back I looked into casting some ceramic tiki pipes. It seems like there would be a small market for them but I just can't seem to get motivated :D The carvers and the casters here have tikified practically every other object in the world, I'm not sure why no is doing pipes? White Devil, I look forward to see what you're working on.

Here is my collection of tiki pipes. Made by Acme Bakeware and designed by Squid.

These are perfectly suitable for tobacco.

Got Greyhounds? Viva Kate!

[ Edited by: Mr. NoNaMe 2012-09-08 18:47 ]

"These are perfectly suitable for tobacco."

I'm sure they are :lol:

On 2012-09-08 11:26, MadDogMike wrote:
A few years back I looked into casting some ceramic tiki pipes. It seems like there would be a small market for them but I just can't seem to get motivated :D The carvers and the casters here have tikified practically every other object in the world, I'm not sure why no is doing pipes? White Devil, I look forward to see what you're working on.

I have a German ceramic pipe which seems to be Delftware I received as a gift in 1983, but I rarely use it because the bowl gets extremely hot. Too hot to hold for very long, in fact, so that might be one drawback to ceramic tobacco pipes (perhaps not for smaller bowls for other substances). The same is true for clay pipes: it takes much more clay or ceramic to insulate the heat from the fingers than briar or calabash. In fact, on most clay pipes you'll see a nib at the bottom of the bowl which dispenses the heat much faster, and is just large enough to use as a support for the lower end of the pipe. It may be that a stoneware bowl could be designed which is either much thicker, or has some sort of handle to dissipate heat.

I guess I should clarify that I'm not personally making the tiki pipes: I have been thinking about it for several years, but before investing a lot of money in tools I decided to try to enlist the real carvers who actually know what they're doing. I don't think they'll mind that I reveal the artisans ahead of time. Benzart is working on a Marquesan design, which he's modifying from a design I sent him. Also, I am determined to drag Basement Kahuna back into the tiki carving field, and so I figured the best way would be to start small. So BK is working up a variation on a Rarotongan pipe for me, and I hope these will be the first of many more.

[ Edited by: White Devil 2012-09-09 20:08 ]

Looks like you have picked 2 of the best carvers, can't wait to see what they come up with.

Here's an example of one that I did several years back. If tobacco was smoked in it I'd be surprised.

I've done several commissions for pipes and tobacco boxes. Most of the time they were gifts for people - so no photos. Benz tried to get me to try one of the meersom (sp?) pipes, but I do not use the rotary tools that much. So I stick with wood. Carving blanks for meersom pipes are fairly easy to find and can be a great project.

What wood did you use on that one, Aloha?

That was Walnut. I have also used Cocobolo, Paduak and Cherry. The harder woods are better, but they also get hotter. The Walnut stays cooler, and smokes nice once the bowl in "seasoned".

From the website of pipe maker Michael Parks, we have this oceanic-themed beauty...

"The Oom Ocean Volcano is the first pipe in an ocean themed seven day set, named The Ocean's Seven Pipes set. This piece incorporates Sharks' Teeth, Tiger Coral and Mother of Pearl into a custom accent. The stem is a brilliant red Acrylic intended to suggest lava flow in the depths of the sea."

http://www.parkspipes.com/index.html

Here is an early 19th century pipe from New Zealand, from the Bridgeman Art Library.

And while Cameroon is far afield from the territories normally associated with tiki, the craftsmanship on this pipe sets a high standard for execution in figural pipe-making. From the Indianapolis Museum of Art, this piece was constructed from ceramic, ivory, iron and gum.

This Maori pipe is attributed to carver Tom Heberley by the Auckland Museum. The words "Kia Ora" are carved into the wood.

This pipe, also attributed to Heberley, features a carved gecko on the stem, with tiny paua shell eyes.

Various unattributed Maori designs:

This Vera Cummings portrait of a Maori woman smoking a pipe is entitled "Kapai Te Toriri," or "tobacco is good." Who are we to argue?

[ Edited by: White Devil 2012-09-11 11:08 ]

[ Edited by: White Devil 2012-09-11 11:22 ]

A very informative page on Maori pipes and pipe makers can be found here...

http://www.pijpenkabinet.nl/Artikelen/maori-pijpen/art-E-maori-pipes.html

Great research and lots of inspiration WD

Nice thread. While not a pipe per se, still related.

Unusual pipe tamper from Don The Beachcomber. Wonder if Donn smoked a pipe?

Wonder what my teenagers would do with this? A Tiki related item they could actually use.

DC

You beat me to photographing that tamper: I just got one on eBay.

Here's a swell-looking tobacco container carved from a coconut shell, and more can be seen here...

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=37394&forum=2&start=15&24

The provenance of these Sotheby's auction items has been questioned, but for tiki purposes they remain ostensibly tribal and undeniably figural. So, for what it's worth...

More 19th century pipes from the Marquesas...

[ Edited by: White Devil 2012-09-16 06:08 ]

This item, wryly reports the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, "represents a peculiar artifact said to have been found at Purakanui, Otago, and which some genius has labelled 'Maori Flute.' It is more in sorrow than in anger that we disclaim this weird looking object. As a seven bowled tobacco pipe it might satisfy the most ardent of smokers."

Friedrich Ratzel writes in his "The History of Mankind: The Races of Oceania,"
"As kava came in from the eastward, so did tobacco and betel from the west. We can indicate New Guinea and its neighbourhood as the central point of both. Both travel in close conjunction, tobacco having spread with extraordinary rapidity; for instance, in a few years it has overrun the Admiralty Islands and New Ireland. Towards the end of the eighties the limit of tobacco passed exactly through Normanby, now it is cultivated on all the larger groups of the Pacific Islands, and in many places it already grows wild. In east and south-east New Guinea it is smoked with a piece of bamboo, through the small opening of which the smoke is drawn from the bowl and swallowed; this intoxicating practice is known as bau-bau. In the Woodlark, Trobriand, and Laughlan groups, the natives profess to have smoked through a reed before the arrival of the Europeans. This was filled with the smoke from the leaves of a certain bush, and then passed round the circle till it was emptied. This reed has been mistakenly regarded as a weapon. The Papuas are great smokers, and A. B. Meyer mentions as a peculiarity of theirs that, after puffing out the smoke through nose or mouth, they form their mouths to a point, and draw in the air with a noise, so that he could always hear when a Papua was smoking in his neighbourhood. Clay pipes have long been manufactured at various spots among the islands, and the Maoris understood how to carve them of stone in the same artistic fashion as is shown in their most original utensils."

A few more Maori pipes...

Batak (Sumatran) tobacco pipes and tobacco container.

Inwa was the ancient imperial capital of the Burmese kingdoms from the 14th to 19th centuries. This 17th century bronze pipe features a head adorned with a gombi, a headdress with features that supposedly reflected the inner character of the wearer.

This is a 16th or 17th century clay pipe from Inwa and depicts a Keinnaya, which is a legendary half-human, half-bird entity.

This Karo Batak pipe, decorated with the face of singa, was extremely heavy and probably rested upon the ground.

Nias bone pipe.

Bringing our Oceanic pipe tour to both a geographic and chronological conclusion, here we have a modern tribal Chokwe (Congo) pipe, 24 1/2" inches long: an impressive rendering upon a depressing theme.

A sampling of tribal pipes and handheld implements depicted in Auguste Racinet's "The Costume History (1876)."

Madame Gustika of the Duckbill Tribe as photographed on April 12, 1930 while smoking a pipe with an extended mouthpiece to fit the contours of her lips (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia). A greater diligence and dedication to one's hobby would be hard to fathom.

Great research WD! Impressive thread.

Here's my theory, you can make custom blends by putting a separate type of tobacco in each bowl; a little Dark Virginia in one bowl, a little Light Virginia in another, a little Burly, a little Latakia, a little Perique. If you are getting too much spice you just snuff the Perique bowl :lol:

A perambulatory Pu Pu Platter of nicotiana!

Guillaume Apollinaire enjoys a pipe in the tikified studio of Pablo Picasso, Boulevarde de Clichy, Paris.

"I'm a bit mystified why there aren't more exemplars of tiki-themed smoking pipes (for this thread's purposes, tobacco-specific) floating around out there.

If you're pondering the output of tobacco pipe carvers I'd guess the level of Tiki images is probably about that same as it is in any craft.

Personal interests of the carvers aside there might be a lack of demand for Tiki tobacco pipes even among that minute fraction who happen to like both Tiki and tobacco pipes. I'm one of those people and though I think the Tiki tobacco pipes posted here are really swell (I Facebook LIKED your original post!) I don't have any desire for a Tiki tobacco pipe. I tend not to mix my interests like that. I like western boots but don't want a pair with Tiki designs. (Still, if someone said "Hey! I got these size 12 Rocketbuster Tiki boots I don't ever wear, you want em?" I'd without hesitation say "Yes, please.")

PS:

I'd guess those to be Tiki mugs in that mural.

Here are some images of Maori pipes that I've saved over the years:

My favorite:

Another two similar? to the Heberley one posted here:

Crappy common one:

Shaped like pipes:

Little bowl, just add a stem:

Gavel, just drill it out:

Another gavel:

It even has an ashtray!

Buzzy Out!

Little bowl, just add a stem:

My, but wouldn't that make a killer drum design? Hmmm?

I'm one of those people and though I think the Tiki tobacco pipes posted here are really swell, I don't have any desire for a Tiki tobacco pipe. I tend not to mix my interests like that. I like western boots but don't want a pair with Tiki designs.

Certainly a valid & respectable viewpoint. I just think it'd be great if there were a few more tiki pipes rattling around out here instead of all being in museums. I do think there's a point beyond which we begin trivializing Tiki: such as door hinge toppers.

Thanks for piping in. Heehee.

This ceramic cob-style pipe was offered up by Rum Demon Ceramics on etsy.com last year.

Dig these all, and adding it to the list of wants/want to make.

A hand-crafted glass pipe posted on thisplaceblows.net

"Kanaloa", posted on marijuana.com

I'm posting the pics, note the coconut pipe and other tiki pipes at this URL:

http://thisplaceblows.net/2012/02/11/tiki-days/

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