An Introduction for Pipes and Smoking Articles

Pipes

The smoking of tobacco and other plant material has been a Native custom since ancient times and continues to be part of modern Native and European culture today.
Our pipes are fashioned from the same materials and often in the same manner as the originals. We only use material indigenous to the regions in which each piece is documented to have been found, or a period material known to have been a trade commodity from other locales. Commonly, pipes were manufactured from local material such as wood, clay, Catlinite, steatite, various forms of soapstone, slate, sandstone, limestone, and cannel coal. European introduced materials led to other pipes made from sheet brass, pewter, iron, and lead. There are a vast number of pipe styles to consider as well. Many of which are noted by tribal influences or geographic location and have in the past been classified based on this alone. To name a few, there are "keel" or Mic Mac type, elbow type, calumet type, and variations of these types with animal and human effigies. Wood and clay pipe typology is only limited to the imagination of the artist and is innumerable. As time passed and smoking became part of the Euro-colonial culture, French artisans began to copy native styles for their smoking needs. The common "keel" or Mic Mac (Micmaq) style of pipe became a favorite due to it’s compact size and obvious ease of transport. Many of this style of pipe previously thought to have been native manufactured were in fact Euro-made items. There are numerous pipes and fragments of this type and origin available for viewing in the museums at Crown Point, NY and Ticonderoga, NY.

We will have various pipes listed regularly; however we can make you a pipe based on any historic example from the following material:

• - Catlinite ( red pipestone) Minnesota, USA
• - Soapstone (black) Ontario, Canada
• - Wood (Maple, Oak, Cherry, Black Ash) New York, USA
• - Limestone (white) Wisconsin, New York, USA

Please refer to our Custom Orders section for ordering details.

Currently, research is being done on historic pewter pipes from Western New York and Pennsylvania. Please come back again for further developments

Please check our listings for currently available

Pipes.
       ...click here

At The Eastern Door 2007