Oh my gourd!

Good luck with that...I saw the post about them on ASP was tempted...but I have heard that block meer is next to impossible to come by...something about a turkish law that bans the export of uncarved meer or something along those lines...I wonder if you could come up with replacement bowls that would work (I have no idea if these are even sold...just an idea)...but good luck and have fun with it...post a pic when you get one made!
Cheers,
Josh

You crazy man ... wow ... sounds like a hoot to actually make one.  Don't forget to make an accompanying stand to go with each one.  You might contact Sinan Altinok to see if he can supply you with the block meer.  I've emailed him directly before and he's not a bad guy to deal with.

Rick Piatt

that is not the case, I think I have seen the stuff on-line and some merr kits too.  Just can't remember and have not started searching for it yet.

Thanks, yea Sinan is probably the best place to start.  I also want to do one with a briar bowl full of birdseye and somewhere on line and burried amoung my thousand plus bookmarks is a website where a guy describes his repair of a very old one.  One thing for sure, there will likely be a lot of cursing and throwing things before some tobacco graces one of these gourds.

I have made several Gourd Calabash.  Read my Article "Save the Calabash": http://www.shpcboston.org/apr07.htm

You don't need block meer per "The History of the Calabash."  See my review:

http://www.shpcboston.org/may07.htm

You can get the bowls from Andrea at http://www.pipemakers.org/

My 'Bashes

Yep, thats what I wanna do.  No use in taking point when someone has blazed the trail.  You will be getting an e-mail on this subject.  I totally agree with what you wrote, these suckers are nearly impossible to find and hindsight tells me I should have bought an even dozen.

Got seeds?

I am aware of what Andrea has but was hoping for block if at all possible and I plan to also do some in briar. I should have bought two dozen.

BTW: Nice job on those, they certainly don't deserve to be forgotten artifacts. Oh hell, I should have taken them all.

Scalpo in pace, ckr

be careful there buddy...might run yourself in to the poorhouse if you buy them all ;-)
It would be fun if you could post some progress pictures if it isn't too much trouble...this seems like an endeavour worth taking note of...I really liked Tom's article...and your work might be a great parallel to go along with it.
Cheers,
josh

ckr: looking forward to your e-mail. For some inexplicable reason, Andrea has none left. ; )

I've seen Tommy's calabash's in person and can attest to their quality.I find the dark stain and white stem to be particularly striking...

Best, D.Perry

The Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club of Boston... "Keeping The Smoking Lamp Lit Since 1989" www.shpcboston.org

I may have a line on two bowls but need to wait and measure the gourds.  If not, I would hope something else would turn up soon enough.   When I have the gourds in my hot little hands I will feel that I am better than half the way there.

Scalpo in pace, ckr

BTW:I don't suppose you would be willing to cut one down the middle and post some pics. I am sure the methods used in construction would be very educational for the forum! :-) It would certainly be most appreciated by yours truely! Well, maybe a disassembled shot or two since the dismembered ones are not likely to be forthcoming. 

I couldn't agree more.  It is pretty evident from the photos.  Perhaps you could coerce Tom to join us at Peretti’s whenever our clan can pack a lunch and navigate our way across the state line.

Fume in pace, ckr

but by shop borders on qualifying as a dungeon, dark and dreary cellar space but hit the light switch and CD player and somehow time spent there is like being in Eden.  Don’t hold your breath waiting though, it sometimes takes a while to get a project going between renovations, family commitments and a work schedule.  Once I get the gourds, the itch will need to me scratched and I might surprise myself.

Fume in pace, ckr

I'll post the how-to's. I've been smoking that thing all weekend and completely digging it! I'm still working out the stem to "shank" connection.

 Currently.

 The key to fitting the bowl TO the gourd is interesting because in "the day" they'd turn them down to size on a lathe. Since we don't have blocks of meer to start from, we need to work backwards. You'll need to either taper the part of the blowl that goes into the stem to be the same taper as the gourd. This might prove tricky, so I use a dremel sanding drum to sand away the inside of the gourds rim to be parallel for the bowl. And of course, you then need to adhere a strip of cork. I have found "Gorilla Glue" used sparingly (as it expands) works best. I imagine a sort of hide glue would work well too. But dont get the idea of keeping the cork in place with the bowl lest you end up with a permanantly fitted cup! Been there/done that.

 If you google Calabash pipe making, you'll find a Geocities page by a guy in Greece. Read and read what amazing feats this dude came up with! They no doubt will NOT be how you will end up making the pipe, but they will certainly get you thinking along the write lines.

And whil ewe're on the topic of the calabash!!!!! with all this talk about Franks Method of packing for the air pocket (It was frank wasn;t it?) Why not get you best bash off the shelf and us it. You'l get an air pocket 100's of times bigger than what you could get in the briar, and in my opinion, 100's of time better!

SAlutations

I will definetely do so CK....

D.Perry

The Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club of Boston... "Keeping The Smoking Lamp Lit Since 1989" www.shpcboston.org

a happy belated Father’s Day. Went to work today and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A sleigh full of reindeer? No. Jolly old St Nick? Well at least he puffed a pipe. Umm, Five maids a milking? No, No, No – Six gourds for puffin!

Mind you, I don’t know Jack about these things, except they are rumored to provide a very cool smoke due to the vast storage chamber that encapsulates the bowl.  At one time these were the smokers of smokers and then something changed.  No wait a minute, it wasn’t change it was business as usual.  Man takes the easy and convenient path.  But don’t take it for fact, just me rambling again. Possibly the MPC resident gourd expert might chime in with a more factual opinion.

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Well, it is a litter of six.  The big boy is a busting double D cup, 3 ½ x 4 ½ while the smallest is 1 ¾ x 2 ¾.  Then there seems to be everything in between.  I think the appearance is pretty clean and one (center left) is excellent still having all its color and some sheen on it.  Note that Michael parks included a couple of Wellington caps for the larger ones, when fitted to the gourd end these would allow for a military stem to be pressed in and prevent the gourd from splitting under the pressure. Well that would be one route to take.  I am basically undecided and have also considered a screw in stem as on a meer. 

Of course, one can't place an order and pass up Michael's hand picked briar from the cutter, so I also got a couple of 2 and 3 leaf pieces of briar.

If any are interested the link Tom mentioned is a non-pipe maker who had come up with some pretty unique solutions to some of the problems these present. 

http://www.geocities.com/pipetabor/calabash/calabash_e.html

I do plan an both briar and meerschaum bowls and since briar is more a accessible it may be the first.  If anyone is interested I could photo the progression of making one of these (more like try and stop me) and post it on this thread.  Who knows, it might end up being a pipe.

Fume in pace, ckr

Tom, thanks for the tips, although I really wanted to see one of those split and filleted. :-)

How much does a gourd calabash go for these days? I am intrigued and want to get one of my own.

Lars Wiberg (slartie) | http://southend.dk/ | http://southend.dk/g...

Lars, I'd have to say the price range for Calabashes are the same for Briars: 50 - 100's. But, if you buy one from Ebay, be very careful that there are no cracks in either the meerschaum bowl or where the gourd meets the stem.

I don't plan on buying a single pipe on ebay. I'd rather get one from one of you guys if that becomes a possibility at some point. Perhaps in a "pipes for tobacco" program or something :)

Lars Wiberg (slartie) | http://southend.dk/ | http://southend.dk/g...

I must admit - I am not a fan of the calabash shape, but the idea that it may provide a better smoke due to the construction does make me feel inclined to try one. Let me know if you guys start producing enough of them to sell!

I'll have some this fall (at the latest) made from vintage gourds and actually prefer to trade for tobacco. Its more fun.

Concerning not being a fan of the Calabash, I have to admit its not my "go to" choice either, but when I do, I never regret it.

Its like sitting down for a good meal vs. "grabbing a bite."

and anyone else that may be interested in a real calabash.  First you can gOOgle Calabash Pipe and find them in the same price range as other pipes.  Likely, they are wood, calabash shaped with a meerschaum bowl.  I have never tried one, but I imagine they smoke similar to a gourd as the chamber under the bowl is just that a chamber.  It is a smoke reservoir where the smoke is allowed to accumulate and naturally is also cools.  It is said that this effect allows the calabash to tame the strongest of blends.  I feel it is something that every pipe smoker or smoker of pipes should experience. 

Now for those that are purists.  I just left Mike’s site and the gourds are still listed – so I take it he is not sold out.  Not to downplay Tom’s work, but I think the hardest part of this project is the acquirement of the necessary parts.  So if you want to go down this path click first and worry about the rest later.

http://www.parkspipes.com/briar.htm

If you click, don’t just get one, plan on screwing up and if you don’t all the better.

The next step, I think, is to acquire some meerschaum bowls, even if the pipe maker’s emporium had bowls, which I am sure they do or will, they are probably not going to fit a specific gourd. The 1 ¼ inch bowls I see listed would drop to the bottom of most of these gourds.  I will be e-mailing Andrea with measurements of the bowl tops and will probably do the same to Sinan Altinok.

Now, outside of the stem work I don’t think there is a pipe maker in the world that has any specific tooling for working with calabash gourds, except for maybe Tom.  Pipe making like a lot of other things is problem solving.  Like how are you going to fashion a perfect circular ledge to hold the cork so that inner edge is perfectly circular to tightly seal the meer bowl and not allow any air to enter and pollute your smoke.  Maybe a home made wood disk on a drill some tacky glue and sandpaper to cut a ledge to hold the cork.  Maybe some rubber O-Rings, Heck what do I know, but if you want to have some fun, you got to go for it.

If and when you get to the stem work, I would be glad to assemble/make the mounting, drill & slot the stem (i.e. the machine work) and what ever is needed for material cost, but you will be doing your own shaping (filing/cutting/sanding), heating and bending and attaching it to the pipe.  A local pipe maker or repairperson might also do it for less than shipping.

BTW: you are sure to spend more making it than if you were to click and buy.

Or as just posted, trade with Tom! 

Fume in pace, ckr

I'll take "Trading with Thomas" .. far less work on my end :)

Lars Wiberg (slartie) | http://southend.dk/ | http://southend.dk/g...

If it's tobacco you want, we can do that.

Perhaps I could hook you up with some Brigham blends that aren't sold outside of Canada. They are all very good, but quite expensive. Keep in mind, this is Canada where we pay ~$0.28/gr in tax between the federal and provincial import taxes... not to mention a 14% tax on the tax we are already paying..

Andrea does have bowls. Her site (@ 6/18) doesn't list all her sizes, and in fact the one it does list, she doesn't have. Her bowls are at:

•  http://www.pipemakers.org/misc_products.htm

What was formerly IK Meerschaum has 'em:

• http://www.tobacco-barn.com/s-164-clabash-bowl-inserts.aspx

 And Tim West has them as well (see bottom of his page):

• http://www.jhlowe.com/misc-items.htm

Well that was certainly easy as one, two, three click. 

Tobacco barn, looks the best - at least they have some nice photos. 

Fume in pace, ckr

Yes there's more. If you've skimmed the thread the cool smoking attributes have cropped up as being the numer 1 reason to own and smoke the Calabash. What also makes them smoke so well is that the whole at the bottom of bowl is in the center and the flow is drawn downward into the gourd as opposed to the briar where the whole is in the middle and the airflow is drawn at an angle. This provides an effortless even burn. Yes you can get an even burn from your briar but not this even.

I have tried (In my experimental pipe- see pic below) to replicate this dynamic by drilling the smoke whole in the dead center of bowl, and then drilling the draught hole at the 90. Like I said this was an experiment for my own smoking pleasure. It worked though I doubt the method would ever be marketable for cleaning reasons. This pipe smokes nice and evenly without nary a relight neccesary. And yes, I said "nary."

comment that that is very radical.  But in reality it is not, if I am not mistaken I believe the Falcon interchangable bowls are also center drilled straight through the bottom.  Certainly took some spot on drilling there.

I have heard of a drill tip being welded to the end of a cable and being guided by a magnet when drilling a full bent.

Fume in pace, ckr

ckr,

 Good call on the Falcon, didn't even think of that. goes to show everythings already been done. And, it makes me feel less shame in trying to reinvent the wheel.

The drill was spot-on. I deleted the paragraph about that. I Wish I could say it was skill. Can't say entirely that I got lucky. It was defineately a combination of the two. Gods of pipemaking smiled upon me that day.

The drill tip-cable-magnet thing is certainly intriguing as well. Cool

to find out if my leg was being pulled. 

Fume in pace, ckr

I have yet to get around to. I came across this on youtube and while it is not a gourd it is a very nicely done calabash. Also reminds me to get my butt in gear.

http://www.youtube.c...