I have ended up with two calabash pipes. The first I bought used on eBay. I suspect it’s an old Pioneer; it’s a little unusual in that the gourd is rusticated. When I got it, the meerschaum bowl was in good shape but stuck fast in the gourd. I tried a number of different ways to get it unstuck, including freezing, and was unsuccessful. Eventually, as I was applying what I thought was “gentle but insistent” pressure to try to encourage it to come loose from the cork seal, the top of the bowl broke off of the rest. Damn! There was really no way to repair the bowl — believe me, I tried. I’ve seen people suggest plaster of Paris, but it dried instantly when I tried to apply it to one part of the bowl and wouldn’t stick. In the end, I ended up reluctantly and with no small amount of heartbreak removing the rest of the bowl in pieces.
It’s not impossible to find a replacement bowl for a calabash pipe, but so far it has proven impossible to find one the right size for this pipe. I’ve seen a number of bowls come up for sale that measure (where the bowl seats in the cork seal) in the 32-33 mm range, but mine needs to be 37.5 mm ideally, though I could deal with a little over or under that. Another alternative would be to have a new bowl made; there are places in Turkey that will do it, but for the cost I could just buy another calabash pipe.
While trying to find a replacement bowl, I did pick up a second pipe. This one is another probable Pioneer, with a smooth gourd, and I didn’t really like the shape nearly as much but thought I could re-shape the stem a little. As they are Vulcanite stems, I was actually able to do that with very little work and excellent results. As it turns out, the bowl was a very good fit for the first pipe as well. Bonus!! All it took was a little sanding of the cork seal on the rusticated pipe, and the bowl is a snug fit in both of them. Now I have two nice gourd calabash pipes — but only one bowl between them.
What I have discovered is that there is a reason calabash pipes were so popular at one time, and while less so today I suspect it’s mainly because so few have actually tried smoking one. New African gourd calabash pipes are quite expensive, and even used ones tend to be pricey unless you’re willing to do some restoration work. I have found, however, that smoking one is well worth the effort of finding and cleaning up an estate pipe. I’ve smoked aromatics, English, Balkans, straight VA, and VA/Per and loved every minute of it. The smoke is cool and dry, no matter the condition of the tobacco or your technique.
Both of my calabashes required a couple hours’ worth of cleaning, polishing the stem, and so on. The bowl was a mess, so I very lightly sanded it with 320 grit sandpaper to clean it up, After that I used 400 grit and Micro Mesh pads to smooth and polish it, and gave it a coating of beeswax that I then melted and removed the excess. The stem got deoxidized in Oxi Clean and polished up with Micro Mesh. The difference in cost between a somewhat rough but serviceable estate pipe that needs cleaning and restoration, an estate Pioneer that’s already been cleaned up, and a new pipe – many of which aren’t gourd calabashes, but use mahogany or some other wood for the body — is pretty large, on the order of several hundred dollars.
I keep looking for a source for a bowl to fit one of my pipes. I’m tempted to buy a suitably sized block of briar and make a briar bowl to fit. We’ll see how this plays out, I suppose.