magick777 Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Look what I just found on eBay... [img]http://blue.dunnettconsultancy.net/20110115_002.jpg[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magick777 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 Oops, I meant to be a bit more descriptive than that... hit the post button when I meant to preview. Found on eBay, for the princely sum of £1.44 plus £3.99 shipping, it was sold as an ornamental pipe, no hose supplied, seals missing and sold as seen, etc. Very limited information about it, but I thought I'd chance a fiver on it. It turns out to be a tombak pipe, small shallow metal bowl, with cover / charcoal holder. [img]http://blue.dunnettconsultancy.net/20110115_003.jpg[/img] I mainly bought it for the nice vase [img]http://blue.dunnettconsultancy.net/20110115_007.jpg[/img] which stands 9" / 225mm high and has a 40mm neck opening, seems to take a standard Mya grommet OK. Very heavy weight, quality vase. So, I don't know whether to try and restore this pipe to its former glory and acquire the right sort of tobacco for it, or whether just to look for a suitable modern stem. The downstem is broken, but could be fixed with some brass tubing; the pipe can be persuaded to take an Egyptian hose for testing purposes, but it needs something with a shorter hose port to look right. Comments / thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehelios Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Definitely an ornamental piece. The hose port looks too constricting and the permanent bowl makes it very limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyCallMeDave Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Well I wouldn't say completely ornamental... Just because it doesn't come with a phunnel or narbish v4 doesn't make it a pipe you can't smoke tombak from.. Would I buy it? Hell, if you have got 5 bucks lyin around, it's an awesome little tidbit to hve around. I definantly wouldn't plan on smoking from it personally, just because I don't smoke tombak. Lol. NOT my cup of tea. I would love to have it in the house though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magick777 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 Well, it isn't [i]completely[/i] ornamental; though the bore is small, it all seems like it was made to be used, just not for wet, fruity mu'assel. The bowl is sealed air-tight onto the stem; the hose port, while small, is also air-tight; the charcoal screen fits well; the whole thing, if I want to smoke tombak, would be a joy. That said, I've never tried tombak, it's not going to be easy to find any tombak here, and I doubt very much that it would be any more than a novelty if I succeeded in doing so. As luck would have it, a surplus Mya-type base grommet seals the stem perfectly into the vase, and I've temporarily extended the broken downstem by sheathing it in a food-grade plastic syphon tube (obviously, if I decide to repair the stem properly, I'll replace this with a brass tube). With a hose borrowed from my Egyptian pipe, it looks a little silly, but everything seals OK and the pipe provides a long, slow, fairly restrictive pull, as one might expect. Of course, having got that far, I had to try and smoke from it. Not having any tombak, I took about 5g of dry but not burnt Nakhla from the bottom of the Vortex I smoked earlier on, and packed it onto the metal bowl. It was initially a little harsh, but I've been smoking it nearly half an hour now, so it must be at least tolerable. About ten minutes in, I had clouds of smoke rivalling either of my larger pipes, though not by any means as smooth; thr tobacco was exhausted after just over half an hour. So, it is clearly a functional pipe, though not designed for the molasses I normally smoke. I don't now know whether to finish restoring it as a tombak pipe, and buy appropriate tobaccos for curiosity's sake, or whether to replace the stem and turn it into a regular Egyptian pipe. I rather think the latter would be a waste; it is probably better kept and restored as a tombak pipe, although I don't think it has any resale value as such, just an interesting curio. Thoughts / comments / suggestions welcome... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoozle Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 You can smoke nak out of it now so leave it as is untill you can try some tombak. That way you will know how you feel about tombak before you move forward. I have not smoked tombak but my guess is that you won't like it. If it were my pipe, I would restore it back to original even if I never smoked out of it again. If you want an egyptian, you can do better than a converted tombak pipe and probably for less money/effort. either way, neat find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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