Common Pipe Terms:

Pipes 101 • A Brief History of Pipes • Pipe Mediums • Briar Pipes • Meerschaum Pipes • Pipe Styles • Selecting a Pipe • Caring For Your Pipe • Pipe Misnomers    Pipe Glossary • Common Terms • Pipe Shapes • Pipe Makers

• Amber: A petrified pine resin used in the 1800's as a source for mouthpieces and stems.
• Bit: The end of the mouthpiece that goes in the mouth.
  • Saddlebit: A stem that radically decreases in thickness to a slimmer bit.
  • Tapered Bit: A stem that slowly tapers throughout the length to a slim bit.
• Bowl: The chamber of the pipe where the tobacco is packed, lit, and smoked.
• Briar: The wood from the burl found at the base of the White Heath Tree used in pipe making. Found only in the Mediterranean Sea area.
• Carnauba Wax: The wax applied to briar pipes that enables the pores to breath and protects the wood from dirt and stains.
• Cumberland Stem: A stem made of composite materials giving it a vein or stripped appearance.
• Ebauchon: The center portion of the briar burl characterized by having an undefined grain pattern.
• Fill: An area that covers a minor imperfection in the wood and then stained.
• Firewood: A term referring to carved pipe blanks that are discarded or burned because of a major defect in the wood.
• Fraising Machine: A pipe-making machine that shapes the bowl, shank, and heel of the pipe by turning the block of wood while a chisel cuts the wood automatically.
• Meerschaum: A soft stone of fossilized sea animals used to make pipes. Often mistaken for ivory, this medium colors as the pipe is smoked.
• Military Mount: A friction fit stem that does not use a tenon and mortise construct. Often the entire diameter of the stem fits into the mortise of the pipe.
• Mortise: An opening in the shank of the pipe where the stem fits snugly into the bowl.
• Mouthpiece: The part of a pipe the smoker places in his mouth to smoke and balance the pipe.
• Plateau Briar: The outer cut of the burl and is distinguished by tight, straight grain.
• Rustication: A surface treatment of a wood pipe to give it a rough texture.
• Sandblast: A finishing technique in which the pipe bowl and shank is sprayed with sand to texture the surface.
• Shank: The area of the pipe that connects the bowl to the stem or mouthpiece.
  • Diamond Shank: A shank that is diamond in shape in respect to the bowl.
  • Oval Shank: A shank that is oval in shape in respect to the bowl.
  • Square Shank: A shank that is square in shape in respect to the bowl.
• Spigot: Similar to the military mount but in which both the stem and shank are capped in metal.
• Stem: Synonymous with mouthpiece.
• Tenon: The projecting part of the stem that fits into the mortise of the shank of the pipe.