The pipe at rest
As smoking became a general practice, more and more equipment came into use that gave shape to the culture and facilitate the smoker. This includes boxes or drawers for storing or carrying the clay pipes, a stand for safekeeping. A very Dutch article is the pipe vase, a wooden box for transporting the fragile clay pipe. Ordinary unadorned examples were merely useful, but when the flamboyance comes into play, beautiful folk-art specimens were created. Pipe cases decorated with brass metal fittings and often provided with an appropriate text have been used throughout the eighteenth century. In addition, there are beautiful carved examples with biblical scenes or human portrait heads or animal figures.
A special item is the double pipe case, usually intended for two long Gouda clay pipes. They are known in typical chip carving from Dutch or Frisian origin, but they also occur in other materials. A high end specimen is a Japanese lacquered pipe case, in black lacquer with a beautiful flower decoration. It is a symbol of hospitability for smoking together. Such a pipe case is also known from Ceylon and the Ivory Coast and proves that smoking from long clay pipes has spread worldwide.
A pipe rack hangs on the wall for at home but also in the pub. Regular visitors could put their pipe in it. A pipe rack or pipe stand for the table was very common among arduous smokers, who owned a series of pipes. The corner racks are meant for the larger meerschaum pipes. A simpler solution is the pipe drawer, an narrow open tray for on the table, intended for storing the pipes together with tools such as pipe cleaners and spark-arresters.
While smoking, the pipe bowl was placed in a small pipe rest, called sledge, to prevent the hot bowl from damaging the polish of the table. Such a pipe rest was also useful just after smoking. In the twentieth century, smoking curiosities become impoverished. The pipe smoker used a simple wall rack for five to ten pipes. Another option is a table stand. Because the stem became much shorter, storage is a lot easier.
