Shape

Reverse calabash: a cooling chamber in the briar

What a reverse-calabash Asikyan pipe is — an extra chamber in the wood to cool the smoke — with the 445/24 plate from the archive.

A second chamber

A reverse calabash builds a cooling space into the pipe itself, usually in a swollen shank or a hidden chamber behind the bowl. The smoke expands and slows before it reaches the bit. It is an old idea, done here in briar on a Danish line — not a gourd calabash with a meerschaum cup.

Asikyan Reverse Calabash 445/24, Smooth, partially rusticated
Reverse Calabash 445/24 · Smooth, partially rusticated

The plate in the cabinet

445/24 is the reverse calabash in the 2024 archive. It is one pipe, stamped like the others. eBay titles from the shop sometimes list other reverse-calabash serials that are not yet photographed here. We do not add those pages until there is a real plate.

When to choose it

If you want a cooler, drier smoke and you like a slightly heavier shank, this is the shape to ask about. It is not a billiard with a gimmick. The extra chamber has to be drilled true or it is only a cavity. That is why it sits with the engineer’s work, not with ornament.

From the cabinet

Pipes in this note