Ivora pipe with dominoes

June 2015

In the 1910s a flourishing production of slip cast pipes had started in Gouda, mainly under the leadership of Ivon van der Want. His factory located in the Kuipersteeg was generally considered as the oldest tobacco pipe factory, according to tradition dating from 1630. Nevertheless, Ivon did not want to associate his new production line of glazed pipes with the respectable factory history. He introduced the slip cast pipes to the market under the intriguing brand name Ivora. That name was primarily derived from his own first name, but for most people who didn’t know the director personally it also emphasized the beautiful ivory colour of the products. In the early years of the slip cast pipe that gave way to new design possibilities, numerous designs were launced to be taken from the market in short time. Apparantly they missed the connection with the customer because the Gouda factories had to discover experimentally what kind of pipe shapes the bourgeois class wanted. Many smokers felt too good for a simple clay pipe, but were not stylish enough to go for a real briar. In such case a slip cast pipe was a perfect alternative. The design shown here is such an attempt that was produced only shortly. It is therefore not surprising that this is the only known copy so far. The four-sided bowl shows four dominoes, the dots coloured with paint. It turned out that the smoker did not always understood the idea and saw two dice in it. The representation is certainly original, although the French company Fiolet introduced a similar pipe design to the market more than a generation earlier, but then as a moulded clay pipe. As noted, the domino pipe has only been produced for a short time, in contrast to the more simple dice version that remained in the range for more than ten years.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 22.041