Colourful Thai folklore

April 2003

For the Akha, a tribe that has populated northern Thailand since the beginning of the twentieth century, this extremely cheerful tobacco pipe is characteristic. A closer look at the pipe shows that it is a simple but highly effective object. The pipe bowl is cut from a piece of bamboo, with the partition of the bamboo becoming the bowl bottom. On the underside of this a small piece of wood has been kept, in order to drill for fixing a securing cord. The bamboo bowl was then drilled in on the side for attaching a thin wicker stem. This created a simple but usable pipe of extremely low weight. This result was subsequently not left without adornment. First the bowl was provided with a simple scratched geometric lines all around. After that it was painted in a wonderful, but typical, red-purple colour. Finally, the stem is also woven into colourful threads, alternating in the same red-purple colour in combination with green. A locking cord is also attached, running from the top of the stem to the hole at the bottom of the pipe bowl. Here some fabric balls are added as extra decoration. Although not a sustainable item, this cheerful object is very specific for the tribe and especially original.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 17.467

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