Traditional Swedish tobacco pipe

April 2016

Many countries or regions are characterized by the use of a specific type of pipe, typical in shape or material. The Gouda pipe is the best example for the Dutch smoking culture, the Stummel for the Bavarian. Such a characteristic local pipe is also known from Sweden, originating from Jämtland in central Sweden on the border with Norway.
These are simple tobacco pipes, named Jämtpipor after the region of manufacture. The base material used is sheet metal, which is cut into three pieces using a mallet. These three pieces are then soldered into a stem and a pipe bowl, completed with a hinged lid. The pipes are then finished by polishing the metal. The stems are made from reindeer bone and have a mouthpiece with knobs. Often the bone mouthpiece is much thicker than the metal of the stem and that gives the pipes a somewhat primitive, floppy appearance. The bowl size is usually smaller than a thimble. The pipe shape, by the way, has been copied from a type of clay pipe with a curved bowl imported from England, as they were in circulation in the eighteenth and especially nineteenth centuries. The metal counterpart, much smaller in size for easy transport, becomes the popular pipe for the working stand, both men and women. The men smoke from a pipe with a lid, while the women do not prefer that. The Jämt pipe is therefore a specific item that has been manufactured over a longer period, in an unchangeable technique. In short, a regional tradition that we find nowhere else in this form.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 322b

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