Press mould for a cafe pipe

août 2007

The cafe pipe of Kaffeehauspfeife is a special pipe design that became popular in Austria in particular, but is widely smoked throughout the German-speaking area. Characteristic is a high hexagonal bowl, often decorated with relief representations related to tavern life. The truncated stem has a cuff in which a long cherry wood stem is mounted. Cafe pipes were sold standard in boxes of six bowls. The idea behind it was that people had to smoke from a clean pipe bowl and had to replace it regularly, using the same stem. The production of cafe pipes has never taken place in the Netherlands, it is primarily a German activity. This mould is intended for the manufacture of such cafe pipes and comes from a pipe factory in the German Westerwald. The last user is Theodor Tries from Baumbach, but before him there was another owner as witnessed by the erased marks in the stem of the press mould. It is mainly the outer shape, the so-called mould box, that betrays the origin of a press mould. Gouda press moulds, but also Belgian and French ones, show a greater elegance in their outer form. In Germany, the exterior is much more tough and robust. The later moulds in particular were made suitable for clamping in a semi-machine production unit.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 18.968

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