Editing Tobacco pipe (section)

==Principle==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2021}}

===Operating Principle===
A pipe's fundamental function is to provide a relatively safe, manipulable volume in which to incompletely combust a smokable substance.  Typically this is accomplished by connecting a refractory 'bowl' to some sort of 'stem' which extends and may also cool the smoke mixture drawn through the combusting organic mass (see below).

===Parts===
[[File:Tobacco pipe parts.svg|thumb|Parts of a pipe include the (1) bowl, (2) chamber, (3) draught hole, (4) shank, (5) mortise, (6) tenon, (7) stem, (8) bit (or mouthpiece), (9) lip, and (10) bore.]]

The broad anatomy of a pipe typically comprises mainly the bowl and the stem. The ''bowl'' (1) which is the cup-like outer shell, the part hand-held while packing, holding and smoking a pipe, is also the part "knocked" top-down to loosen and release impacted spent tobacco. On being sucked, the general stem delivers the smoke from the bowl to the user's mouth.

Inside the bowl is an  inner ''chamber'' (2) space holding tobacco pressed into it. This ''draught hole'' (3), is for air flow where air has travelled through the tobacco in the chamber, taking the smoke with it,  up the ''shank'' (4). At the end of the shank, the pipe's ''mortise'' (5) and ''tenon'' (6) joint is an air-tight, simple connection of two detachable parts where the [[Mortise and tenon|mortise]] is a hole met by the tenon, a tight-fitting "tongue" at the start of the ''stem'' (7). Known as the ''bore'' (10), the inner shaft of this second section stays uniform throughout while the outer stem tapers down to the mouthpiece or ''bit'' (8) held in the smoker's teeth, and finally ends in the "lip" (9), attenuated for comfort.

===Materials===
The bowls of tobacco pipes are commonly made of [[Erica arborea|briar]] wood, [[Meerschaum pipe|meerschaum]], [[corncob]], pear-wood, [[Rosewood|rose-wood]] or [[clay]]. Less common materials include other dense-grained woods such as [[cherry]], [[olive]], [[maple]], [[mesquite]], [[oak]], and [[bog-wood]]. Minerals such as [[catlinite]] and [[soapstone]] have also been used. Pipe bowls are sometimes decorated by carving, and moulded clay pipes often had simple decoration in the mould.

Unusual pipe materials include gourds (as in the famous [[#Calabash|calabash]] pipe) and [[Pyrolytic carbon| pyrolytic graphite]]. Metal and glass, seldom used for tobacco pipes,  are common for pipes intended for [[Pipe smoking#Substance-specific pipes| other substances]], such as [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]].
[[File:Bamboo-buds pipes made by CuongD.jpg|thumb|right|Pipes made of [[bamboo]] buds (handmade)]]
[[File:Smoking bamboo pipe.jpg|thumb|right|Smoking a bamboo-bud pipe]]
The stem needs a long channel of constant position and diameter running through it for a proper draw, although filter pipes have varying diameters and can be successfully smoked even without filters or adapters. Because it is molded rather than carved, clay may make up the entire pipe or just the bowl; pipes made of most other materials have stems constructed separately and detachable. Stems and bits of tobacco pipes are usually made of moldable materials like [[Ebonite]], [[Poly(methyl methacrylate) |Lucite]], [[Bakelite]], or soft [[plastic]]. Less common are stems made of [[Reed (plant) |reeds]], [[bamboo]], or hollowed-out pieces of wood. Expensive pipes once{{when?|date=January 2022}} had stems made of [[amber]], though this is rare now.