# Whither the Bubble Pipe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 17, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027 "2006-09-17T02:23:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/1 "2006-09-17T02:23:04Z")
I have decided that I need to get a bubble pipe, but not the kind of bubble pipe that you can find in the dollar stores these days. I need one that actually looks like an authentic tabacoo pipe, preferably of the Holmsian style. My problem is that it has appearently become taboo to produce such a product as it is seen as encouraging children to smoke, so I have no idea where to find one. I’ve googled and checked ebay to no avail and the only option that I can come up with is to get a real pipe and convert it to a bubble pipe on my own, but I have no clue if that is even feasible. Does anyone have any clue as to how I might come across a good bubble pipe? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/2 "2006-09-17T02:38:00Z")
If’n you find one in our fair state, let me know. I’ve always had a secret desire for one of these as well. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/3 "2006-09-17T02:41:47Z")
I’ve looked on eBay and at Archie McFee without encountering this. I know Bart Simpson had one. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/4 "2006-09-17T02:45:47Z")
If it’s helpful Wikipedia says that > [@](#): > > The construction of a Calabash pipe generally consists of a downward curve that ends with an upcurve where the bowl sits. This low center of gravity allows for the user to easily hold the pipe by the mouth alone, leaving his hands free. This advantage was often used by actors who wanted to depict their character smoking while permitting them to do other business simultaneously. That is why the character Sherlock Holmes, who never used this kind of pipe in the stories, is stereotypically depicted as favoring it because early dramatic productions, especially those starring William Gillette made this artistic decision. In fact, Sherlock would have probably disliked the calabash because of the above-mentioned mellowing effect. He preferred very harsh tobaccos. ---
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/5 "2006-09-17T03:13:26Z")
That is interesting **Shoshana**. I knew that Holmes never actually smoked such a pipe originally (just as he was never depicted in a deer stalker cap) but I never knew why. I think that the style has become associated close enough with the character by this point that calling it Holmsian is still valid though. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/6 "2006-09-17T03:18:06Z")
I agree entirely. And were I also seeking a Holmsian bubble pipe, I would absolutely go for the calabash. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/7 "2006-09-17T14:29:44Z")
I’m confused. Is the OP suggesting that at some time in the past you could buy toy bubble pipes that looked like real ones? I was a kid in the “everybody smokes and that’s OK” 60s. My parents smoked & I got candy cigarettes at holloween and various bubble pipes over the years. IOW, a typical middle American childhood of the era. None of those pipes that I recall looked like anything other than bright plastic toys with bowls shaped to maximize the bubble-blowing, not to look like miniture versions of an adult tobacco pipe. Here’s a current example that looks smilar to what I recall … [FUNFORALLTOYS.COM](http://www.funforalltoys.com/products/just_for_fun/bubble_pipe/bubble_pipe.html) ---
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/8 "2006-09-17T14:54:15Z")
Being a young’n myself I am just going off what various elder folk have told me over the years. I suppose it is entirely possible that such a product never did exist and those that have regaled me with those stories have been mis-remembering, which would also explain why I can’t even find a pipe of the nature I am looking for at vintage toy sites. That does still leave me with the option of converting a normal pipe, I need to look into how this would be done. ---
**Author:** ![UKCatGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@UKCatGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UKCatGirl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-the-bubble-pipe/373027/9 "2006-09-17T15:31:03Z")
Can’t specifically help you out here, but a couple of years ago we bought something actually called a Bubble Bong in New Smyrna Beach, FL! So if they make that, there ought to still be bubble pipes somewhere.