Traditional Native American Pipe Stems |
| A Native American pipe stem, being made from organic material, does not last long in nature. Therefore, although a good number of American Indian pipe bowls have been found there are few original pipe stems. Most pipe stems in museums were collected within the last 200 years, long after the first European contact. The stems that have survived were made from wood and reeds. The reeds were not very substantial and had to be replaced often but were easier and quicker to make than wooden stems. The wooden stems were made in two different ways. The oldest way, prior to European contact, was to split a sapling or tree branch, remove the pithy core or cut grooves into the core with a stone tool and glue the two pieces back together using hide glue. The result was a stem with the grooved core forming the smoke channel. Stems were also commonly wrapped with leather, rawhide, fur or plaited porcupine quills which, besides decorating the stem, would help hold the stem together. After wire became available from Europeans it became common to use it to push out or burn out the pithy core from the stem without splitting the wood. Stems are usually either round of flat in cross section and are sometimes carved with animal and human effigies or into a spiral shape. One interesting, but uncommon, stem is called a "puzzle stem". It is a flat stem with piercings of different shapes and sizes that penetrate the stem. It appears, at first glance, that the stem would not work because the smoke channel could not avoid the piercings. The "puzzle" is to figure out the route of the smoke channel so it avoids the piercings allowing it to draw smoke. Ceremonial pipes usually, but not always, had larger stems and were more highly decorated than personal pipes, or those owned and used by individuals. For more complete information regarding traditional American Indian pipe design, decoration and use the reader is directed to the following books. OFFERING SMOKE - Jordan Papers, University of Idaho Press THE SACRED PIPE - Joseph Epes Brown, University of Oklahoma Press
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