Weber Oom Paul

When it comes to bent pipes, there are many kinds. Quarter-bent. Half-bent. I suppose there is a three-quarter-bent although I have never seen a pipe that was described as such. These terms are by no means technically specific; often a half-bent will be described as a full-bent, so who knows. But the only real full bent is the Oom Paul.


The Oom Paul is characterized by a tall, straight-walled bowl and a shank that turns up from the bowl to almost (but not quite) parallel it. It was named for Paul Kruger, and may have been originally designed for him by a custom order.

Oom Pauls by default must come from a larger-than-usual burl of briar, so as a general rule they are pretty good pipes.

The Weber pipe pictured above is the first item I ever bought via eBay, many moons ago. It began my hobby of perusing eBay for estate pipes, which then extended into simply hunting for pictures of pipes just for the sheer joy of seeing them.

The tall bowl is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that it holds more tobacco than the usual pipe, and provides a pleasantly long smoke. The disadvantage is that it becomes harder to relight as one goes further into the bowl. Another disadvantage is that the sharp bend in the air passage from bowl to shank makes it quite a challenge to clean. I use a specially bent paper clip to help guide the pipe cleaner into the right spot.

When I received this pipe it was not in the best of shape. It hadn't really been refurbished at all, and was probably the first pipe that I worked over myself to get it into better condition, both for smoking and simply for appearances.

If you want a pipe that shows some attitude, the Oom Paul is definitely for you. This one is part of my permanent collection.