A pipe tool is a small gadget designed to aid in packing,

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have b ...

, and emptying a

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

. There are three principal pipe tools: the tamper, the reamer, and the pick: *The ''tamper'' is a blunt instrument, either a simple dowel or shaped like the head of a nail. The flat end is used to tamp down the tobacco while packing the pipe, and to crush the ash together during smoking or relighting. Tampers are often made with a notch or small holes to permit airflow so that tamping the tobacco does not extinguish the flame. *The ''reamer'' or ''scoop'' is a flat instrument shaped like a dull knife blade or a flattened spoon, used to scrape ash and unburned tobacco (

dottle Dottle is the remaining plug of unburnt tobacco and ashes left in the bottom of a tobacco pipe when it has been smoked. Etymology The word is according to the Oxford English Dictionary apparently a diminutive of ''dot''. Production Dottle can ...

) off the sides and bottom of a pipe. *The ''pick'' or ''poker'' is a narrow rod or pin that can be used to clear the shank of debris or aerate tightly packed tobacco. Because it is sharp, it may scratch the bowl of a pipe and so should not be used for scraping. These three tools can be combined in different ways. Most common is the three-in-one ''Czech tool'', which consists of a tamper, reamer and pick joined together. A ''pipe knife'' is another three-in-one tool: the reamer and pick fold into the casing in the same fashion as a

pocketknife A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A ty ...

, while the blunt end is used as a tamper. A ''pipe nail'' is a

nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...

-shaped tool with a tamper at one end and a reamer at the other. Tampers and reamers are also made as separate tools.

Gallery

File:Pipe tool.jpg, Czech tool showing from left to right a pick, reamer, and tamper File:Pipe nail.jpg, Aluminum pipe nail File:Post Medieval-Modern pipe tamper, hand clenching scroll (FindID 183926).jpg, Early modern pipe tamper in the form of an arm File:Post medieval pipe tamper (FindID 33962).jpg, Early twentieth-century pipe tamper depicting a soldier in uniform smoking

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pipe tool Pipe smoking Tobacciana Tools