Clay Pipe
The pipe of Conan Doyle's stories, as opposed to the calabash of stage and screen.
In Arthur Conan Doyle's stories Sherlock Holmes is a pipe smoker, and most of them, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" in particular, describe him as preferring a long-stemmed cherry-wood or a clay pipe. Holmes and Watson both smoke tobacco, in cigarettes, cigars and pipes.
Quick Facts
- Owner
- Sherlock Holmes
- Function
- Tobacco Smoking
Lore & Background
The large curved calabash pipe now linked with the detective does not come from the stories. It was introduced by William Gillette's stage play, and early portrayers such as Gillette and Basil Rathbone chose it because it was large and easily recognised as a pipe. Watson, a physician, does not treat his friend's smoking as a vice in itself, but he does criticise the detective for creating a "poisonous atmosphere" in their confined quarters.
Reader's Guide
Pipes also serve Holmes as evidence: in the stories he applies his method to personal items such as walking sticks, pipes and hats, and he uses tobacco ashes and cigarette butts to identify criminals.
More in Artifacts & Tools
Elsewhere in Sherlock Holmes
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