Blog by Dal Stanton

On a recent pipe foraging expedition at the Antique Market near Nevski Cathedral in the heart of downtown Sofia, Bulgaria, I saw this pipe on one of the tables I was methodically scanning.  It was a sad scene but a survivor.  It was a petite (5.25”) hexagonal paneled shape pipe with a diamond shank banded and it was beat up.  What got my attention through the sorry state of affairs was the stem.  The vendor made sure I knew that the stem was bone – at least that’s what I thought he said as he hyped the great deal before me in Bulgarian.  I have yet to collect a ‘bone’ stem pipe, if that is indeed what it is, of any variety so I decided to start the bargaining dance.  He also said it was from Greece, which I could not determine by looking at the…