These rare and unusual straight smoking pipes originate from the Nyakyusa people of southwestern Tanzania and northern Malawi. While these tobacco pipes are believed to have been made on the Malawian side of the border, where the people are called Ngonde (Konde), the Nyakyusa are more numerous in Tanzania, and similar pipe forms do occur in adjacent parts of that country (“Smoking-Pipe,” n.d.; Dunhill 1977: 156, fig. 208[2]; Lindblom 1947: 14, fig. 4:1; 17, fig. 6). Although these highly distinctive pipes remain poorly described, there is evidence to suggest that they had a dual function as prestige staffs (vide Dunhill 1977: 156; “Staff; stick,” n.d.).

REFERENCES

Dunhill, Alfred. The Pipe Book. London: Arthur Baker Ltd, 1977 [1969].

Lindblom, Karl Gerhard. Tubular Smoking Pipes, Especially in Africa. Stockholm:

Lund, 1947.

“Smoking-pipe | British Museum.” The British Museum. Accessed June 5, 2020.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1954-23-1950.

“Staff; stick.” The British Museum. Accessed August 1, 2020.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1927-0709-26.

“Tobacco-pipe.” The British Museum. Accessed August 1, 2020.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1922-0413-110.