morta pipe

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS We’ll be taking taking orders all week for Larry Gosser’s “To the Victor Goes—the Pipe” the 10th Anniversary Pete Geek T Shirt—available in Kelly Green (the Peterson color) or Black.  Google Form:  TO THE VICTOR T SHIRT.   Today and tomorrow is it for ordering the New Era 39THIRTY ball cap. This is a Pete Geek Event celebrating the 10th Anniversary.  Google Form here: 39 THIRTY ORDER .     IRISH BOG OAK CARVED PIPES Scott Forrest  When Mark asked me to contribute a blog covering Irish Bog Oak carved pipes, I first had to go back and re-read his original blog from 2019: “The Mystery of Peterson’s Patent-Era Bog Oak Pipes” (Post #143),  in which he has already introduced us to most of this material.  In fact, his post was what got me interested in these pipes in the first place. A composite of bog oaks from the 1906 K&P catalog The first image I ever saw of a carved Irish morta pipe brought back those strange nostalgic feelings you get when you see something and feel like you’ve seen it before, but from a time further back than you can remember.  What that means, I have no idea, but I was very drawn to these pipes and now have a diverse enough collection that I think I can draw some conclusions that might make sense.  But I also realize that most of the questions concerning these pipes can never be answered.   Let’s start with some things that we do know.  The carved symbols represented are fairly consistent:  Irish wolfhound, tower, castle, harp, shamrocks, blackthorn, and … yes, I’ve even seen a single example featuring a leprechaun.  Any combination of these symbols can be found on a single pipe, but the shamrocks and harp seem to be on all of them, and the knotty blackthorn, which was seen in Celtic mythology as a sacred tree of protection, is found only on the pipe stems, creating the visual effect of a tree limb [see “Dark Mother of the Woods” and   “Irish Folklore”]. The tower is also on most pipes, and the Irish wolfhound is found on a decent proportion, but is fairly hard to find. You’ll also find a few pipes with a castle rather than a tower.  Blackthorn depictions can be seen on some of the stems in my pipe composite photo, and other carved symbols are shown above.  The pipe at far left shows an elaborate castle, which is unusual.  Even more unusual is the next pipe over, which appears to show some sort of entry-way.  I’ve seen almost the same exact carving on two separate pipes.  The third pipe shows a wolfhound and harp, and the pipe at far right shows some of the detailed carving of an 1891-hallmarked pipe that will be discussed further in this article.  The detail shows a wolfhound with a tower to the right and a very small harp to the right of the tower. When we look…