A horn as a water reservoir

February 2025

The African continent has a great tradition in water pipes. This history begins with the dagga or dakka pipe from South Africa, named after the local word for hash, which was already smoked there around the year 1600. A piece of cow horn was used for the water reservoir of these pipes. In other regions, smokers chose more striking horns such as those of the antelope to cool the smoke, because that is the purpose of the horn. The water pipe depicted is from the Ngombe people from the Equator Province of Congo-Kinshasa. The antelope horn is drilled open well before the end. Next, a baked clay pipe bowl is fitted into the hole using a ring-shaped stopper made of woven plant material. The potter spent great care in decorating  this pipe bowl. Rows of recessed triangles were applied as in notch carving. After baking, these were alternately accentuated with red and white dye to create a colorful smoking instrument. For use, the mouth was placed around the wide opening of the horn and in this way one could inhale the smoke cooled by the water. This ensures a deep inhalation of the smoke that had to give the desired kick. The saliva of the smoker caused the mouthpiece to be gnawed by insects later.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 24.904

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