A 3 or 4 or 5 pipe problem?
When you think of the classic image of Sherlock Holmes (the
Victorian one) the two items that leap to mind are the deerstalker hat and
curved pipe.
 |
| The classic image |
The amusing thing is, as most Sherlockians know, that neither was
an explicit creation of Arthur Conan Doyle. He referred to a “close-fitting cloth cap”
in The Boscombe Valley Mystery but it was illustrator Sidney Paget who
interpreted this as a deerstalker.
When it comes to the curved pipe, this is generally accepted
to be the idea of actor William Gillette. Gillette found this kind of pipe the
easiest to hold in the mouth and yet still be able to speak without requiring a
hand to support the pipe. Two of the most iconic elements of Holmes were
provided by people other than the author.
 |
| Gillette with the curved pipe he so favoured |
But let’s stick with the pipe for a moment. If you look
across the various screen adaptations, Holmes is most often depicted with the
curved pipe, favoured by Gillette, or the long stemmed churchwarden pipe. Yet in
the stories it is only clear that Holmes has more than one pipe.
 |
| The churchwarden pipe style |
We learn in REDH that Holmes uses a black clay pipe.
In TWIS we learn that he has a briar pipe.
In COPP we learn that he has a long cherry wood pipe.
In VALL there is a reference to Holmes’s “unsavoury pipe” but this
could be any of the above or a different pipe altogether.
In THOR we learn that Holmes has an “after breakfast pipe”
which, again, could be any of the above.
.JPG) |
| A clay pipe (yes I know it's not black) |
All of this gives us very little solid to go on. A black
clay pipe could conceivably be of any length although they tended to be short.
Briar (which is a type of wood) could be used to make pipes of any length. Only
with the cherry wood pipe do we know that it was long. It is probably from this
that the common use of the churchwarden pipe came.
However the various Paget illustrations tend to suggest that a short black clay pipe was Holmes's actual favourite.
 |
| The black pipe appears a lot |
Yet this is the kind of pipe we see the least in adaptations. The most notable exceptions being Jeremy Brett's and, perhaps surprisingly, Robert Downey Jr's.
 |
| Proper piping on display |
Written by Alistair Duncan
Good write up. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr F.
DeleteThe fine hand of Les Klinger with Downey's pipe? I'm inclined to think "yes". It is interesting that Doyle does mention the meerschaum pipe in other stories but not the Canon (I'm thinking of "The Tragedians", especially). My understanding is that it was a very popular type of pipe, but perhaps Doyle thought it did not fit with Holmes' personality.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt that Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes, with his sharp, eager face framed in his earflapped travelling cap" from "Silver Blaze" was as close as he came to acknowledging Paget's contributions to the Canon in print as we'll get.
Another solid post, not "disputatious" at all.
Hello, Alistair. Greetings from Argentina.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog for a long time. Sorry by a comment on such an old post, but the food, drink and tobacco in the sherlockian saga is one of my main interest. According my opinion, "black" is just an adjective for the very dirty and oily clay pipe of Holmes, as mencioned by Watson several times in the canon. Almost all the clay pipes were white in the XIX century.
Of course, is just the pont of view from a simply amateur and enthusiast. Your are the expert.
I have a blog and a little monography (in spansih) about these topics. There are not many holmesians around here!
Greetings again and sorry because my english is not the best.
Gustavo Choren - Buenos Aires
221pipas.blogspot.com
Greetings from England. Lovely to have you as a reader.
Delete