The plains style Pipe or the "T" Pipe is the style of Pipe that in the past and even to this day is the most used pipe in sweat lodge or inipi ceremonies. It is also the most commonly used pipe at Sundances and other Sacred Ceremonies.
The Pipestone Pipe, or Calumet as it is sometimes called, has for 100's of years been an intricate part of daily life for the Native American.....for instance, when guests were invited into a friends tipi, after eating and visiting, when the host started to clean his pipe.....it generally meant that it was time for everyone to go. That's just one of the subtle points of etiquette where the plains style pipe might have been used.
When there were important councils going on, where there might've been 30 or more men attending, they would all be sitting in a circle and while discussing things, there many times would be 6 or more pipes of this style, being passed from person to person all in a clockwise direction.
Many of the important ceremonial pipes from years ago are huge pipes with very long and heavily decorated stems. It wasn't uncommon for these extra-important pipes to be 30" long and occasionally they were even 40 to 50" long. For these very large pipes, they would need 1 person to hold the pipe for everyone.
On this site you may occasionally see some very large pipes like this, but we normally make them so that one person could light and smoke the pipe at the same time. Most often, the largest pipe you see won't be much over 30". We also will have available for purchase, Plains pipe and stem combinations that are as small as 4-1/2" total. There also will be many sizes inbetween the very small and very large, so you should be able to find something close to the size you're looking for.
The larger pipes that you'll see on this site will make great pipes for ceremony and the smaller versions of this style are often purchased when an individual wants to gift a personal pipe to someone. i.e. a pipe that will be used for prayer by a single individual or maybe occasionally with a close friend.
If you see a thumbnail of a pipe that interests you, or you might want to purchase, just click on it and you will be able to get more information about that particular pipe.
Customer satisfaction is extremely important to us and if you decide to purchase a Plains pipe or any other item from us, it comes with a "no questions asked" guarantee. We will refund your money, or replace your item, for up to 6 months on any purchase, as long as it is returned to us in the same condition that it was sent. We want you to be 100% pleased with your purchase and we want to assure you that we stand behind our product!
If you see any specific pipes that interest you and you have any questions that you want to ask before purchasing the item, please
Contact Us and we will return your email or telephone call as soon as we receive it.
If you are interested in more than one item on our site, or are having your item shipped to a country other than the U.S., you can also get a hold of us to get an accurate shipping cost. We are always delighted to combine shipping on multiple purchases, in order to save you some $$$.
