“Puzzle Stems” refer to carefully carved pipe stems which have elaborate smoking channel pathways. The stem here is of standard “council pipe” format, with a long flat tapering form - likely executed with ash - which is file-branded in sections. The carvings consist of long pronounced negative spaced which are painted with red pigment. The accompanying bowl is made from Catlinite with a flared bowl and pronounced finial with an undulating ridge.

Prescribing an exact attribution to these types of council pipes can be challenging. Luckily, a similarly carved pipe - now at the Smitsonian (Cat # 39624) - was collected from a Chippewa headman named, “Hole-in-the-Day”. The bowl is likely a generation earlier, extending into the first half of the 19th century.

Ex Jim Ritcie, OH; ex Robert Pamplin Jr, OR (stem)

36” long (stem) and 5” long (bowl)

#51180