This problematical artifact may just be main body of a pipe water. Carefully hand crafted in copper, embellished with multi-colored gemstones (aquamarine, peridot and garnet), it is authentic down to the final detail. Send me your ideas and suggestions on this piece!
What is water pipe?
It is an ancient tradition enjoyed by the people of the Middle East. A water pipe or hookah operates by water-filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking many substances, such as herbal fruits and tobacco. Originally the tradition consisted of smoking opium and hashish rather than tobacco, which was introduced to hookahs only after the discovery of America almost 5 centuries later as first tobacco leaves arrived from America to Europe in 1601.
This has many names, depending on region: calean , kalian, chichi, shesha, hookah, nargillah, arghille, habel-babel, hubbly-bubbly, and other names. Also the shape slightly differs from region to region. According to the oldest sources, hookah originated somewhere along the border with Pakistan, in Western India specifically known today as Gujarat and Rajasthan provinces about 900 years ago.
Hookah (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा / حقّہ hukkah, and from Arabic شيشة). Is most commonly used in English for historical reasons. Hookah has become the standard name in English speaking countries. Sometimes it’s spelled hooka, hookkah, hukka, hookka.
In Pakistan and India
– Huqqa The original water pipe came from India, but it was rather primitive as it was made out of coconut shell. Its popularity spread to Iran and then to the rest of the Arab world.
In Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Somalia
– Shisha (شيشة) is from the Persian word shishe (شیشه, literally
translated as glass and not bottle).
In Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Israel, Bulgaria and Romania
– Nargileh (نارگيله) derives from Sanskrit will nārikela (नारीकेल) , which became Persian word nārgil (نارگیل) or “coconut”. The spelling varies: argileh (Lebanon), narghile, nargila, argila and argile.
In Turkey
– Nargile When the water-pipe was brought to Anatolia in the 17th century, Turkish craftsmen found a new way through which they could display their skills. It was in Turkey that the nargile completed its revolution, and did not change its style for the last few hundred years. The nargile itself consists of 4 pieces which are as follows: Agizlik (mouthpiece), Lüle (the top of the nargile), Marpuç (the tube) and the Gövde (the body of the pipe which is filled with water). Water-pipes, made in Beykoz and İznik workshops were smokers’ favourites because of their decorative appearance.
In Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Lativa, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirgyzstan, Kazakhstan
– Ghalyun (غلیون ) also spelled ghalyan, ghalyaan or ghelyoon, which is apparently derived from Arabic aghla (“to make bubbles, to boil”).
In the rest of the territory of former Soviet Union
– кальян in Cyrillic alphabet.
In Afghanistan
– Chilam The hookah has been popular for some time, especially in Kabul .
In South Africa
–Hubble-bubble or Hubbly-bubbly Referring to bubbling noise.
Hookah in Images
Hookah in Art
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)
The Island by Lord Byron
XIX.
But here the herald of the self-same mouth [60]
Came breathing o’er the aromatic south,
Not like a “bed of violets” on the gale,
But such as wafts its cloud o’er grog or ale,
Borne from a short frail pipe, which yet had blown
Its gentle odours over either zone,
And, puffed where’er winds rise or waters roll,
Had wafted smoke from Portsmouth to the Pole,
Opposed its vapour as the lightning dashed,
And reeked, ‘midst mountain-billows, unabashed,
To AEolus a constant sacrifice,
Through every change of all the varying skies.
And what was he who bore it?–I may err,
But deem him sailor or philosopher.[61]
Sublime Tobacco! which from East to West
Cheers the tar’s labour or the Turkman’s rest;
Which on the Moslem’s ottoman divides
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides;
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,
Though not less loved, in Wapping or the Strand;
Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe,
When tipped with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe;
Like other charmers, wooing the caress,
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress;
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far
Thy naked beauties–Give me a cigar!
"Harem servant girl" by Paul Trouillebert -1874
Rubell's Antiques 