How to Make a Gourd Pipe

Select a calabash gourd or a similar smallish gourd with a round, plump body that tapers into a curved, narrow neck. You can purchase gourds online or find them in culture shops and gift shops selling African novelties.

Draw a circle around the body of the calabash gourd where its width measures about 2 inches in diameter. Saw the gourd along this line and discard the rest of the body. Scoop out any pulp or seeds inside the gourd and discard them.

Saw off the top part of the gourd's neck to make a cornucopia shape.

Leave the gourd in a sunny, dry spot for about a month to dry out completely. If your gourd is already dry, you can skip this step.

Sand the inside and outside of the gourd with sandpaper, starting with a coarse grit to remove rough edges, and working to a fine grit to polish the gourd and make it shine.

Drill a ¼ inch hole in the narrow end of the pipe, taking care not to go through the pipe's wall. Draw and blow air in and out of the hole to ensure a clear passage. Sand the interior of the pipe if more clearance is necessary.

Cut a groove in the inside perimeter of the pipe with a dremel tool. Make the groove about ¼ inch deep and a few millimeters wide to accommodate the cork gasket.

Wet a piece of cork board and cut a ring of cork, using a craft knife. The ring should be about ¼ inch wide, with a perimeter equal to the inside perimeter of the pipe, and as deep as the groove cut in the previous step.

Slip the cork ring into the gourd's groove and allow it to dry for 24 hours. Once it is dry, glue it in place with acrylic glue. Trim off excess cork with a craft knife and sandpaper to make the top of the ring flush with the pipe's opening.

Pry out the plastic handle from a cheap wooden pipe, using your own strength or a pair of pliers. Using a handsaw, separate the wooden pipe's shank from the bowl.

Sand the wooden pipe shank to make a smooth cylinder. This will be the pipe's ferrule. Drill a ¼-inch opening in the ferrule if the current opening isn't wide enough.

Stick the 1/4-inch metal tube into the narrow end of the pipe, and slip the ferrule onto the tube. Saw off any excess tube and glue the ferrule and tube to the pipe with acrylic glue. Blow in and out of the opening to ensure a clear pathway.

Snip a ¼-inch strip of tin and form it into a ring to fit around the narrow area of pipe right before where it meets the ferrule. Glue the ring in place with acrylic glue. This step is for decorative purposes only.

Sand the cheap wooden pipe's bowl to make a neat, smooth bowl for your calabash pipe. Plug the bowl's side opening with acrylic glue and drill a new hole in the bottom of the bowl. Use the dremel tool to make the inside of the bowl the desired width. The finished bowl should fit snugly inside the pipe's opening with a little resistance against the cork.

Cut a strip of tin with tin snips to make a rim for the bowl. Fold the edges of tin around the bowl's perimeter and secure the tin in place with small nails. Bend down the sharp edges of the nails.

Cut off the bottom of an empty aerosol can with tin snips and wash it thoroughly. The bottom of the can should be shaped like a circular, concave disc. Cut a circle out of the disc's center equal to the inside perimeter of the bowl's opening. Insert a metal grommet into this circle.

Place the disc, concave side down, over the opening of the bowl. Solder the disc's inner circle to the bowl's rim.

Place the bowl inside the pipe.

Insert a pipe cleaner into the plastic pipe stem you set aside earlier. Use a heat gun to soften the plastic and shape it into the desired angle and curve, so it complements the rest of the pipe.

Remove the pipe cleaner after the plastic stem cools, and insert the stem into the pipe's ferrule. Glue it in place with acrylic glue. The pipe is ready to use when the glue dries.