Conferences
The single most important event in the Academy’s year is its annual conference and general meeting. Conferences are held in different centres and usually focus on local pipe collections. They also feature reports on the state of research into the pipe industry in the region involved. We have recently met at Ruhla in Germany, Metz in France, Liverpool in the UK, Budapest in Hungary, Grasse in France and Novi Sad in Serbia.
​
NEXT CONFERENCE
TO BE ANNOUNCED
PREVIOUS CONFERENCES
​
Budapest, Hungary 2019
​
'Varietas delectat'
​
The 34th conference of the Académie Internationale de la Pipe was held at the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest. The main theme of the conference was the different materials and technologies involved in pipemaking and it explored the scope of archaeological finds in both museum and private collections. The conference included a day trip to Banská Štiavnica to make clay pipes in the traditional manner.
​
The photographs below give a taste of what we did in Budapest.
​
You can read the abstracts of the papers here
​
​
​
​
​
​
Budapest, October 2019. Top row, from left to right: Hungarian National Museum; Opening of Beauty Wrapped In Smoke exhibition; pipes on display in the exhibition.
Bottom Row, from left to right: Pipes on display in the castle at Banská Štiavnica; original pipe mould; delegates at Eger Castle
[Photos: Arjan de Haan, Bert van der Lingen and Emese Varga]
​
​
Gouda, Netherlands, 2018
'Export'
​
This year’s conference was a joint effort of the AIP and the Dutch Society for Research of Historical Tobacco Pipes (PKN) and was held in the Catharina room of the Gouda museum where Gouda pottery is on display. The AIP conference ran from the 9th to the 12th October with the PKN conference following on the 13th October.
​
The photographs below will give a taste of what we enjoyed in Gouda.
​
(photograph by Arjan de Haan)
(photograph by Arjan de Haan)
(photograph by Arjan de Haan)
Old clay pipes on display (photograph by Bert van der Lingen)
Original brass mould (photograph by Arjan de Haan)
(photograph from Emese Varga)
First talk of the day by Ruud Stam (photograph by Susie White)
Guided walking tour of Gouda (photograph by David Higgins)
Our three new members - Rick, Sabrina and Atas - with Chairman Ruud Stam (photograph by David Higgins)
The AIP charity auction in full swing (photograph by Susie White)
De Leile snuffmill, Rotterdam (photograph by David Higgins)
Barrels of tobacco by cut by the snuff mill (photograph by David Higgins)
Gouda, October 2018. From left to right: Conference paper being presented; the walking tour; our new members from Australia, Germany and Lithuania with our chairman; charity auction; de Leile snuff mill, Rotterdam; cutting the tobacco.
[Photos: David Higgins and Susie White]
Stone, Staffordshire, UK, 2017
’Wrought from the Earth’ the clay tobacco pipe industry in Northern Europe”
This year’s conference was a joint effort of the AIP and the Society for Clay Pipe Research (SCPR). The SCPR kicked-off the week long conference on Saturday the 23rd in the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent. On Monday the 25th the AIP took over the torch with their conference a short distance away in Stone.
​
The photos below give an overview of the lovely program we enjoyed in England.
​
A full report can be read here in the AIP Newsletter #17
​
​
​
​
The Stone House Hotel was this years conference venue.
There were several days with Interesting lectures. In this photograph is Anna Ridovics (Photograph by David Higgins)
Impression of the Gala dinner at the Stone house Hotel (photograph by David Higgins)
Visit to the Gladstone Pottery and Museum including the "toilet museum" (Photograph by David Higgins)
Lichfield Cathedral (photograph by David Higgins)
Showcase with one of the pipes at Wedgwood Museum (photograph by David Higgins)
Lovely afternoon tea at the Wedgwood Museum (photograph by David Higgins)
Viewing of the Ottoman pipes and stems at Calke Abbey (photograph by Susie White)
Group of amber mouthpieces from the Calke Abbey collection. (photograph by David Higgins)
Tokyo, Japan, 2016
The conference was held in the Tobacco & Salt Museum in Tokyo; a museum devoted to the history of tobacco and salt since there were monopolies in Japan for both of these commodities. For the AIP conference the museum arranged a special exhibition: 'Demanding Tastes of Fashionable Gentlemen - The Japanese Traditional Smoking Item'.
​
The conference was opened by Mr. Tanaka, the director of the Tobacco & Salt Museum. He explained why the museum moved to its current location on and introduced the collection on. Ms. Ami Nishida, one of the curators of the museum spoke about 'Smoking utensils for the dandies of the Edo period'. After her presentation on delegates had an opportunity to explore the museum and the fabulous exhibition.
​
The full report can be read here in the AIP Newsletter #16
​
We are very grateful to our Japanese colleagues for this great experience and the wonderful organisation. They provided us with a splendid conference that will live long in our memories.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Thanks are due to David Higgins, Susie White, Barney Suzuki, Andrew Aoba and Bert van der Lingen for the photographs used in this artice.
​
​
​
Ypres/Wervik, Belgium, 2015
For our 30th anniversay AIP headed to Ypres and Wervik in Belgium. In this region, on the Belgian/ French border, some of the bloodiest pages in WWI history were written. Last year marked 100years since the start of WWI and the whole region was paying close attention to this historical fact. The AIP paid their part by having as the conference theme Pipes in War and Peace. Our first day was at the Nationaal Tabaksmuseum Wervik, who had put on a special exhibition entitled No Smoke No Soldiers, where we heard a number of very interesting presentations. The following day we were back in Ypres to hear more papers and then to the Musee Sandelin, St. Omer and an opportunity to view their impressive pipe collection. The final day of the conference included another very successful, and most enjoyable, auction and our gala dinner. Our post-conference tour took us to the Flanders in the Field museum and a walking tour of Ypres.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Bergerac, France, 2014
​
After almost 10 years we returned to Bergerac, France for our conference in 2014. Thanks to the hard work and organisational skills of Rene Delon we had a wonderful conference. We were very warmly received by the Tobacco Museum in Bergerac, who provided a superb reception for our delegates and gave us an opportunity to view their impressive collection - our thanks to the director of the museum Philppe Camin and his staff. At the conference we heard a number of very interesting papers, many of which we hope to publish in a furture edition of our journal. Our thanks go to all those who presented papers and also to the Bergerac Tourist Office for providing us with a number of very interesting excursions during the course of the conference. This year marked a first for the Academy, in that we held an auction, which was great fun and enjoyed by everyone. We hope to repeat this at our next conference. We very much look forward to meeting our colleagues and friends again next year in Belgium, in the meantime, here are a few photographs from the conference. You can find more on our Facebook page.
​
From left to right: delegates discussing a painting in the Museum; delegates outside the Tobacco Museum, Bergerac; viewing the auction lots!
[Photos: Rene Delon and Susie White]
Ypres/Wervik, October 2015.From left to right: exhibition in the Nationaal Tabaksmuseum Wervik; delegates at a handling session in the Musee Sandelin, St Omer; about to start the tour of the Flanders in the Field museum.
[Photos: David Higgins and Susie White]
For the 2014 Conference Rene Delon has pulled together a short "movie" with highlights from the conference - click here to view.
Eisfeld, Germany, 2013
Our conference for 2013 was held in Eisfeld, Germany, on 16-20 October at the Otto Ludwig Museum in Eisfeld Castle. The museum presented a pipe exhibition entitled ‘Burning love – Thuringian porcelain pipes’, which included around 1000 pipes from Thuringian museums and private collections. It was an excellent exhibition that was enjoyed by all our delegates. We are most grateful to our friends and colleagues in Eisfeld, at both the museum and the Tourist Office, for helping to make the conference such a success.
Eisfeld, October 2013. From left to right: Conference venue; on a visit to the Manger Collection; gala dinner. [Photo: David Higgins and Susie White]
Eisfeld, October 2013. From left to right: Conference venue; on a visit to the Manger Collection; gala dinner. [Photo: David Higgins and Susie White]
Eisfeld, October 2013. From left to right: Conference venue; on a visit to the Manger Collection; gala dinner. [Photo: David Higgins and Susie White]
Eisfeld, October 2013. From left to right: Conference venue; on a visit to the Manger Collection; gala dinner. [Photo: David Higgins and Susie White]
Both delegates and the conference were so well received that we made it into the local papers - not once, not twice, but three times.
Gdańsk, Poland, 2012
The conference for 2012 was held in GdaÅ„sk, Poland on 26-28 September 2012. The theme of the conference was ’Fire and Water: Pipes as a symbol of maritime trade connections’ and a wide range of papers addressed this theme by considering how pipes were traded by ship. In addition to the conference papers there was an interesting programme of excursions that include Malbork castle, the cathedral at Pelpin, Sopot and Gdynia. We are most grateful to our colleagues and friends in Gdansk, in particular Mr. Piotr Jakubowski, Chairman of the Gdansk Pipe Club, for helping to make this conference so successful.
Gdansk, October 2012. From left to right: Conference venue; on one of our walking tours; smoking contest. [Photo: David Higgins and Susie White]
More photographs of our visit can be found on the Kalumet site (www.kalumet.pl/) on the following linkhttp://rai.hostit.pl/kal/index.php/spotkania/14-academia
Novi Sad, Serbia, 2011
Our conference was held in Novi Sad, Serbia on 5-8 October and focussed on the collections of the City Museum. The there of the conference was'The Turks abroad: the production, distribution and influence of Ottoman pipes and pipe-makers in Europe and beyond'. One of the highlights of the conference was the excellent exhibition which had been organised by the museum and the post-conference tour. We are hoping to publish the proceedings of the conference in a future edition of our journal.
Members of the Academy outside the museum in Novi Sad, October 2011. [Photo: Divna Gacic]
​
​