These pipes represent the most common style of pipe in use throughout the period of white contact.  This style of pipe was not limited to one group or tribe, but was in general use from the western Ohio Valley to the Rockies and from the Arkansas River to the plains of southern Canada.  Large numbers of plains pipes came directly into white hands from the Indians during that widely publicized period  in our history, marked by the Indian wars and treaties.  Because the Indian ceremonial pipe was frequently used to bind a treaty, it became widely known as the "peace pipe".

This pipe is designed with each ring cut into the bowl representing a wind direction, it is one of the many decorative motifs used by the Indians to decorate their pipes.

The pipe with the widest distribution other than the elbow pipe is the MicMac pipe. It has been found as far south as Georgia and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains.

A very common pipe style of the 18th and 19th centuries. This pipe is the style most commonly used as a personal or pleasure pipe.
 

Some pipes were highly prized and were elaborately carved and decorated. These pipes are some of the modern outgrowths of some of these rarer variations.
 

In the 1700's the British and French, realizing the esteem with which Indians held the pipe, began to manufacture medal trade hatchet pipes. These pipes are stone reproductions of these trade pipes. The stone reproductions began early in the 19th century, much earlier than might be expected.