Elminster's eversmoking pipe

Elminster's eversmoking pipe was a type of magic pipe developed by Elminster Aumar. Besides its functions as a pipe, it contained a number of special properties and could also be employed as a weapon.

Description
The pipe was made from a dark and lustrous wood. It had a smooth curved shape and a large bowl, measuring about in length. Pipes of that particular design were commonly carved out of felsun root.

The eversmoking pipe produced small amounts of a thick, greenish smoke that displayed occasional sparks. This smoke kept insects away, including magically summoned ones.

Powers
Elminster's eversmoking pipe was activated and deactivated by command words given by any creature directly touching it. Once lit, the pipe automatically refilled its supply of tobacco or pipeweed by using the Drawmij's instant summons spell, teleporting the weed from a known store. It remained lit as long as supplies lasted or until given the command to deactivate. A third command word magically teleported the pipe to its owner's hand.

A lit eversmoking pipe was shielded from the elements by a small wall of force shaped like a hemisphere above the pipe, which protected it from rain, snow, and strong winds, including magical winds such as those produced by a gust of wind spell. However, the pipe did not function underwater or in the absence of air, and a quench fire or dispel magic spell was capable of extinguishing it.

Despite being protected against overheating by normal operation, the pipe did incur a few risks depending on environmental conditions. If an eversmoking pipe came within the area of a cloudkill, dust devil, dust storm, pyrotechnics or stinking cloud, it ignited a fireball that risked destroying the pipe itself. In addition, like any pipe, hitting or dropping Elminster's eversmoking pipe risked spilling lit tobacco of spreading flames that could ignite nearby flammable objects.

A hard blow through the pipe's stem hurled a spinning ball of flame similar to one of Melf's minute meteors out to a range of. The pipe could also produce the effects of a pyrotechnics spell, and it was immune to the effects of its own magic. None of the effects produced by Elminster's eversmoking pipe could be traced back to its owner, not even magically.

A sufficiently powerful wizard could magically manipulate the smoke from an eversmoking pipe, changing its color and luminescence, and giving it different shapes to form rudimentary images.

It was possible to obtain a variety of effects by burning different substances in an eversmoking pipe. For example, burning lamp oil produced numerous jets of flame that resulted in an explosion that destroyed the pipe; burning wet green leaves produced a thick black smoke that was continuously produced until the pipe was purposefully extinguished or destroyed; burning dry leaves produced a white smoke that was useful in smoking meats and concealing smells; and burning flower petals, cloth, or paper produced a pleasant smell capable of scenting an area.

Two varieties of Elminster's eversmoking pipe could be constructed: a permanent and a non-permanent one. The non-permanent version needed to be recharged by its wielder, through the casting of the spells that it was capable of holding. Overcharging a non-permanent eversmoking pipe risked exploding the item.

History
Elminster developed his eversmoking pipe after using a number of other different pipes.

Sometime after developing the pipe, Elminster shared its construction details with Sarghun, a wizard from Silverymoon. Since then, Sarghun revealed the pipe's details to other wizards, who then became capable of replicating it.

Reputation
The pipe was considered one of Elminster's signature possessions.

Some of Elminster's rivals maintained that he showed symptoms of senility by talking to his pipe. While these rumors were untrue, Elminster was seen once remotely arguing with the Simbul using his pipe as a focus for the sending spell.

Notable Owners
Elminster owned several identical copies of his pipe that were kept in all his residences throughout Toril and Realmspace. His own eversmoking pipes had additional capabilities besides those of the generally known design. It imbued the user with a protection from arrows spell and was capable of reflecting magic missile darts back at their caster. If submerged, the pipe created an airy water effect around it that lasted for 12 minutes. Its wearer could also use the pipe to cast dimension door up to nine times a day, out to a range of.