It might have looked a lot like a bong but a judge has accepted the word of an English immigrant that her treasured Syrian keepsake was really only used for smoking sweet and fruity tobacco.

The unnamed woman declared the sheesha pipe when she shipped her belongings to New Zealand in May but told Customs later that she was shocked, disappointed and embarrassed when its officers at Dunedin seized it as a drug utensil.

She has now won an appeal against the confiscation.

She said a Syrian family who befriended her when she was travelling in the Middle East in 2005 had given her the pipe and other gifts including a 150-year-old coffee pot.

She understood the sheesha pipe was part of an "after dinner" cultural practice of smoking apple or strawberry flavoured tobacco while sipping peppermint tea.

The woman said she was a non-smoker and had never used it but it had great sentimental value and she felt privileged to have it.

She appealed against the seizure of the pipe and gave evidence in person about it before Customs Appeal Authority Judge Paul Barber who said he drew on his 30 years' experience as a judge to assess her as a "thoroughly honest and credible witness".

Customs defended the forfeiture of the pipe and Judge Barber conceded that, on the face of it, it had the features of a hash pipe and customs was correct to seize it as a prohibited drug utensil.

Even though it could be used for smoking drugs it did not seem that the woman had imported it for that purpose, the judge found. He said the shisha pipe should be returned to her.