TOBACCO PIPE. The smoking of tobacco in pipes is a cus tom which has prevailed in America for a period of unknown duration. The most ancient pipes of which remains exist have been found in mounds or tumuli called pipe mounds, principally in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. These mound pipes, which are carved in porphyry and other hard stones, are very uniform in type, consisting of a slightly convex platform or base, generally from 3 to 4in. in length, and about an inch broad, with the bowl on the centre. A fine hole is pierced from one end of the platform to the bottom of the bowl, the opposite end being obviously for holding in the hand while the pipe is being smoked. In the com monest forms the bowl consists of a simple cylinder or urn, but in many cases remarkable artistic skill has been displayed in carv ing the bowls into miniature figures of birds, mammals, reptiles and human heads, often grotesque and fantastic, but always very vigor ously expressed. These mound or platform pipes with carved human and animal forms are objects of the highest ethnographic interest and importance, being among the most characteristic remains of the ancient inhabitants of the Mississippi valley. The wide area over which these, as well as remains of baked clay pipes, are found throughout the American continent testifies to the universal prevalence of smoking in the pre-Columbian era. Many of the ancient clay pipes found in Mexico, etc., are elabo rately moulded and ornamented, while others show considerable similarity to the early clay pipes of Europe. Among the North American Indian tribes the tobacco pipe occupies a position of peculiar symbolic significance in connection with the superstitious rites and usages of the race. The calumet, peace pipe or medicine pipe, is an object of the most profound veneration, entrusted to the care of a highly honoured official, and produced and smoked with much ceremony only on occasions of great importance and solemnity. It is remarkable that, whilst the most ancient Ameri can pipes had no separate stem, it is the stem only of the medicine pipe which is the object of veneration among the Indians, the bowl used being a matter of indifference. The favourite material for Indian pipe bowls is the famous red pipe stone (catlinite), a fine-grained, easily-worked stone of a rich red colour from the COteau des Prairies, west of the Big Stone lake in S.
Dakota.
Throughout Great Britain and Ireland small clay pipes are frequently dug up, in some instances associated with Roman relics. These are known amongst the people as elfin, fairy or Celtic pipes, and in some districts supernatural agencies have been called in to account for their existence. The elfin pipes have commonly flat broad heels in place of the sharp spur now found on clay pipes, and on that flat space the mark or initials of the maker is occa sionally found. There is no reason to believe that these pipes are older than the 17th century. The introduction of the tobacco pipe into Europe is generally ascribed to Ralph Lane, first governor of Virginia, who in 1586 brought an Indian pipe to Sir Walter Raleigh, and taught that courtier how to use it. The pipe-makers of London became an incorporated body in 1619.
By degrees pipes of special form and material have come to be definitely associated with particular peoples, e.g., the elongated painted porcelain bowls and pendulous stem of the German peas antry, the red clay bowl and long cherry wood stem of the Turk, and the very small metallic bowl and cane stem of the Japanese, etc. Among other kinds of pipe which have been popular at vari ous times are the "corn-cob," where the bowl is made of the cob of maize or Indian corn, and the "calabash" with the bowl of a small gourd. The "churchwarden" is a clay pipe with a slender stem, some 16 or loin. long. The most luxurious and elaborate form of pipe is the Persian kalyfin, hookah or water tobacco pipe. This consists of three pieces, the head or bowl, the water bottle or base, and the snake or long flexible tube ending in the mouthpiece. The tobacco, which must be previously prepared by steeping in water, is placed in the head and lighted with live charcoal, a wooden stem passes from its bottom down into the water which fills the base, and the tube is fitted to a stem which ends in the bottle above the water. Thus the smoke is cooled and washed before it reaches the smoker by passing through the water in the bottle, and by being drawn through the coil of tube frequently some yards in length. The bottles are in many cases made of carved and otherwise ornamented coco-nut shells, whence the apparatus is called nargila, from nargil, a coco-nut.