TOBACCO-PIPES, are made of various materials, the commonest in Europe a fine white clay, which has consequently received the name of pipe-clay. Their usual form is too well known to need description, but the manufacture of a clay tobacco-pipe is by no means a simple affair. The first part of the operation is performed by trained children, who, with nice skill, roll out upon a board a small piece of clay into a long slender cylindrical rod, at the end of which is then attached a lump of clay, just enough to form the bowl. These rudimentary pipes are arranged by dozens on a board, until they have become sufficiently hardened. They are then handed to the pipe-maker, who takes a pointed iron wire, and first dipping it into oil, pushes it into the end of the thin column of clay, and having passed it through, forms the bowl with a folding brass mold. The wire is then withdrawn; and after a slight dressing with a knife, the pipes, now complete, are slightly curved in the stem, and are laid by to dry for a few days, when they are removed to the kiln, which is of a peculiar construction, and consists of an interior chamber, with a number of small stages, so that the pipes can be conveniently arranged in circles without touching each other. This interior chamber can be closed so as to exclude smoke, and, in fact, is only a seggar on a large scale, such as is used in making pottery (q.v.). The fire acts all round it, and fires or burns the pipes without smoking them. When thoroughly baked, they undergo a -kind of polishing or dressing, and are fit for sale. Finer and more expensive pipes are made of meerschaum (q.v.). Under the head of PIPE-STICKS will be found an account of the various materials used for making the tubes of these and other pipe-bowls. Brier-root pipes, now very common, have the bowl and stem made of one piece of wood; and although the stem is short, they partially absorb the oil produced in smoking, which, however, is perhaps as much the case with the common clay-pipe when it is new.
Various opinions have been entertained as to the antiquity of the practice of smoking, and consequently of the use of pipes. That pipes for smoking herbs for medicinal and other purposes were in use in England and elsewhere long before the introduction of tobacco, is tolerably certain, and the custom is still prevalent in some places. Colt's-foot, yarrow, mouse-ear, lettuce, and other plants are occasionally smoked, and no doubt have been so for centuries. A primitive pipe, doubtless such as has been made genera
tion after generation, is still in use in some remote districts. It consists of a stick of elder, from which the pith has been removed, with a bowl formed of common clay, and dried by the kitchen-fire. However much the habit-of smoking herbs might obtain iu Britain before that time, it is certain that to the introduction of tobacco is to be traced the rise of the trade of the pipe-maker. Pipes have been found in situations near the Roman wall in Northumberland, and other Roman stations in Britain, suggesting the idea that they were used by the Roman soldiers But this opinion was relinquished by Dr. Bruce, the antiquary, who first propounded it; and very few now imagine that any of the pipes to be seen in the antiquarian museums of Europe are many centuries old. The names Danes' pipes, Celts' pipes, elfin pipes, fairy pipes, old man pipes, etc., are popularly given to these old pipes, but afford no evidence as to their real antiquity. Many of them are remarkable for their very small size, whence, perhaps, some of the names; but this is easily accounted for by the consideration of the very high price of tobacco when first introduced into Europe, and the manner in which it was used, the smoke inhaled by the mouth being expelled through the nostrils, so that the narcotic power of the herb was enjoyed to the utmost. Similar very small pipes have also been found in North America, and the same mode of using tobacco has always prevailed among the American Indians. See Wilson's Prehistoric vol. ii. Stone pipes, or pipe-bowls, have also been found in Britain, cut in rude forms, and which apparently were used by the inser tion of a tube, perhaps a straw. Such pipe-bowls, but elaborately carved, are among the most remarkable American antiquities. They continue, however, to be made by the American Indians to the present day, often of stone, which are not cut without great difficulty, and are adorned with figures of men and animals. Some of them are adapted for the insertion of two tubes, that two smokers may inhale the fumes of the tobacco at once. Among some of the American tribes, the greatest care is bestowed on the orna menting of the pipe-stem; by others, on the bowl.