Clay Pipes Smoking Views

General Goods

A pipe cleaner can be used to dry out the bowl and, wetted with alcohol, the inner channel. The bowl of the pipe can also become uncomfortably hot, depending on the material and the rate of smoking. For this reason clay pipes in particular are often held by the stem. Meerschaum pipes are held in a square of chamois leather, with gloves, or else by the stem in order to prevent uneven coloring of the material.

Pipes of clay were first smoked in England after the introduction of tobacco from Virginia in the late 16th Century. Devon born sea captain, Sir Walter Raleigh, who founded colonies in the New World, was one of the first to promote this novel habit, although religious leaders did not approve and persecuted people for it. In the native Indian tribes of what we now call America, smoking had already been an important ritual that had been practiced for many centuries before.

Around 1720 a huge industrial decline took place due to conflict within Europe and America. Snuff taking in the upper classes became popular and smoking was discouraged because of health risks. Clay pipes came back into fashion again in the 19th Century along with industrial revival and population growth. By then Dutch, French and German designers as well as English were competing for attention in a huge world market where production was also elevated to a grand form of art. Almost every aspect of everyday life was celebrated on a clay pipe including: plants, animals, birds, Coats of Arms, Royal events, names of Inns, Masonic symbolism, sporting events, advertising, heads of celebrities and even characters from mythology.

A homemade smoking pipe can be a work of art as well as a way to smoke pipe tobacco. Many pipe collectors and artists do not even smoke at all; rather, they collect or create pipes for display. If you would like to make your own pipe, clay is a viable medium. To create your own clay pipes, you will need to learn how to work with clay to build the necessary components of a working pipe.