Pipe is a device used for smoking tobacco. People have smoked tobacco in pipes for more than 2,000 years. Tobacco pipes were brought to Europe during the 1500’s by explorers who learned about them from American Indians. The Indians smoked tobacco during religious ceremonies. The Indians also used the pipe as a symbol of peace.
Pipes consist of two main parts—a bowl and a hollow stem. The bowl holds tobacco, and the stem is connected to the bowl. Smoke from the burning tobacco is drawn into the mouth through the stem. Pipestems are made of plastic, hard rubber, or bone. The most common materials used for bowls are brier (also spelled briar), clay, meerschaum, and porcelain. In the United States, some pipes are made of corncobs.
Most pipes are named for the type of material used for the bowl. For example, a brier pipe has a bowl made from the hard wood that comes from the root of the brier shrub. This plant grows in such warm, dry countries as Greece, Italy, and Spain. Most brier pipes are produced in standard shapes and sizes, as well as a style known as freehand. Freehand pipes have unusual shapes. Brier pipes are made both by machine and by hand.
Meerschaum pipes are made from a white, claylike substance that is found underground in countries near the Mediterranean Sea. Although meerschaum is fragile, it can be carved easily. Meerschaum pipes are crafted into beautiful designs, figures, or scenes. The bowls range in length from about 1 inch to 2 feet (2.5 centimeters to 60 centimeters). Meerschaum changes to a rich brown color after being smoked for some time.
Porcelain pipes are popular in Europe. Many have hand-painted scenes on the bowls, and cherrywood stems. In the Middle East, the hookah, or water pipe, is popular. The hookah consists of a bowl connected to a vase of water, and a long flexible stem. Before the smoke enters the smoker’s mouth, it passes through the water to cool.
People have been collecting smoking pipes for hundreds of years, and there are pipe collector clubs throughout the world. Members of these clubs meet to buy, sell, and trade old and new pipes.
See also Brier; Meerschaum; Peace pipe; Smoking; Tobacco.
