The Indian pipes were principally of clay and 

 this material was used in England for the first 

 pipes made there and continued in sole use for 

 about 250 years. From England it came to 

 New England, with the first colonists. The 

 Spaniards of South America did not generally 

 use pipes. Meerschaum as a pipe making ma- 

 terial was not known in Europe till 1723. It 

 came about in this way: There was then in 

 Pesth (Austria-Hungary) an honest old shoe- 

 maker, Karl Kowates, who, when he was not 

 making or mending shoes, made pipes. Count 

 Andrassy, was one of his pipe patrons. The 

 Count while on a mission to Turkey in 1723 

 was presented with a lump of meerschaum. 

 The lightness and porosity of the material sug- 

 gested to him that it would be a very suitable 

 substance for a pipe bowl and on his return to 

 Pesth he handed the lump to Karl to make a 

 pipe of it. It seems Karl made two, one for the 

 Count and one for himself. But Karl did more 

 than that. The nature of his shoe work made 

 his hands waxy and he noticed that wherever the 

 pipe was waxed by his hands it turned into spots 

 of clear brown color. He thus discovered the 

 coloring qualities of meerschaum. Karl's first 

 pipe is still preserved (it is said) at Pesth. 



The new material became very popular and it 

 spread from Austria all over pipe-smoking 

 Europe. 152 



