plain pipe which offers no obstacle to the clear 

 drawing of the smoke from the burning tobacco. 



The materials used for pipes differ in various 

 countries. Pipes are made of clay, porcelain, 

 wood, metal, glass, ivory, horn, cane, bamboo, 

 stone, etc. There is no know material which in 

 the opinion of smokers equals genuine meer- 

 schaum as a material for pipes. This is on ac- 

 count of its lightness, its coolness, its absorbing 

 qualities and its capabilities of high polish and 

 assumption of a beautiful color when used from 

 soaking the essential oils of the tobacco. Its 

 friability, however, renders it more suitable for 

 use as a home pipe than for a work-a-day pipe. 



For the work-a-day and knock-about pipe 

 the wooden pipe with short stem is without a 

 rival. The qualities which are essential for a 

 wooden pipe are many and it is difficult if not 

 impossible to get any material that will aflswer 

 all of them. The wood for such a pipe must be 

 hard and practically incombustible, yet light. 

 It must be sapless and inodorous so that when 

 heated the fragrance of the tobacco would not 

 be mingled with that of the wood and be lost. 

 In addition it must be a good absorber, cool 

 and have beauty of grain and be susceptible of 

 a high polish and must not be brittle. The 

 wood known as briar root possesses these quali- 



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