plain pipe which offers no obstacle to the clear 
drawing of the smoke from the burhing 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 answer 
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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