156 The Soverane Herbe 



pipe meet with English approval ; it is bulky and 

 unwieldy, and must necessarily be held in the hand. 

 It is an execrable smoker, being a mere tobacco still, 

 for the china bowl is absolutely inabsorbent. 



As great pipe-smokers are the Dutch, with not 

 dissimilar pipes. The bowl is pear-shaped, with a 

 long straight stem, which necessitates holding it in 

 the hand. A handsome pipe is a common wedding 

 present ; it is smoked on the nuptial day, and then 

 carefully laid aside, to be smoked only in future on 

 the anniversary of the day when the happy couple 

 were made one. 



The Austrians are also great pipe-smokers. Besides 

 inventing the meerschaum, Austria also produced the 

 first of a long race of those tormentors of pupillary 

 nervous smokers, patent pipes. They date from 

 1689. In that year Jacob Francis Vicarius, an 

 Austrian physician, made pipe stems of glass, with 

 capsules of sponge to absorb the nicotine. Only 

 dawdlers and puffers of tobacco favour such puerile 

 devices ; the smoker remains true to his simple, 

 unhygienic pipe. Austrian smokers are much given 

 to the decoration of their pipes, some being encrusted 

 with gems to the value of ;^i,ooo. Your honest 

 smoker, as Izaak Walton would have said, cares not 

 whether his pipe costs sixpence or sixty pounds ; he 

 values it by the pleasure it yields him. Hard smokers 

 shun costly, ostentatious pipes, and patronize simple, 

 workmanlike tools. 



The Swiss smoke a queer pipe. It is in five 

 distinct parts ; the bowl, covered with a metal lid to 

 prevent the Alpine winds scattering its contents, fits 



