164 The Soverane Herbe 



reveals to not even his dearest human friend. The 

 smoker idealizes his pipe, and endows it with a per- 

 sonality. He dislikes to, nor does he, regard it as 

 ever having been made by the hands of man and the 

 steel of machinery. Without in any way wishing to 

 destroy this ideal, a book on tobacco would be in- 

 complete without an account of the way pipes are 

 made. 



Though pipes are fashioned from such varied 

 materials as wood, stone, bronze, iron, and other 

 metals, clay, china, asbestos, horn, and other vege- 

 table and mineral products, pipes of clay, meer- 

 schaum, and wood form the overwhelming majority. 



As has been pointed out, clay pipes were practically 

 the only ones smoked in this and other countries 

 until thirty years ago. Broseley, in Staffordshire, 

 has been famous for its pipes and clay from the days 

 of Elizabeth. Now all the clay of which white pipes 

 are manufactured comes from Newton Abbot and 

 Kingsteignton in Devonshire. It is sent to all parts 

 of England and the world in rough lumps, about the 

 size of quartern loaves, weighing some 28 pounds 

 each. 



At the manufactory these lumps are first dried, for 

 the clay absorbs water only when crumbling. The 

 clay is next moistened with water, worked up with a 

 spade, and beaten by an iron bar until it is of the 

 consistency of putty. Masses of 80 or 90 pounds 

 are served out to the actual pipe-maker. The work- 

 man cuts off a piece of clay according to the size of 

 the pipes he is then making, rolls it into the shape of 

 a cigar or stick, and then, with boards fastened to the 



