152 The Soverane Herbe 



pipes are now rarely seen, and though the pipe 

 naturally lends itself to decoration, the true smoker 

 believes beauty unadorned is adorned the most ; he 

 needs no further recommendation for his pipe than 

 the tobacco it holds. 



To the Austrians smokers are indebted for the 

 discovery of the virtue of the meerschaum. More 

 than a century and a half ago there lived in Pesth a 

 shoemaker, Karol Kowates, who earned as much by 

 carving pipes for wealthy smokers as by making 

 shoes. Among his pipe patrons was Count Andrassy. 

 While on a mission to Turkey in 1723 the Count was 

 presented with a lump of meerschaum. Its lightness 

 and porousness suggested its suitability for con- 

 struction into a pipe, and he handed the meerschaum 

 to Kowates with orders to that effect. Out of the 

 clay Kowates cut two pipes, one for the Count and 

 one for himself. His hands were naturally waxy 

 from his craft, and in smoking his meerschaum the 

 pipe became waxed at various points. He found 

 that wherever the pipe had been touched with wax a 

 spot of clear brown colour appeared. By way of 

 experiment he waxed and polished the whole pipe, 

 which by dint of smoking assumed a most beautiful 

 and even colour, while also smoking much sweeter 

 than before. This, the first meerschaum pipe, is 

 still preserved in the Pesth Museum. Meerschaum 

 immediately came into fashion and use as the pipe 

 of the connoisseur and gentleman. 



Our grandfathers highly valued their meerschaums. 

 Collections of finely-coloured and carved pipes were 

 made, as much as .^500 being paid for a fine specimen. 



