CHAPTER IX 



HOW PIPES ARE MADE 



The cult of pipe-smoking — Making of clays — Meerschaum : 

 where found ; its manufacture — Wooden pipes — The briar : 

 where grown, how made— Mouthpieces— Amber — Vulcanite 

 and horn— Choosing a pipe — The Lancet's advice — Cleaning 

 pipes. 



' Sweet smoking pipe, bright glowing stove, 



Companion of my still retreat, 

 Thou dost my gloomy thoughts remove. 

 And purge my brain with pure heat.' 



Tom Hood. 



The pipe-smoker regards his clay, meerschaum, or 

 briar with an affection of which the cigar-smoker is 

 totally ignorant. His pipe is more to him than a 

 mere smoking instrument. A cigar is merely a 

 bundle of tobacco-leaves, the means of wiling away 

 an idle hour. When smoked it is forgotten, for its 

 very entity has gone, and its place in the smoker's 

 thoughts is taken by another cigar. But the pipe is 

 constant ; each smoke it yields enriches and endears 

 it to its owner. The cigar is the chance acquaintance 

 of half an hour ; the pipe is the companion and 

 friend of countless smokes and of years. It is the 

 adviser and comforter of affairs which the smoker 



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