ON THE TOBACCO PIPE MANUFACTURE, ETC. 505 



the feet, that the proportion of hest pipe-clay sold Ly the merchants, 

 Messrs. Whiteway and Co., is only one third, while the second quality 

 has increased considerably, and the consumption of the third quality is 

 more than doubled. Taking into consideration the fact of third class 

 clays worked by ill-paid artisans and comparing them to the good old 

 pipes in use twenty years age, the question is answered : "Why smokers 

 of the present day prefer an old pipe. While we need look back only a 

 dozen years and find that thousands of smokers would not use a pipe a 

 second evening, any more than a gentleman of the present day can with 

 any pleasure smoke the second half of a cigar, left on the past evening, 

 the following morning. Why this change ? Because third-class clays 

 emit an unpleasant odour when heated, termed the " clay odour," and 

 because pipes made from these clays are only about half burnt and 

 are thus not fully purified from their earthy taste and smell. 



The untradesmanlike practice of giving away pipes to promote the 

 sale of beer and tobacco, has done much to destroy this branch of in- 

 dustry, pipe-making, while at the same time it cannot have improved 

 the quality of the article sold, or the morality of the retailer of beer or 

 tobacco, the quality of which must be reduced in proportion to the value 

 of the pipes given away. It can be easily proved that hundreds of 

 Licensed Victuallers in this great Metropolis give pipes away, to the 

 amount of from 5s. to 25s. per week ; and does any one suppose that 

 this loss is not counterbalanced in some other way ? 



It was the occupation of the landlady or barmaid, during the leisure 

 hours of the day, to make preparation for the public. These ladies 

 thought it wordd be less trouble to sell packets of tobacco rather than 

 continue the old custom of filling each pipe and charging |d., fd., and 

 Id., for pipe and tobacco, according to the size of the bowl and length 

 of the stem. The idea was carried into practice and the tobacconists 

 were appealed to, and they very naturally offered to supply 64 to 70 

 penny packages to the pound. This offer was accepted, and the package 

 was introduced and was immediately baptized by hundreds of smokers and 

 had as many sponsors who stood to the appropriateness of the name given. 

 By some it was called a " Soft-roed herring,!' supposing it was anything 

 of a respectable size. When small it was termed a " roeless herring" 

 when smaller still " a dead nail ;" when damp and the tobacco bad " a 

 choker ;" and in truth it was enough to choke any smoker often-times. 

 However, the name which was ultimately given to it was a " screw." It 

 is not for me to say who might have been the fancifid baptizer of 

 this lilliputian parcel ; but it may possibly be traced to the horse-jobber, 

 who, after his days' work was done, sat down to his beer and asking for 

 a pipe and tobacco was handed one of these pennyworths, when he was 

 forcibly reminded of a transaction of the day and involuntarily pro- 

 nounced the word " screw." Be this as it may, the screw was sold for a 

 penny ; but it often occurred that the halfpenny pipe filled with tobacco 

 under the old system, contained as much tobacco as the screw. This 



VOL. III. X X 



