St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-02-14
PIPE GOSSIP.
Interesting to Those Who DELIGHT
In the Smoking Bowl
Ceoool1s 0f People Who Use Narcotics
The Pipes and Smekers 81 the W0rlA-
A0i0Pae. .Old-Fash.oaeA EtoA Ovee.
powers Al New CemPetiters.

narcotics should prevail al over the
world Amongst those largely used.
tobacco is . prime favorite. and Is
mostly INDUCED ip through the medium
OF smoking. Sinee the days Of Raleigh
pipe manufacturers have greatly i'm.
proved on the curious smoking appa.
Eatus still preserved - . relic of Sir
Walter. The discovery Of some small
pipes In tho mortar Of ono OF our an
cient abteys seems to indicate that the
practice Of smoking some native herb
was customary prior to the introduction
OF tobacco from America
Some Of the first pipes used in Eliza
beth's time consisted Of walnut shells
furnished with stems Of strong straw.
Pipes Of iron, silver. clay and wood sue
ceeded-till We como to the meer-
echaum. Tho white earthen porous
pipe ranks 6rst. as the best absorber Of
nicotine. Just - tho metallic pipe comes
last for opposite reasons Tho meer.
UchaumH Immediately follows the clay
pipe. but whom fully seasoned. it 10 NO
better than . wooden pipe
A shoemaker in Hungary. who was
ingenious in carving. has tho honor Of
having carved tho first pipe from .
piecc Of meerschaum which had been
presented to him Is . curiosity. Its
being we'll adapted for absorbing nico-
tine That first meerschaum has been
preserved In tho museum Of Pesth. The
ingenious carvcr found that the shoe
makers wax. which in tho course Of his
trade accidentally adhered to tho bowl,
on being rubbed OF brought out clear
brown polish. He therefore waxed the
whole surface. polished the pipe. smoked
it. and admired tho colored result
Pipes Of this description were at 6rst
confined to tho richest European noble
men until 1880. when they came moro
generally into uso
Ruhla, . mountain village In Thur
ingia. is tho center of the pipo manu-
facture OF Germany. whero they turn
out over half million real meerschaums
yearly, besides thousands Of other
pipes Of Infinite variety. mado Of wood,
lava, clay. porcelain a2d vast numbers
of imitation meerschaum& Tho dis
covery OF the art Of making false meer-
schaums from the dust LEFT after carv.
ing and boring the real article was
secret for somo time. But pipes Of this
description do not color 20 we'll. for tho
porous character Of the native meer-
schaum 10 partly lost In tho process
There are Ave qualities OF meerschaum
used in making pipes Tho best is
known BY it, facial absorption Of the
nicotine, which gradually develops into
Q rich brown blush upon the surface.
The absorption Of the essential oils Of
tobacco purifles the smoke. and the
harmful qualities Of tobacco decrease
- its flavor improves
To touch ON the subject Of pipe-color-
ing, smokers may be reminded that as so
many mcerschaums are not genuine.
they may often Offer up their incense
to tho goddess Nicotina In vain. Az .
rule, . now bowl should not b. smoked
to the bottom. nor. when IL Il warm,
touched by the hand. nor yct the color |
ing produced too rapidly. II Is said
two clever French chemists have in
vented . royal road to the coloring Of . |
By tho application OF
ether and alcohol. combined with IN |
essence, such as that Of rose. In which |
ton per cent Of camphor and the same |
proportion Of borate Of soda aro dis |
solved, they have succeeded In endow-
ing cigar-holders and pipe-bowls With
the property OF rapidly assuming that
brown tint OF maturity % /
dear to the lovers Of tho weed
For mouthpieces the Turks werc the
first to adopt amber. As all pipe-fan-
eiers know, the clear amber Is tho
least valuable and tho clouded the
greatest favorite. the best Of all being
that OF the opaque yellow ooaoe This
was used BY the Tueko Tor
in tho belief that tt woud
convey no infectious 1iseasA Thfs -
lief could hardly have becn shared BY
the American humorist when ho dis
covered tho taste Of generations" on
the mouthpiece Of the Eastern pipe.
which Is one Of the attendant luxurico
Of the hot bath.
The pipes Of . Turkish dignitasy sre
according to the rank Of
his visitors A pasha possessed col-
lection Of pipes said 70 b worth thirty
thousand pounds sterling. many o14hem
being ornamented with diamond4 Some
Eastern pipes have tassels Of Diamonds
depending from them. besides rings OF
the same precious stones round the am
Der mouthpieces The pipe which the
Shah OF Persia smokes in public Is in
crusted with diamonds. rubies, pearls
and emeralds Of great value. -
Lord Byron In his Eastern travels be.J
camc . great pspe-fsncie.. and Disraoli