Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-01-08

A Simple, OId-FashI0ned Kind Over
powers AN New Competitors.
1t is 4 curious fact that the use OF
narcotics should prevail all over the
world. Amongst those largely used,
tobacco is a prime favorite, and is
mostly INDUCED in through the medium
of smoking. Since the days of Raleigh
pipe manufacturers have greatly i'm
proved on the curious smoking appa-
ratus still preserved as a relic OF Sir
Walter. The discovery of some small
pipes in the mortar of one Of our an
cient abbeys 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 come to the meer-
schaum. The white earthen porous
pipe ranks first, as the best absorber of
nicotine, Just as the metallic pipe comes
last for opposite reasons. The meer-
schaum Immediately follows the clay
pipe, but, when fully seasoned, it is no
better than wooden pipe
A shoemaker in Hungary, who was
ingenious in carving, has the honor of
having carved the first pipe from a
piece of meerschaum which had been
presented to him as curiosity. Its
porous nature struck the shoemaker as
being well adapted for absorbing nico-
tine. That first meerschaum has been
preserved in the museum of Pesth. The
ingenious carver found that the shoe
makers wax, which in the course OF his
trade accidentally adhered to the bowl,
on being rubbed off brought out clear
! brown polish. He therefore waxed the
whole surface, polished the pipe, smoked
it, and admired the cOlored result.
/ Pipes of this description were at first
confined to the richest European noble
men until 1880, when they came more
generally into use.
Ruhla, a mountain village in Thur
ingia, is the center of the pipe manu-
facture of Germany, where they turn
| out over half million real meerschaums
/ yearly, besides thousands of other
| pipes of infinite variety, made of wood,
| lava, clay, porcelain and vast numbers
! of imitation meerschaums. The dis
covery of the art of making false meer-
| schaums from the dust left after cary
ing and boring the real article was a
secret for some time. But pipes of this
description do not color SO we'll, for the
| porous character Of the native meer'
schaum is partly lost in the process.
There are five qualities of meerschaum
used in making pipes The best is
known by its facial absorption of the
nicotine, which gradually develops into
a rich brown blush upon the surface.
The absorption Of the essential oils Of
tobacco purifies the smoke, and the
harmful qualities Of tobacco decrease
as its flavor improves
To touch on the subject of pipe-color
ing, smokers may be reminded that as Sc
many meerschaums are not genuine
they may often offer up their incense
to the goddess Nicotina in vain. As /:
rule, a new bowl should not be smoked
to the bottom, nor, when it is warm
touched by the hand, nor yet the color
ing produced too rapidly. 1t is saiC
two clever French chemists have in
vented a royal road to the coloring of {
meerschaum. BY the application O.
ether and alcohol, combined with al
essence, such as that of rose, in which
ten per cent. of camphor ard the same
proportion of borste of soda are dis
solved, they have succeeded in endow
ing cigar-holders and pipe-bowls will
the property of rapidly assuming tina
yellowish- brown tint of maturity S,
dear to the lovers of the weed
: For mouthpieces the Turks were thu
first to adopt amber. AS all pipe-fan
ciers know, the clear amber is tn,
least valuable and the clouded tn
I greatest favorite, the best of all bein,
, that Of the opaque yellow color. Thi
: material was used by the Turks 70
mouthpieces in the belief that it woult
convey no infectious disease. This be
lief could hardly have been shared b
the American humorist when he dis
covered the taste of generations" o.
the mouthpiece of the Eastern pipe
which is one Of the attendant luxurie
of the hot bath.
The pipes of Turkish dignitary ar
magnificent according to the rank c
! his visitors A pasta possessed Co
lection of pipes said to be worth thirt
. thousand pounds sterling, many Of theI
being ornamented with diamonds Som
Eastern pipes have tasssls Of diamond
depending from them, besides rings
the same precious stones round the an
! Der mouthpieces. The pipe which th
. Shah Of Persia smokes in public Is Il
! crusted with diamonds, ruhies, pear
! and emeralds of great value.
Lord Byron in his Eastern travels b
! came great pipe-fsncier, and Disrae
1 when in Cairo proved kinsslf an sccSu
plished smoker. He possessed gre'
variety of pipes. from hookahsz
. dhudeens- He christened some OF n
/ pipes In magnilOquent fashion o.
he called Bosporous and another So
tan. The stems OF some Of them We
many feet long. made Of wood covers