The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-05-05
TOBACCO PIPES.

\ Medical Authority That Says Clay Is
Preferable to Wood.
IF tobacco smoking is justifiable at all
m hygienic grounds, says The Lancet,
it is generally conceded that the pipe is
pipes differ considerably in material
and shapes, both of which must be i'm
portant factors in determining the char
acter of the smoke. Thus there are the
olay, the meerschaum and the various
wooden pipes, the brier, cherry or my
all. Next to the tobacco, therefore,
which should always be pure and free
from added fiavoring, an expedient
which is resorted to far too commonly
nowadays, probably in many instances
30 cover an inferior quality of tobacco,
the best kind of pipe is a point to be
considered Even assuming that he is
smoking good tobacco, the smoker knows
~ different in character the smoke is
rawn from clay or a wooden
b There is probably a scientific ex-
ION of this fact which must have
gearing ON the noxious or innocu-
Character of the smoke associated
th other products of combustion.
A soft clay is invariably cool smok-
because the acid oils obtained ON
Ie destructive distillation Of the tobao-
20 are absorbed instead of collecting in
a little pool, which must eventually
either by the volatilization or by me-
ohanical conveyance reach the mouth.
A particular pipe "smokes hot" not
necessarily because the temperature of
the smoke is high, but because it favors
the passage by one of these means of
the oils into the mouth. Meerschaum is
another porous material. Again, an old
wooden pipe or brier, so dear to invet-
crate smokers, becomes "smooth smok-
ing" because the pores Of the wood
widen and SO absorb, as is the case with
clay or meersohaum, large proportion
Of the tobacco oil.
Thus an old pipe "sweats," MS it is
termed-that is, the oil intrudes into
the expanded pores of the wooden bowl
and at length exudes. Similarly hook
shaped pipe must be better than pipe
the bowl of which is ON the same level
with the mouth, for the simple reason
that in the former a considerable guam
tity of the oil is kept back in the U
shaped part of the pipe, while in tho
latter the oil travels easily down tho
stem. Ebonite stems are i'll general OBJ.
iectionable because they commonly spoil
the true flavor of tobacco smoke. This
is most probably due to the sulphur Of
the ebonite combining with the volatile
oils in the smoke. We know instances
where ebonite stems have produced dis
tinctly Objectionable symptoms in the
throat, most probably for the reason
just given.
Bone or real amber makes much
more satisfactory stem, or the pipes
should be of wood throughout. Amber
substitutes. and especially celluloid,
should be discarded entirely as danger
GUS, while the flavor of camphor which
these invariably communicate to tho
smoke forms very unpleasant combi-
nation. Pipes of special construction
cannot be regarded with much favor,
such as those which are said to be hy-
gienlc and usually contain so called
nicotine absorber. Those smokers who
.-r",ire such auxiliary attachments had
& - no<rSS-at all. AS matter of
= " tobaGee6 yields little nicotine in the
smoke produced on its partial combus-
tion. 1t is mainly to oils of tarry and
acrid character that the toxic symptoms
of tobacco smoking are due.