The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-16
THE OPIUM SMOKERS PIPE
II May Cost $500 and Grows in Value
the More 1t Is Smoked.
washington POst)
washington Post.)

An opium smoking layout consists of
about dozen distinct articles, although
only half of them are absolutely neces-
sary for smoking, and in case OF emer-
gency q person could get along with
four-pipe, bowl, lamp and yenhoek. Of
these the pipe is first in Importance.
Opium pipes vary in size, price, color,
materials, quality and beauty. Those
of the better grade are made OF ivory,
are used only by weli-tO-dO smokers,
and cost anywhere from SIS TO $500 The
pipes generally bsed are made entirely
from bamboo, and cost anywhere from
81 to $50. These prices relate to old
pipes. secondhand.
A new bamboo pipe. which no one
cares TO smoke until it has been thor
oughly seasoned, costs several dollars,
is Of a light brown or yellowish tint
and resembles a piece of fishing pole
I'm appearance. Only after continuous
smoking for perhaps several years will
it develop that rich, glossy brown color
similar to a meerschaum tobacco pipe
a color so much desired by smokers. In
fact. there is really more difference be-
tween good opium pipe and poor
one than there is between a high grade
French briaT tobacco pipe and a Mis-
souri, coTncob
The average opium pipe is eighteen
or twenty inches in length, although
they often come as long at two feet
and as short as twelve inches. They
also vary in circumference. Some are
an inch, others two inches in diameter
Even on the cOmmonest kind there IS
usually an ivory mouthpiece an inch
or so in length. From the mouthpieee
to the saddle is the body of the pipe
proper. The saddle is the part which
holds the bowl in place, and IS generally
situated about halfway between the
| center Of the stem and the end. On
the ordinary pipes the saddles are of
| tin or brass: on the finer ones they are
of silver, and even gold is sometimes
used.
Immediately behind the saddle is a
| Enthusiastically formed knob of from a
haif-inch to several inches in height
that is an outgrowth of the wood, and
| is termed the nut or hoodoo. A well
shaped and nicely polished hoodOo is
highly appreciated and valued by the
smokers, both Caucasian and Mongo-
/ lian. Superstition foTbids the latter
from ever smoking a stem that has no
hoOdoo on it; in fact, all opium pipes
minus these queer knobs are regarded
as fit only for foreigners.
Sometimes the Chinese make srtifi-
1 ciai hOOdoos of sealing wax or day,
| placing them on heather pipes and
palming the counterfeits off on un-
sophisticated foreigners for good
price. Opium pipes pass for collateral
security in nearly all the pawnshops in
the larger cities, but if one were to try
either to pawn or sell a stem that had
no hoodoO on it he would be sure to
experience difficulty.
There is only one way Of telling an
opium pipe without smoking it. and
that is to feel its weight. Pipes Of
! quality and value are invariably heavy
| from continuous smoking; those that
haven't been smoked much are light.
both in weight and color. The longer
an opium pipe has been used the hetter
/ 1t IS. OF course, a great deal depends
/ also on the quality of the opium
! smoked and on the care of the stem in
/ general
Often a smoker getting a new pipe
/ will place il in care of some Chinaman
! running an opium joint patronized ny
a large number of smokers, with the OBJ
/ ject of having it used as much as posi-
bic for period of six months or a year,
paying the keeper so much for the
/ privilege. This is the only known meth
/ cd of having a pipe broke in quickly
In addition 10 manufacturing hoodOos
/ clever Cinnamon also have ways of
their own of doctoring opium pipes so
as to give them an appearance of age.
! Not all Of the opium pipes in use in
/ this country are made of bamboo by
any means In a search of the pawn
shops of the large cities like New York.
Chicago and Philadelphia one will find
stems made from so many different va
/ Tieties of wood that ne will probably
not even know the names of them all.
/