Evening star., 1938-02-27
Collection
OF Pipes Is
Growing
William Meggars
Enjoys Novel
Hobby.


1904 Brandywine street ever tries
to smoke all of his pipes 1T once he
probably will create more excitement
than Sir Walter Raleigh, the first
white man to smoke a pipeful of to-
bacco. Sir Walters astonished servant,
seeing smoke curling up from his
masters head. doused him with 4
pitcher Of water to put out the fire.
Williams pipes would make a great
deal more smoke than Sir Walters,
for he has 72 in all. Many, however,
have never been smoked, and = few
were smoked over so years ago
William started collecting pipes as
hobby because he found it difIicult
to remain member Of his family and
not collect something. The Meggars
are hobby minded people who have q
big sign on their attic door-HOBBY
HALL. ADMISSION FREE. Up there
the shelves, closets and drawers are
full Of hobbies.
Once we were taking an automo-
bile trip" William related. and at
every town the collectors got busy.
My sister hunted for dolls. my brother
hunted china penguins. father hunt
ed Indian relics, mother helped the
others, and had nothing to do. So.
wanting to collect something, I
thought of pipes"
BY the time they had reached New
Orleans William was very enthusi-
astic about his hobby. and there he
bought the first item for his collec-
ton, a Turkish water pipe.
This pipe consists Of green glass
bottle, which Is filled with water when
used; the bowl, which Is attached to
cork bottle stopper; a glass tube,
which gees down from the bowl into
the water, and long rubber tube
that begins at the bowl and ends in a
mouthpiece. A Turkish gentleman
places the water bottle on the floor,
reclines at his ease. puts the mouth
piece in his mouth and smokes through
the long tube. Smoke drawn through
water in this way is cleansed from
impurities and cooled.
After the visit to New Orleans the
collection grew to include several old
pipes. One dates back 10 years and
another belonged to Williams grand
father so years ago. Williams also
has several short cherry pipes 80 or
40 years old and a few once belonging
to former curator of the National
Museum. Among these is a pipe with
its bowl carved in the form Of mans
head, another bowl is shaped like a
red shoe and a gay Turkish pipe Is
decorated with gold chain and star
and half moon bangles
But William finds modern pipes just
as interesting as the old. One from
Mammouth Cave, Kentucky, has a
bowl made of big rough piece of
blackberry root; another from Hol-
land has the bowl carved in the shape
Of wooden shoe: still another from
Kentucky has q bowl made from
rhododendron root Others have bowls
carved in similar designs-one a
Jockeys head, another an Indians
head and third. man in derby
hat. The most modern Of all is
stream-lined pipe, angular and wind
swept in all Of its lines.
Nor has William neglected brier
pipes.
These" he said. ARE made from
the root of the brier, shrub grown in
France and Corsica Some are cut
from prepared roots. while others are
moulded from roots ground to a
powder. Brier pipes are valued by
smokers for their fine flavor"
But these are not all. Williams
shelves are full Of pipes-black pipes,
red pipes, white pipes, hickory pipes.
walnut pipes. clay pipes. corncob pipes
and last of all Popeye pipe.
That isn't meant to smoke" he
laughed. You blow through the
stem and it plays tune Every COL
lection ought to have something funny
in it."