TOBACCO-PIPES.
Tobacco-pipes are made of a fine white clay, found chiefly in the island of Purbeck, and called, from its use, pipe-clay. Dr. Ure gives the following account of the manufacture of tobacco-pipes:—“A child fashions a ball of clay from the heap, rolls it out into a slender cylinder upon a plank, with the palms of his hands, in order to form the stem of the pipe. He sticks a lump at the end of the cylinder, for forming the bowl; which, having done, he lays the piece aside for a day or two to get more consistence. In proportion as he makes these rough figures, he arranges them by dozens on a board, and hands them to the pipe-maker. The pipe is finished by means of a folding brass or iron mould, channelled inside of the shape of the stem and the bowl, and capable of being opened at the two ends. It is formed of two pieces, each hollowed out like a half pipe cut as it were lengthwise, and these two jaws when brought together constitute the exact space for making one pipe; there are small pins in one side of the mould, corresponding to holes in the other, which serve as guides for applying the two together with precision. The workman takes a long iron wire, with its end oiled, and pushes it through the soft clay in the direction of the stem, to form the bore, and he directs the wire by feeling with his left hand the progress of the point. He lays the pipe in the groove of one of the jaws of the mould, with the wire sticking in it, applies the other jaw, brings them smartly together, and unites them by a clamp or vice, which produces the external form; a lever is now brought down, which presses an oiled stopper into the bowl of the pipe while it is in the mould, forcing it sufficiently down to form the cavity, the wire in the meanwhile being thrust backwards and forwards, so as to pierce the tube completely through; the wire must become visible at the bottom of the bowl, otherwise the pipe will be imperfect. The wire is now withdrawn, the jaws of the mould opened, the pipe taken out, and the redundant clay removed with a knife; after drying for a day or two, the pipes are scraped, polished with a piece of hard wood, and, the stems being bent into the desired form, they are carried to the baking kiln, which is capable of firing fifty gross in from eight to twelve hours. A workman and a child can easily make five gross of pipes in a day.”
FURNACE.
The pipes known as “meerschaum” are cut and shaped out of a natural earth or mineral, found chiefly in the island of Samos; it is not a clay, but consists of silica, magnesia, and lime, and is therefore a kind of magnesian limestone. It is nearly white, very light and porous, is easily cut with a knife, and bears a beautiful polish when saturated with the oil of the tobacco, which at the same time gives to the pipes a rich dark-brown color.
The meerschaum pipes sold in London are saturated with wax or grease, to cause them to color more easily, and many are not meerschaum at all, but are made of the dust produced in the cutting and boring of the real meerschaum pipes, mixed up with size; these fictitious pipes are heavier and less porous than the true meerschaum pipes, and neither color so readily nor bear so beautiful a polish; they are, moreover, much more easily broken.