The Student-Life of Germany

by William Howitt

Of the continued changes which pipes in the course of time undergo in their fashion and construction, many cabinets would convince us, did they only contain a collection of ten years' duration. We have no intention to weary the reader with the description of such a cabinet; but he will allow us to state of what members a modern pipe consists, and what is necessary to its complete use and enjoyment.

The essential portions of a pipe are the mouth-piece, the tube, the water-sack, and the head. The two last pieces are united in the meerschaum and the clay-pipe into one. The mouth-piece, at the upper part, is wrought out of horn. It is made thicker or thinner, longer or shorter, with a greater or less bore, as it may be required. The long mouth-pieces, having various partitions, or members, as they are called, are so finely wrought that they are quite elastic, and are sold at a proportionate price. The mouth-piece is commonly united to the tube by an elastic portion called a Schlauch, which is constructed of elastic wire and silk. If the pipe is intended to be a very handsome one, there is still another piece interposed between the schlauch and the tube, which is made of roe's-horn, and styled the roe-crown. The tube itself is manufactured from various materials; the coarser ones out of juniper-wood, or cherry-tree, the finer ones out of beech and ebony; but that which is most highly valued, on account of its durability and agreeable odour, is the Turkish weichsel, or agriot, a kind of wild cherry. The tubes are, again, of different lengths and thickness, from a span in length to some yards. The Turkish pipes are the longest.

To the tube is generally affixed the water-sack, called also by the northern Germans the sponge-box; a little reservoir, of wedgewood or porcelain. For elegant pipes still more beautiful, but less useful ones, are made of horn.

The pipe-head is, however, the part on which the most cost, art, and ornament are bestowed. The lower part of it, which, tapering away, is fitted into the water-sack, is called the boot. The head is adorned with a variety of paintings and inscriptions. We see upon them, as upon snuff-boxes, many humorous occurrences perpetuated. They are enriched with the portraits of handsome women and celebrated men, and the painting is sometimes so beautiful as to raise their price to several Louisdore each. The students are accustomed to compliment each other with presents of pipe-heads, ornamented with their coats of arms, and a dedication on the reverse side.

All the various sections of the pipe are so fitted to each other that you can readily separate them, in order to clean them; but they are prevented from separating when in use, by silk cords which pass through small metallic rings, and are secured at top and bottom. These cords serve also to hang them up by. On the pipes of the Chore-Burschen the cords proceeding from the head to the mouth-piece, are not only secured but continued, and hanging down at liberty, bear the coloured Chore-tassels.

The student uses in the course of the day, different pipes. In the morning he gladly smokes out of a Turkish pipe, if such a one is at his command. This has a small mouth-piece, a long tube, and a meerschaum head, which gives it its greater value. It is on this account so highly esteemed; the student asserting that no pipe smokes so pleasantly; but its price, if it be genuine, varies from two to six, or more, Louisdores. The material out of which the real meerschaum head is made, is dug in Spain, Portugal, and the ancient Thebes, and consists of a silicious clay, in chemical combination with water. The other heads are made of various materials, and the most usual are of porcelain or wedgewood.

The meerschaum, called by the Turks (Myrsen, Keffekil), the material out of which the ancient Samian vessels were made, is yet used in Turkey for the manufacture of pipe-heads; of which only the smaller kinds are allowed to be exported. It is chiefly dug in ancient Thebes, and is by no means employed in its crude state, but undergoes a manipulation, similar to that of the porcelain paste. It is exposed to a certain process of fermentation; the softened mass is diluted and washed, then half dried, pressed in moulds, and bored whilst in them. The heads thus formed are then dried in the shade, and afterwards hard burnt in the furnace. After this they are boiled in milk, then in linseed oil or wax, and finally polished with Dutch rush (equisetum) and leather. The finest formed heads--washed ware--may not be exported, although the Turks on the whole prefer the heads made from burnt Bole. As the Turkish heads are not considered handsome in shape, and have too narrow a bore, they are again turned and rebored at Ruhia in the district of Gotha, and being brought to a more modern form, are then boiled in tallow or wax, and again polished. The turnings are used in the preparation of imitation meerschaum heads, which are more brittle and less lasting than the real ones. In these heads manufactured in Lemgo, there is no real meerschaum clay used, but a mixture of clay, chalk, and egg-shells. These heads are heavier and more frangible than the genuine; they more readily become rough and unclean, and take a metallic streak from gold or silver, which is not the case with meerschaum heads.--Leonhard's Oryktognosie.

A new pipe requires great care in bringing it into use, till it is as it is phrased, besmoked, or seasoned; that is, till the inside of the pipe-head is coated with a black crust of finely cemented-together tobacco dust. Till this is effected the pipe has not a good flavour, and it requires to be well and vigorously smoked out. To promote this seasoning, it is customary to smear the inside of the head with sugar-water, before it is filled with tobacco. This seasoning of the meerschaum head is particularly difficult. While it is warm, during the first time of smoking, it must not be touched with the fingers; it must be suffered to cool slowly, and must be protected from being touched or rubbed by any thing.

The long pipes, called house-pipes, serve the Burschen usually at the Kneips; the very short one, on their walks, or when out shooting, as a long one might then be inconvenient. That there are people who extravagantly carry their luxury so far as, from year to year, at all times and seasons, to smoke genuine meerschaum pipes, any one may, to his astonishment, read in Bulwer's Ernest Maltravers.

The white clay pipes, which were formerly in general use, are no longer used by the student; but they may be daily seen in the mouths of countrymen.