TOBACCO-PIPES

The practice of smoking tobacco has become so general in many nations as to render the manufacture of tobacco-pipes a considerable branch of industry. Some seek in the inhalation of tobacco-smoke a pleasurable narcotism; others imagine it to be beneficial to their health; but, in general, smoking is merely a dreamy resource against ennui, which ere long becomes an indispensable stimulus. The fil you r of this habit, the offensive odour which persons under its influence emit from their mouths and clothes, the stupor it too often occasions, as well as the sallow complexion, black or carious teeth, and impaired digestion, all prove the great consumption of tobacco to be akin in evil influence upon mankind to the use of ardent spirits. Tobacco-pipes are made of a fine-grained plastic white clay, to which they have given the name. It is worked with water into a thin paste, which is allowed to settle in pits, or it may be pa ed through a sieve, to separate the siliceous or other stony impurities; the water is afterwards evaporated till the clay becomes of a doughy consistence, when it must be well kneaded to make it uniform. Pipe-clay is found chiefly in the isle of Purbeck and Dor sets hire. It is distinguished by its perfectly white colour, and its great adhesion to the tongue after it is baked; owing to the large proportion of alumina which it contains. 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 small lump to the end of the cylinder for forming the bowl; which having done, he lays the pieces 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 bra 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 progre of its 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 pre es 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 being meanwhile 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 gro in from 8 to 12 hours. A workman and a child can easily make five gro of pipes in a day. No tobacco-pipes are so highly prized as those made in Natolia, in Turkey, out of meerschaum, a somewhat plastic magnesian stone, of a soft greasy feel, which is formed into pipes after having been softened with water. It becomes white and hard in the kiln. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1257.png:Pipe kiln A tobacco-pipe kiln should diffuse an equal heat to every part of its interior, while it excludes the smoke of the fire. The crucible, or large sagger, A , A , figs. 1155. and 1156. , is a cylinder, covered in with a dome. It is placed over the fireplace B , and enclosed within a furnace of ordinary brickwork D , D , lined with fire-bricks E , E . Between this lining and the cylinder, a space of about 4 inches all round is left for the circulation of the flame. There are 12 supports or ribs between the cylinder and the furnace lining, which form so many flues, indicated by the dotted lines x , in fig. 1156. (the dotted circle representing the cylinder). These ribs are perforated with occasional apertures, as shown in fig. 1155. , for the purpose of connecting the adjoining flues; but the main bearing of the hollow cylinder is given by five piers, b , b , c , formed of bricks projecting over and beyond each other. One of these piers c , is placed at the back of the fireplace, and the other four at the sides b , b . These project nearly into the centre, in order to support and strengthen the bottom; while the flues pa up between them, unite at the top of the cylinder in the dome L , and discharge the smoke by the chimney N . The lining F , E , E , of the chimney is open on one side to form the door, by which the cylinder is charged and discharged. The opening is permanently closed as high as k , fig. 1155. , by an iron plate plastered over with fire-clay; above this it is left open, and shut merely with temporary brickwork while the furnace is going. When this is removed, the furnace can be filled or emptied through the opening, the cylindric crucible having a correspondent aperture in its side, which is closed in the following ingenious way, while the furnace is in action. The workman first spreads a layer of clay round the edge of the opening, he then sticks the stems of broken pipes acro from one side to the other, and plasters up the interstices with clay, exactly like the lath-and-plaster work of a ceiling. The whole of the cylinder, indeed, is constructed in this manner, the bottom being composed of a great many fragments of pipe stems, radiating to the centre; these are coated at the circumference with a layer of clay. A number of bowls of broken pipes are inserted in the clay; in these other fragments are placed upright to form the sides of the cylinder. The ribs round the outside, which form the flues, are made in the same way, as well as the dome L ; by which means the cylindric case may be made very strong, and yet so thin as to require little clay in the building, a moderate fire to heat it, while it is not apt to split asunder. The pipes are arranged within, as shown in the figure , with their bowls resting against the circumference and their ends supported on circular pieces of clay r , which are set up in the centre for that purpose. Six small ribs are made to project inwards all round the crucible, at the proper heights, to support the different ranges of pipes, without having so many resting on each other as to endanger their being crushed by the weight. By this mode of distribution, the furnace may contain 50 gro , or 7200 pipes, all baked within 8 or 9 hours; the fire being gradually raised, or damped if occasion be, by a plate partially slid over the chimney top.