Clay tobacco pipe, London, England, 1740-1790

Made:
1740-1790 in London
Clay tobacco pipe, incomplete, part of stem missing Top left handside, A635162 - Clay tobacco pipe, maker unknown

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Clay tobacco pipe, incomplete, part of stem missing
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Top left handside, A635162 - Clay tobacco pipe, maker unknown
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Clay tobacco pipe, incomplete, part of stem missing, narrow upward arched stem, cylindrical flat-bottomed spur or debased heel, tall cylindrical thin-walled bowl, London, 1740-1790

Tobacco became fashionable in England in the 1570s. Clay tobacco pipes were the easiest way to smoke it. They were inexpensive and popular but easily broken. Shredded tobacco would have been placed in the bowl of the pipe and lit, and the smoke inhaled through the mouthpiece. When tobacco was first introduced it was expensive so this meant that pipe bowls were quite small.

Tobacco became more available and cheaper as more and more tobacco plantations were established in the United States. Smokers could soon afford extra tobacco and so the bowls of the pipes became progressively larger. (Pictured here with other clay pipes ranging from 1580-1790).

Details

Category:
Smoking
Collection:
Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
Object Number:
A653282
Materials:
clay
Measurements:
overall: 53 mm x 190 mm 23 mm, .02kg
type:
tobacco pipe