19th century pipes

[mr_future]

I’m re-reading Moby Dick, which has a lot of great pipe content. I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of pipes sailors were smoking in mid 1800’s so I could acquire one. The only description I have of a pipe is that it is black and constantly part of Stubb’s face. From googling, clay pipes were the most common in that time period. I am guessing sailors wanted to clench so used a stem or mouthpiece of some sort. Does anyone have any ideas, here? I was thinking of getting something like this:

Captain (Black) - Old German Clay Pipes | Smokingpipes.com

Buy this Old German Clay Captain (Black) tobacco pipe from Smokingpipes, hand-crafted from quality German clay by Markus Fohr.

www.smokingpipes.com

 

[anotherbob]

neat fact lots of skulls from that time have a pipe slot worn into the teeth from clench a clay.

 

[OzPiper]

Clay pipes would have been ubiquitous in the 1700-1800s
Meerschaums came in from 1720s onwards. But would have been for the wealthy.
Briar pipes came in the mid-1800s, initially in France (St Claude) and spread to England in the late 1800s

 

[bullet08]

I salute you. Not once, but multiple times by the indication, rereading. I fell asleep by the time the harper sitting on shipmates' body. I mean, the book is considered one of the best American literature, but I have read more that would keep me awake.

 

[sablebrush52]

Clay pipes would have been ubiquitous in the 1700-1800s
Meerschaums came in from 1720s onwards. But would have been for the wealthy.
Briar pipes came in the mid-1800s, initially in France (St Claude) and spread to England in the late 1800s

Actually, Briars spread to England much earlier. Loewe opened his shop in the Haymarket in 1856.

 

[sablebrush52]

I’m re-reading Moby Dick, which has a lot of great pipe content. I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of pipes sailors were smoking in mid 1800’s so I could acquire one. The only description I have of a pipe is that it is black and constantly part of Stubb’s face. From googling, clay pipes were the most common in that time period. I am guessing sailors wanted to clench so used a stem or mouthpiece of some sort. Does anyone have any ideas, here? I was thinking of getting something like this:

Captain (Black) - Old German Clay Pipes | Smokingpipes.com

Buy this Old German Clay Captain (Black) tobacco pipe from Smokingpipes, hand-crafted from quality German clay by Markus Fohr.

www.smokingpipes.com

That's probably as good an example as any. Clays were in common use and were generally simple in design.

 

[MisterBadger]

Henry Tibbe began his Missouri Meerschaum business in 1869, after being approached by a farmer who had been carving his own pipes from corn cobs for some time. Since Moby Dick was published in 1851, it seems perfectly possible to me that corncob pipes, home-made, were a thing by then, if unusual. Certainly in Europe, people would have already been carving their own pipes out of hardwoods like cherrywood and pearwood, so why not New England, too? And Queequeeg himself might have had a Catlinite pipe. Sailors are as cosmopolitan a folk as you can get, they collect exotica, and clays are notoriously fragile. If I were signing on for a three- or six months' voyage in the first half of the 19thC, I'd be taking a cherrywood with me. You want a pipe that floats, doesn't break, dries out easily. And you don't have anyone to impress, or care if anyone mocks you because you're not smoking a clay. You want a go-to, reliable, all-weather smoke, that's all.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This is what I got on Google, but pirates were an individualistic bunch. If they could get a briar, they would probably smoke one.

 

[mr_future]

I salute you. Not once, but multiple times by the indication, rereading. I fell asleep by the time the harper sitting on shipmates' body. I mean, the book is considered one of the best American literature, but I have read more that would keep me awake.

I can see how this book is not for everyone. I was introduced by my favorite teacher, which helps.

It is about as pipe friendly a book as they come, incidentally.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Isn't there a competition every year to see if the book can be read aloud from start to finish? Ha ha.
That said, I keep picking it up, but then I always find something better to do before finishing it. It isn't hard to read, just so full of stuff that I care nothing about, and goes on and on...
I'm really surprised that it has remained a staple in literature this long. But, kudos to those who've read it!

 

[Infantry23]

I "read" Moby Dick via audiobook while driving. I'm usually in the car for 15 to 20+ hours per week so I'd listen for an hour or two a day and that helped keep it fresh.

Additionally, as has been mentioned, clay pipes were ubiquitous. One thing I recently came across in a B&M was a clay mold that pre-dated the American Civil War (1861-1865). I would not be surprised if sailors kept molds to make / replace any clay pipes that they may have damaged or lost while at sea.

However, as has been mentioned previously, I would assume that sailors of that timeframe would have been keen on getting a hardwood pipe or a cob if possible. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they just chewed ropes or plugs if their pipes broke.

 

[Snook]

I salute you. Not once, but multiple times by the indication, rereading. I fell asleep by the time the harper sitting on shipmates' body. I mean, the book is considered one of the best American literature, but I have read more that would keep me awake.

I had a similar experience with Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. The movie is one of my all time favorites, so I thought I'd give the book a try this year. Oh man was it a slog. Dull as hell and way too wordy. The dude wrote like he just wanted to flaunt his knowledge of nautical terminology. I got more than halfway through and still couldn't smell a hint of a storyline. When I started to dread picking it up to read, I knew it was time to throw in the towel.

 

[LeafErikson]

The dude wrote like he just wanted to flaunt his knowledge of nautical terminology. I got more than halfway through and still couldn't smell a hint of a storyline. When I started to dread picking it up to read, I knew it was time to throw in the towel.

I put it down after a few dozen pages and I feel the same way about the movie as you do...

What's hilarious about the nautical terminology is that an actual sailor went on a sailing trip with O'Brian and the sailor claims that O'Brian seemed to know essentially nothing about actual hands-on sailing. LOL.

 

[sablebrush52]

dditionally, as has been mentioned, clay pipes were ubiquitous. One thing I recently came across in a B&M was a clay mold that pre-dated the American Civil War (1861-1865). I would not be surprised if sailors kept molds to make / replace any clay pipes that they may have damaged or lost while at sea.

Clays were cheap to make and to buy, like 5 for a penny cheap. And, since they needed to be fired and hardened before use, I doubt that sailors would have kept a furnace going on a wooden ship for the purpose of firing clay pipes. more likely they had grosses of them available for use.

 

[Snook]

I put it down after a few dozen pages and I feel the same way about the movie as you do...

What's hilarious about the nautical terminology is that an actual sailor went on a sailing trip with O'Brian and the sailor claims that O'Brian seemed to know essentially nothing about actual hands-on sailing. LOL.

Yeah, from what I've read about him, he was kind of a pompous douche.

 

[LeafErikson]

Clays were cheap to make and to buy, like 5 for a penny cheap.

You got that right. They were so cheap and disposable that clays were sometimes even sold pre-packed with tobacco, intended for a single use. Those pre-packed clays were like the OG tailor-made cigarettes haha.

 

[warren]

The movie is one of my all time favorites, so I thought I'd give the book a try this year.

The movie was a compendium of two books from the series. The author wrote for an audience folks who had interests in the Napoleonic wars, maritime history and such. The audience was/is vast. I've read the entire series, thoroughly enjoying the growth of the two protagonists from start to finish. O'Brian, in my opinion, clearly captured the age. Besides the conflicts at sea, there is the politics and more than a couple of love stories which provide a peek into the age.

 

[mr_future]

Clays were cheap to make and to buy, like 5 for a penny cheap. And, since they needed to be fired and hardened before use, I doubt that sailors would have kept a furnace going on a wooden ship for the purpose of firing clay pipes. more likely they had grosses of them available for use.

In Moby Dick, Stubb had a row of pipes set up next to his hammock, which is consistent with this. I bet sailors either had unusual durable pipes (as someone else suggested) carved from bone, etc., or 50 clays in their carpet bag.

 

[Zamora]

A lot of old literature mentions pipe smoking but isn't very clear about what kinds of pipes or tobaccos were being used, even Tolkien was pretty vague about it most of the time. Sherlock Holmes is a notable exception, Doyle was very clear about what kinds of pipes he smoked and that he smoked some sort of shag cut. I think clays are pretty much a given for working class characters like sailors in anything set before the 1870s.

I can't recall if Mark Twain ever explicitly wrote that Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn smoked cobs but that's an anachronism since their stories took place before the Civil War and cobs weren't invented until after. Twain we know did smoke cobs, there's also pictures of him with a calabash and an early Peterson System.

Clays were cheap to make and to buy, like 5 for a penny cheap. And, since they needed to be fired and hardened before use, I doubt that sailors would have kept a furnace going on a wooden ship for the purpose of firing clay pipes. more likely they had grosses of them available for use.

Yep there's an English YouTuber named Nicola White Mudlark who compares discarded broken clays to cigarette butts, she often finds them in the Thames.

I "read" Moby Dick via audiobook while driving. I'm usually in the car for 15 to 20+ hours per week so I'd listen for an hour or two a day and that helped keep it fresh.

Additionally, as has been mentioned, clay pipes were ubiquitous. One thing I recently came across in a B&M was a clay mold that pre-dated the American Civil War (1861-1865). I would not be surprised if sailors kept molds to make / replace any clay pipes that they may have damaged or lost while at sea.

However, as has been mentioned previously, I would assume that sailors of that timeframe would have been keen on getting a hardwood pipe or a cob if possible. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they just chewed ropes or plugs if their pipes broke.

I've only read a few Richard Sharpe books but chewing tobacco is mentioned several times in Sharpe's Trafalgar. The author Bernard Cornwell happens to be a pipe smoker, his portrait on his Wikipedia article has a pipe.

 

[mr_future]

I have commanded the black Captain Old German Clay to my possession. At but twenty dollars and the cost of its voyage, it is but a speck upon the vast ledger of treasures. Who, pray, would take notice of so slight a sum amidst the endless sea of commerce?