Did the Founding Fathers Smoke Pipes?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

pappymac

Lifer
Feb 26, 2015
3,549
5,036
Slidell, LA
I know Washington order a large quantity of Lavender scented snuff. I assume he used it but it was part of his written down expenses.
p.s. the pipe tobacco named after them is a favorite aromatic.
George Washington was a Burley/Virginia blend that I wouldn't consider an aromatic even though it had a molasses topping. I've always thought it was similar to Carter Hall.

My grandfather smoked George Washington until he could buy it anymore. I think it was discontinued around 1974. I still have four or five ounces from a 14 oz. tin I bought from Pipestud in 2017. I pull it out for a bowl every now and then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jbfrady

forloveoffreedom

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 29, 2013
144
637
45 Degrees North in USA
Beer wasn’t a massive thing until T Jefferson brought many hundreds of brewers from Europe to the US. He was a smart gent, beer was better for fighting soldiers than the hard stuff.

I can’t find my glasses but this looks like a pipe being held on the $2 bill??

IMG_0753.jpeg
 
  • Wow
Reactions: jbfrady

jbfrady

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 27, 2023
697
2,913
South Carolina
I was under the Impression our guys saw snuff as an overly fancy british thing, similar to the macaroni hairstyles.
Most did, resulting from a lack of affording it. Most of our snuff was sold to the British, and one of the problems at the outbreak of the war was that the British didn't allow us to sell it to anyone else - i.e. the French. The French had become some of the most prodigious snuffers in the world, and they even gifted Franklin and Jefferson diamond studded snuff boxes.

Still, if you could afford it you typically did it. Dolly Madison never breathed air that wasn't replete with tobacco dust. Henry Clay, rumored to be the best talker in politics, was known for punctuating his speech by either taking thumping his snuff box or taking a breath, much like Dave Chappelle punctuates his jokes and stories by either lighting a cigarette or smoking on one.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,645
31,195
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
George Washington was a Burley/Virginia blend that I wouldn't consider an aromatic even though it had a molasses topping. I've always thought it was similar to Carter Hall.

My grandfather smoked George Washington until he could buy it anymore. I think it was discontinued around 1974. I still have four or five ounces from a 14 oz. tin I bought from Pipestud in 2017. I pull it out for a bowl every now and then.
I was talking about C&D Founding Fathers. It's interesting and named after all of them. :)
Though I love hearing about the history of long discontinued blends.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jbfrady

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
10,185
41,406
RTP, NC. USA
They were hands on kinda guys. With a lot of help from free labor assistance. I'm sure they were good at growing things they could smoke, and chew. I wonder if they grew hemps. I wonder if any of 'em samples them in pipes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jbfrady
Dec 6, 2019
5,018
23,027
Dixieland
They were hands on kinda guys. With a lot of help from free labor assistance. I'm sure they were good at growing things they could smoke, and chew. I wonder if they grew hemps. I wonder if any of 'em samples them in pipes.

They grew and sold weed, but they didn't smoke it.

It was Thomas Jefferson who first said, "dont get high on your own supply".
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,329
Humansville Missouri
One of my other passions is history, especially the history of everyday life.

The colonists snuffed, chewed, and smoked their own homegrown Virginia tobacco, which was not the Virginia bright leaf we know today.

And before Virginia bright leaf and Kentucky white burley and national brand advertising a hundred years after the Revolution tobacco was merely a popular vice, and a luxury enjoyed by those who could afford it.

Virtually all of the wealthy planter class that were our founding fathers likely carried snuff boxes.

Modern wooden matches were not known.

A clay or meerschaum pipe was for the hearth side or at lodge.

If nobody had a light, it would be time to snort up snuff, if you could spare the money.

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
8,467
29,975
New York
One of my other passions is history, especially the history of everyday life.

The colonists snuffed, chewed, and smoked their own homegrown Virginia tobacco, which was not the Virginia bright leaf we know today.

And before Virginia bright leaf and Kentucky white burley and national brand advertising a hundred years after the Revolution tobacco was merely a popular vice, and a luxury enjoyed by those who could afford it.

Virtually all of the wealthy planter class that were our founding fathers likely carried snuff boxes.

Modern wooden matches were not known.

A clay or meerschaum pipe was for the hearth side or at lodge.

If nobody had a light, it would be time to snort up snuff, if you could spare the money.

So not much has really changed with our political leaders 'snorting' stimulants although I doubt it is snuff! rotf