About a year ago, I bought a really nice Briar pipe and thought it was a good good pipe to smoke out of, I used it quite a lot. Then just about a month ago I ordered my first clay tavern pipe, the kind commonly smoked as early as the 16th century all the way through to the colonial period. At first I thought I'd never get used to smoking this odd little clay pipe that if you held in your teeth it felt like you were going to chip a tooth. Then after a few times smoking it, I figured out the correct way to hold it in the hands and also realized that I did not really need to hold a pipe in my mouth anyways. I have been smoking that clay pipe for a while now already and found that I just absolutely love smoking with it. It has a much smaller bowl than my Briar pipe, but it actually holds more tobacco, and the stem is long and slender with a gentle curve to it. I find that I actually feel more comfortable and not so out-of-place smoking the clay pipe in a public place than I did when I used the Briar pipe, maybe because of it's less obvious size and shape I guess. It just looks different. I highly recommend anyone to try one of these type pipes out. I don't think I will ever go back to smoking a Briar pipe...actually tried using my Briar pipe just this night, but I just found it to feel awkward and clumsy. I just ordered 4 new clay pipes from a place called Black Bear Haversack Trading Post (Google it), can't wait till they get here. So I guess that is what I am collecting now seeing as how I already bought 6 clay pipes in just the last month. They are great, it is no wonder as to why they were so popular and famous for so many centuries. Oh yeah, and another good thing about collecting clay pipes is that they are very affordable, you can get them for under $10 each. Check out some of the antique ones on Ebay as well, some dated from the 1700's.
