| Pipes made of clay have been common in the Americas for centuries, having been used by the Indians in pre-historic times. They were used by the Euro-Americans during the American Revolutionary War, and well into the early 1900s. The clay pipe shown here consists simply of the bowl. These were common from the early 1800s through the mid-1900s. A separate step would be inserted in the small hole of the clay pipe and discarded when it became too clogged with tar. This particular pipe, and the other one exhibited here, were owned and used by my great-great-grandmother, Eliza Jane (Ickes) Butler who was known by the nickname, Grandmuz Butler. My dad told me stories of how the older women would have a pipe of tobacco after supper. They didn't smoke all the time and alot, just one bowl in the evening after the meal was finished, and they had washed and put away the dishes. |
