Pipes and tobacco.

[Bigpete]

Just got into pipe smoking, and have been fairly curious as to what pipes,tobacco,and carrying methods would have been used historically,say from the late 1700s to the early 1800s ?

 

[Juniata]

Just got into pipe smoking, and have been fairly curious as to what pipes,tobacco,and carrying methods would have been used historically,say from the late 1700s to the early 1800s ?

I would say anything they could make by hand easily.

 

[Brokennock]

Just got into pipe smoking, and have been fairly curious as to what pipes,tobacco,and carrying methods would have been used historically,say from the late 1700s to the early 1800s ?

One piece clay pipes predominate, by a lot. Two piece with a clay bowl and a reed stem would be a distant second. Anything else, unless one was very wealthy, would almost be an anomaly.

Twists and plugs would have been the form you would buy your tobacco in. Not this preshredded loose tobacco we have now.

Pipes were often carried in ones hat and tobacco in a leather pouch, again,,, not loose preshredded.

Please remember,,, the 18th century was far, far, more of a consumer driven society than many in this hobby seem to want to believe. Not everything, or even most things, were homespun arts and crafts projects. Sure, if they absolutely couldn't buy it, they made it (or horror of horrors,,, did without),,, but if they could buy it and sellers/traders could sell it,,,, they did.

 

[Some_Mook]

You might want to have a look at some of The Woodlands Escape videos. The video for this link has some discussion of tobacco around the 25 minute mark. Another of his cabin-build videos showed a cabinet that he made to store his pipe and tobacco

Woodland escape

 

[Some_Mook]

A couple more links to videos that one might find interesting:

Making Tobacco Twist

Prepare rope and twist pipe tobacco

Another link to an article that may be of interest:

Tobacco with a Twist


If you are interested in obtaining some manufactured rope tobacco, Gawith Hoggarth & Co. still produces some. Try the website for Watch City Cigar. When available, they tend to have Gawith Hoggarth as well as Samuel Gawith tobaccos in stock more than other US distributors. Stuff sells out fast.

Townsends and Pipes & Cigars usually have some old style clay pipes for reasonable prices.

 

[Brokennock]

https://thequartermastergeneral.com/store/index.php?route=product/search&search=Pipe
I've been please with all my purchases and interactions with these folks. Pipes, silk bandanas, buttons, buckles, thread, maybe some stockings,,, can't remember all I've gotten from them. Prices seem reasonable given the product lines and shipping has always been prompt,,, and if I can support a smaller business that does good business,,,, I will.

 

[tenngun]

I’m a big fan of Townsend’s. So not recommending one over another.
However, Samsons historic has a super big list of historic clay pipes both in white English Dutch French style and black German style. These came to America literally by the barrel full.
I like English blends, but blended tobacco was rare in the colonies before middle 1700s. Every state/colony grew some tobacco and people mostly smoked local. North of Mason Dixon Virgina and Maryland would have been typical smokes
Pipes before 1700 had small bowls. They grew after 1750 reflecting cheaper tobacco.

 

[muskethunter1109]

Just got into pipe smoking, and have been fairly curious as to what pipes,tobacco,and carrying methods would have been used historically,say from the late 1700s to the early 1800s ?

Clay pipes are the way to go, stay away from the “basket weave” clay pipes or ones with designs on- just plain old clay pipes from 3” to 24”. As for the tobacco storage, there were tobacco twists that were common, but trying to smoke modern twists are just complicated and don’t taste good. Get some loose tobacco youd be interested in, then in a tin, cloth or leather bag, or parchment paper envelope would be the way to carry it. Be sure to have a pipe tamper as well!