A Short History of Clay Pipes

The history of the clay pipe begins with tobacco's crossing of the Atlantic and settling into Europe, and traces roughly three centuries in which this cheap, fragile implement remained an everyday object of the common person. The material itself and its manufacturing technique are covered in the clay pipe entry; what's traced here is the arc of the craft's rise and fall.

The Spread of a New Habit

Clay pipe smoking is dated in England to the last quarter of the 16th century, when Virginia tobacco reached the island; the earliest written accounts also belong to this period. Sir Walter Raleigh, known for his New World voyages, is often credited with introducing the habit, though how much of this account rests on documentation versus later legend is debated. What is solidly known through archaeology is that Indigenous peoples of the Americas had used the pipe as a ceremonial implement for centuries.

The new habit met resistance from the start. In 1604, James I published a treatise, A Counterblaste to Tobacco, openly attacking tobacco, and that same year raised the import duty to six shillings eightpence per pound. In parts of continental Europe, smokers faced far harsher penalties. On the other hand, tobacco smoke was thought to offer protection during plague outbreaks, and records from the period note that even children were given pipes to smoke under this belief. Neither the tax nor the bans stopped the spread.