Pipe smoking is the practice of tasting or inhaling the smoke produced by burning a substance, most commonly tobacco, in a pipe. It is the oldest and most traditional form of smoking.
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History
A number of Native American cultures had pipe-smoking traditions, long before the arrival of Europeans. Tobacco was often smoked, generally for ceremonial purposes, though other mixtures of sacred herbs were also common. The calumet (called "peace pipe" by Europeans), was smoked in ceremony to seal covenants and treaties. Tobacco was introduced to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century and spread around the world rapidly.[1]
In Asia during the 1800s, opium (which previously had only been eaten) was added to tobacco and smoked in pipes. Madak (the mixture of opium and tobacco) turned out to be far more addictive than orally-ingested opium, leading to social problems in China which culminated in the Opium Wars.[1]
In the 20th century, pipe smoking has been adopted as a preferred method of consumption for a variety of psychoactive drugs and some claim it is a more intense method of ingestion. Smokeable crack cocaine has a reputation for being more addictive than cocaine's insufflated form. Similarly, methamphetamine has gained popularity in a crystalline form which when smoked in a pipe lets the user avoid the painful nasal irritation of snorting. When not applied to a cigarette or joint, the liquid form of PCP is typically smoked in a pipe with tobacco or marijuana.[2]
Pipes
Pipes have been fashioned from an assortment of materials including briar, clay, ceramic, corncob, glass, meerschaum, metal, gourd, stone, wood and various combinations thereof, most notably, the classic English calabash pipe.
Water pipes
Water pipes bubble smoke through water to cool and wash the smoke. The two basic types are hookahs and bongs.
Culture
The customs, vocabulary and etiquette that surround pipe smoking culture vary across the world and depend both on the people who are smoking and the substance being smoked.
For example, in the Western world, tobacco pipe smoking has sometimes been seen as genteel or dignified and has given rise to a variety of customized accessories and even apparel such as the smoking jacket, and the Pipe Smoker of the Year award in the UK.
The ceremonial smoking of tobacco or other herbs, as a form of prayer, is still practiced in a number of Native American religious traditions.
Cannabis culture has its own traditions concerning pipe smoking and these differ from tobacco pipe smoking. For example, unlike tobacco smokers, cannabis smokers typically follow a custom of sharing a single pipe among two or more people.
By necessity, pipe smokers ingesting methamphetamine and the smokable forms of cocaine put great importance on the proper application of heat so that the drug liquefies and vaporizes without carbonization.
In recent years, "hookah bars" have appeared in college towns and urban areas in America[3] and Europe.
See also
Substance-specific pipes
References
External links
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Media related to Pipes (smoking) at Wikimedia Commons- Pipedia A Wiki type website dedicated to pipe making.
- Pipes: Logos & Markings: Pipe brands by pictures.
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