pipes

[roger]

im making my own pipe for smoking, what was the mouth piece made of? looks like plastic. i know some were clay but some were not.
pvt. R. ZAVODA
29TH OVI CO. G

[Steel Remington]

Briar wood has been around for a very long time for making pipes and stems. Did they use Briar wood during the civil war? Just getting started in this hobby, so I have my work cut out for me.

[The Duke]

Ceramic pipes which are often recovered in Civil War camps generally had a bone or reed stem. I am no expert, but I'm pretty sure vulcanized rubber or "hard rubber" which was patented by Charles Goodyear in 1844 was probably used to make mouth pieces as well as whole pipes. Vulcanized rubber was the precursor to modern-day plastic.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

The mouth piece (or stem) that you speak of is gutta percha (a hard rubber-like substance also called Vulcanite or thermoplastic in other forms). Hard India rubber was also used in some pipes of the period under the Goodyear patent (the Novelty Rubber Company and Goodyear made pipes in a variety of shapes and sizes). The book "India Rubber and Gutta Percha in the Civil War" by Mike Woshner has several originals shown or discussed. Yes, briar was around and widely used, often with gutta percha stems. Clay pipes were widely used as evidenced by how many are found in digs of campsites and battlefields. Other stems were made of reed, and yet others of wood. Pipes were highly individualized or stamped out in the thousands. Keep digging and keep researching - you'll be surprised at what you find

[csaduck]

I made my own pipe also, and I used deer horn for my stem, I cut the longest part of an antler and drilled a small hole thru it and then sanded it down to the size I wanted. The sanding smells bad so do it away from the family! The horn looks great and has held up well for over 15 years of use.

Pvt. Gerald Drake

[roger]

thanks a lot never new any of that and im 69 yrs old...

pvt. r. zavoda

[Artyman]

Never apologize for being 69. Wait till you are 70!

Harry

[Choatecav]

The majority of the photos that I have seen of men displaying (using) their pipes are with pipes of Briar or Meerschaum. Of course the clay, cob, horn, etc. etc. was around, but there seemed to be more artistic expression available with these materials.

Also, while Ross did a great job of listing materials used for mouthpieces, one other that comes to mind is Amber. Especially with a finely carved Meerschaum pipe.

Enjoy,
Mark

[Mint Julep]

Just a note: someone above mentioned ceramic pipes, but I think he meant clay.

A clay bowl with a reed stem is probably the single most underrepresented pipe in reenacting today.

[roger]

i understand that the cob wasent out till 1870s check on the web..
PVT, R. ZAVODA
29TH OHIO
CO. G