pipes

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

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

The web is good for some things, but not the be-all-end-all of research. One company still in business (Missouri Meersham) has been commercially manufacturing them since 1869, but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't being made by individuals or companies quite some time before that. I need to find my references, but Tennessee militiamen in Florida in the 2nd Seminole War were noted for smoking some and that was 1835-42

[Choatecav]

but Tennessee militiamen in Florida in the 2nd Seminole War were noted for smoking some and that was 1835-42

You are spot on correct, Ross.

Mark

[Mint Julep]

Ran a quick GoogleBooks advanced search for "corncob pipe" in publications printed between 1855 and 1865. I found a couple of books (one about the Kansas-Missouri border) published in 1856 that mentions someone smoking a corncob pipe.

Ta-da!

[Rob Weaver]

Mark Twain mentions the boys making them in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," which I believe was written in 1870. He's writing a novelization of his own 1840s childhood in Missouri. I doubt he would have included a wildly anachronistic episode, especially one so central to the story as the boys' first smoke. There is a difference between home-made and commercially made, though.