UBB.threads Forums General Interest Other Hobbies and Collections, like sports cars, movies, music,etc CLAY TOBACCO PIPES

When I stated I had some old clay tobacco pipes on the POCKET MATCHSAFES thread, 3 members wanted to see the pipes. I replied: "Yes, I will create a thread for the pipes after I take some photos."

The 1st clay tobacco pipe (bowl only), I found was near an early 19th century Iron Forge in West Milford Township, Passaic Co. New Jersey about 1980. And one of the last (about 2012), clay tobacco pipes (bowl only), was a circa 1720-1740, "R. TIPPET", I found 2 feet below the surface of a Native American Indian, small camp site, on the eroding Pompton Riverbank, Wayne Township, Passaic Co. New Jersey. Altogether I have found 33 pipes. Because these pipes are fragile, some are only the bowl portion and most have an incomplete stem. One complete pipe was dug from the ground at the Laflin & Rand Powder Works dump in Wayne, New Jersey.

An unusual complete clay tobacco elbow pipe in my collection was found on Rikers Island, New York by a friend of mine while digging a ditch for a drainpipe. During the Civil War soldiers were on Rikers Island, New York. Another complete clay tobacco elbow pipe in my collection was found long ago at Gettysburg, PA. the 1863 Civil War battle site.

Some of my pipes were found in privies (outhouses) and came from antique bottle diggers. Many more of my pipes were bought at antique stores, antique shows and through mail order. Now with the popular auction site many 17th & early 18th century pipes are sold from England and the Netherlands, found on the riverbanks by "Mud hunters".

Cadger clay tobacco pipes are very large and used as a kind of joke when someone offered a free bowl of tobacco. Rouletting around the top of the pipe bowl was used up until about 1800.


C.J.W.-20609

Here are some more pipes. Note that the early 17th century pipe bowls are very small because tobacco was very expensive at this early period.

C.J.W.-20609

Correction: the German pipe marked "Made in Germany" is post (after) 1919, in the photo with the 5 Brother's pipe tobacco.

And some late 19th century pipes, designed without the bottom spur, were used into the early 20th century.

C. Wetzel-20609

Thanks, "C"

Here are some more pipes.

The pipe found in Little Falls, Passaic Co. New Jersey is Dutch and although it was probably related to the near-by Morris Canal it was also found close to an 18th century Dutch stone house.

The small Cigarette pipes are probably from the 20th century.

C.J.W.-20609

Clay tobacco pipe chart.

Wetzel,

Very nice and large collection of pipes! I only have three lol. Thank you for showing them.

Agree. Very interesting.

Thanks for the kind words.

I went back to the Pompton Riverbank surface hunting many times after finding the R TIPPET pipe bowl hoping to find the stem with no luck. Edward Lenik, past president of the New Jersey Archeological Society had dug the Sheffield Park Archeological site, a late woodland camp site just 200' upstream from my site. Edward Lenik lived about a 1/2 mile from the site. In March 2016, I met with Edward Lenik at the Sheffield Park, Wayne, N. J. and I showed him the R TIPPET pipe bowl and the place where I found the pipe bowl 2' below the surface of the eroded riverbank. I also found a hearth feature about 4' below the surface on the eroded Pompton Riverbank. The hearth was full of fire cracked rock and charcoal but no artifacts. Late woodland chert arrowheads, a net sinker and pottery were found on the surface and in the riverbed.

Edward Lenik visited my house before I moved from Wayne, N. J. and told the Wayne Historical Society, "You better talk to Calvin before he moves because he is a wealth of information."

When I first met Edward Lenik back about 1992, he was not that friendly, but when he came to my house (about 2017) before I moved and seen how I keep accurate records of my Arrowhead, antique bottle and clay tobacco pipe finds, Edward gave me a big hug. We never dug American Indian sites, only surface hunting with walking sticks. I was always voted the one to ask the farmer for permission to hunt for Arrowheads, my friends said I had the golden tongue. Most farmers gave us permission after introducing myself, where I was from and what we wanted, Arrowheads. When the corn is about 1 foot high you can safely walk the corn rows if you are careful. After it rains on the field is the best time to search.

C. J. W.-20609

Wetzel,

Do you collect Meerschaum pipes? I know how they are made, the different styles and categories but that's about it. Most are not maker marked so do you go by styles and design to know who made them or at least the country of origin? If you have some, would enjoy seeing them. I have a few, do you mind if I post them here?

Mikee, I did own a very nice antique, carved Meerschaum pipe, amber mouthpiece with the case. The pipe was a carving of a 19-century sailor with a straw hat sitting with a rope. I got the pipe from Van.

This nice old lady named Van had a small antique shop in Mountain View, Wayne, N. J.

Her husband, Joe passed away and she was selling many of the things they had collected together. The clay elbow tobacco pipes marked "Van" and "N. Y.- PA." came from Van who also had a table at the PAL flea market in Wayne, N. J. after she sold the store. I still have things from Van's store but not the Meerschaum pipe.

C. Wetzel-20609

Wetzel,

Wow, sounds like a very nice pipe. Would enjoyed seeing it.

Correction: Rouletting around the top of the pipe bowl was used up until about 1700 NOT 1800. See clay tobacco pipe chart and see 2nd photo of 17th & early 18th century pipes. A few late 19th century pipes may be found with rouletting, but these pipes are clearly a 19th century type.

Research notes: All pipes can be found in context date (buried in midden with dated rubbish) up to 60+ years after manufacture date. See clay tobacco pipe chart for context & mfg. dates for the North Carolina pipe.

Pipes marked with country of origin dug in the U. S. are 1891 or later, the addition of "made in" was required in 1919.

Most of the R. Tippet pipes found with "R TIP PET" in cartouche, with "R T" Incuse on the back of bowl were manufactured from about 1680 to 1720 and are found on Native American Indian sites in context dated to about 1700 to 1740. 3 generations of Robert Tippet made pipes with Robert Tippet II probably making the most. Robert Tippet I (1660-1678); Robert Tippet II (1678-1713); Robert Tippet III (1713-1720) years of manufacture for 3 generations of R. Tippet pipes.

Henry Hoar (1669-1739) was a Bristol pipe maker who took over the Moulds of R. Tippet. Henry Hoar's pipes are marked with "H. H." Incuse ("to hammer in" from Latin) on the back of the bowl.

C. J. W.-20609

Clay tobacco pipe terminology chart.

Nice collection C.W. Like the "Clay tobacco pipe chart" and the "Clay tobacco pipe terminology chart" [good info there!]

Really,, I'm surprised any of these survived at all! Storage must be a bit of a pain.. Guess you gotta find the deepest Rikers made.. - * Anything special you have to do as far as conserve and storage?

- * You ever take a smoke out of the better ones??

Storage is no problem with the 2" thick (inside) Rikers cases. I did have a large custom-made plywood & Plexiglas case that my ex-girlfriend's brother "Chuck", made in High School for my WW2 German daggers that I collected in the early 1980's. After I sold the daggers, I used the large case for my clay tobacco pipe collection.

Sadly, my girlfriend's brother Chuck passed away and a few years later in 2019 I gave the large case Chuck made back to my ex-girlfriend, who is now married to Gary C.

Now my pipes are stored in 3 Riker cases and plastic or cardboard boxes with tissue paper.

When showing fragile items such as clay tobacco pipes, stone arrowheads or antique glass, make sure the floor has a good thick rug. These items dropped on hard floors will break the item.

I would not use one of my old pipes to smoke. A reproduction clay tobacco pipe is what I have used when I wanted to go "Up in Smoke".

C. J. W.-20609

Here are two antique postcards.

The 1st has an Irish saying "Erin Go Bragh" with a clay tobacco pipe.

The 2nd dated 1907 has "Better to Smoke Here than Hereafter", when I got in the car after leaving the antique store with the card, I read the writing on the back of the card: "By this time I am dead and hope you are the same".

C. Wetzel-20609