The First Meerschaum Pipe.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 205, 14 October 1873, Page 6

The First Meerschaum Pipe.

The following account of tho first meerschaum pipe has been published by Messrs Pollak and Son, pipe-manufacturers in New York:—"ln 1723 there lived in Pesth, the capital of Hungary, Karl Kowates, a shoomaker, whose ingenuity in cutting and carving on wood, &c, brought him into contact with' Count Andrassy, ancestor of the present Prime Minister of Austria, with whom he became a favourite. The count, on his return from a mission to Turkey, brought with him a large piece of whitish clay, which had been presented to him as a curiosity, on account of its extraordinary light specific gravity. It struck the shoemaker that, being porous, it must naturally be well adap+ed for pipes, as it would absorb the nicotine. The experiment was tried, and Karl cut a pipe for the count, and one for himself. But in the pursuit of his trade he could not keep his hands clean, and many a piece of shoemaker's wax became attached to the pipe. The clay, however, instead of assuming a dirty appearance, as was naturally to be expected, when Karl wiped it off, received, wherever the wax had touched, a clear brown polish, instead of the dull white it previously had. Attributing this change in the tint to the proper source, he waxed the whole surface, and polishing the pipe, again smoked it, and noticed how admirably and beautifully it coloured ; also, how much more sweetly the pipe smoked after being waxed. Karl had struck the smoking philosopher's stone ; and other noblemen, hearing of the wonderful properties of this singular species of clay, imported it in considerable quantities for the manufacture of pipes. The natural scarcity of this much-esteemed article, and the great cost of importation, in those days of limited facilities for transportation, rendered its use exclusively confined to the richest European noblemen, until 1830, when it became a more general article of trade. The first meerschaum pipe made by Karl Kowates has been preserved in the museum of Pesth, which, by the way, was the native city of Mr Pollak, sen."