(Conjectural
sketch by Sidney E. King.)]
[Illustration: A FEW OF THOUSANDS OF CLAY PIPE FRAGMENTS UNEARTHED AT
JAMESTOWN. THE ONES SHOWN RANGE IN DATE FROM 1600 TO 1700. DURING THIS
100-YEAR PERIOD, PIPES DEVELOPED FROM SMALL BOWLS TO FAIRLY LARGE
ONES.]
SMOKING
The first colonists were quite familiar with the use of tobacco, and it
is believed that many of them smoked clay pipes. Evidently there was
some demand for tobacco pipes by the early planters as one of the men,
Robert Cotten, who reached Jamestown in January 1608, was a tobacco
pipemaker.
In 1611-12 John Rolfe had experimented with tobacco plants in Virginia
(he used Virginia plants as well as varieties from the West Indies and
South America), and was successful in developing a sweet-scented leaf.
It became popular overnight, and for many years was the staple crop of
the infant colony. There was a prompt demand for the new leaf in
England, and its introduction there was an important factor in
popularizing the use of clay pipes. After 1620 the manufacture of white
clay pipes in England increased by leaps and bounds.
It is estimated that there are over 50,000 clay pipe bowls and stem
fragments in the Jamestown collection--perhaps the largest assemblage of
its kind extant.
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