Ill
131 365
WOODEN BYGONES OF SMOKING AND SNUFF TAKING
.. O j rt f\ t
FRONTISPIECE
The two sides of one of the most superbly carved wooden
snuff boxes known. It is hollowed out of a 4f in. diameter
block of boxwood and was probably made in the neigh-
bourhood of Nancy about 300 years ago
Edward H. Pinto
WOODEN BYGONES
OF SMOKING
AND
SNUFF TAKING
HUTCHINSON OF LONDON
HUTCHINSON & CO. (Publishers) LTD
178-202 Great Portland Street, London, WA
London Melbourne Sydney
Auckland Bombay Toronto
Johannesburg New York
*
First published 1961
Edward H. Pinto 1961
This book has been set in Scotch Roman typeface. It has
been printed in Great Britain by The Anchor Press t
Ltd., in Tiptree, Essex, on Antique Wove paper and
bound by Taylor Garnett Evans & Co., Ltd., in
Watford, Herts
To
MY MOTHER
who, in discovering how to grow old
gracefully, remains young at
eighty-three years of age, and will, I hope,
enjoy this book as much as
she does her daily smoke
CONTENTS
Foreword and Acknowledgments 11
Introduction 13
PART ONE
SMOKING
1 Pipes and pipe cases 23
2 Tobacco stoppers 83
3 Tobacco jars and boxes 38
4 The smoker's miscellany 44
PART TWO
SNUFF TAKING
5 Salutation to sternutation 55
6 Snuff rasps 61
7 The box for the snuff 7O
8 *Of shoes . * . and ships . . . and . . .* 76
9 Snuff boxes in great variety 82
Short bibliography 89
Index 93
ILLUSTRATIONS
Two sides of a superbly carved French 17th century
snuff box frontispiece
BETWEEN PAGES 48 AND 49
1 English Blackamoor tobacconist's sign
2 American Red Indian cigar-store sign
3 Highlander tobacconist's sign
4 Turk tobacconist's sign
5 Pipe cases of 17th century design
6 18th and early 19th century pipe cases
7 18th and early 19th century continental carved pipes
8 A further selection of 18th and early 19th century
continental carved pipes
9 Carved briar pipes of the second half of the 19th century
10 Novelty pipes of the late 19th century and an early
19th century Irish pipe
11 18th century carved tobacco stoppers
12 17th and 18th century carved tobacco stoppers
13 Tobacco stoppers of various types
14 American cigar moulds and 17th century English tobacco
jars
15 Fops' tobacco boxes of the 18th century
16 Selection of tobacco jars
17, 18, 19 Selection of tobacco boxes of the 17th, 18th and
19th centuries
20 Pipe racks and other holders of the 18th and 19th
centuries
21 Pipe moulds, cutters, etc.
ILLUSTRATIONS
22 Cheroot caskets and cheroot, cigar and cigarette cases
23 Snuff-pedlar's staff or shop sign
24 Snuff graters and a large carotte
25 Louis XIV carved snuff rasps
26 Fribourg & Treyer's 18th century trade card
27 Outstanding Louis XIV carved snuff rasp
28 Another rasp of the same period
29 Fine 17th century Royal French carved snuff rasp
30 17th and 18th century German, Italian and Dutch
snuff rasps
31 17th and 18th century snuff rasps, mostly French and
Italian
32 More 17th and 18th century snuff rasps
83 Some uncommon 18th century snuff rasps
84 Three exceptionally large snuff rasps
85 Selection of ivory snuff rasps
36 The working parts of snuff rasps and a small carotte
37 Assortment of table and counter snuff boxes
38 Mostly souvenir snuff boxes
89 Early and elaborate carved snuff box of outstanding
quality
40 Scandinavian snuff flasks
41 Walking sticks containing snuff boxes and a pipe
42 Boot and shoe snuff boxes
43 More boot and shoe snuff boxes
44 Fine quality snuff boxes of burr wood and coquilla nut
45 Selection of carved coquilla-nut snuff boxes
46 Pressed wood French circular snuff boxes
47 Book snuff boxes
48 Miscellaneous snuff boxes
49 Animal and grotesque figure snuff boxes
50 More miscellaneous snuff boxes
FOREWORD
I WAS brought up in an atmosphere of tobacco, for my father
was a cigar importer, as was his father before him.
With this background and an ever-increasing interest in
wood, wood craftsmanship and social history, from boyhood
onwards, it was, I suppose, more or less inevitable that one
day I should write a book about the wooden bygones of
tobacco. I hope it will give you as much pleasure to read as
it has given me to write.
My thanks are due to all those who, over a considerable
period of years, have provided me with information or stimu-
lated me to search for it. I cannot name them all, but would
specifically mention Mr. Norman Cook, B.A., F.S.A., F.M.A., of
the Guildhall Museum; Mr. C. M. Mitchell, F.S.A., F.M.A., of
Leeds City Museum; Mr. W. A. Seaby, F.S.A., F.M.A., of Belfast
Museum and Art Gallery; and Mr. T. Thornton Wills of
Messrs. W. D. & H. O. Wills.
My grateful thanks are also due to Mr. Charles Rattray of
Perth, for loaning me carottes of tobacco for photographing
and for valuable information concerning Highland figures;
to Mr. R. H. Bridgman-Evans, M.C., of Fribourg & Treyer,
for allowing me access to the old books of his company, for
showing me many interesting objects in their collection and for
permission to reproduce their 18th century trade card; to
Miss Ruth E. Adomeit, of Cleveland, Ohio, for finding and
presenting to our collection the two cigar moulds; and to
the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, for providing
the photograph and description of the American cigar-store
Red Indian.
11
12 FOREWORD
My greatest indebtedness is to my wife, who has, as usual,
made valuable suggestions regarding the format of this book
and has corrected the proofs. Additionally, she has grouped
and photographed nearly all the 865 objects which are
illustrated. AH these, except the subject of Plate 2 and the
two carottes, are selected from our joint collection.
EDWARD H. PINTO
Oxhey Woods House
Northwood, Middlesex
/ have a liking old
Far thee, though manifold
Stories, I know, are told
Not to thy credit.
Ode to Tobacco. Charles Stuart Calverley (1831-1884)
INTRODUCTION
TOBACCO, alternatively praised and reviled, smoked and
sniffed, has brought into being many small wooden objects
desirable to the collector. This book tells about them the
European examples, primarily; but first let us delve briefly
into the history of the weed itself and the alternating en-
couragement and punishment meted out to its addicts.
Probably no one will ever know where or when tobacco was
first used by man, nor whether he commenced by sniffing it or
smoking it. Certainly the divination of omens in smoke,
expelled through a pipe or tube from the mouth, goes back to
priestly ritual in very ancient civilizations, but the smoke was
not necessarily from tobacco. There are also records of the
medicinal smoking of herbs iir Europe before tobacco was
introduced. Those who would like to examine the claims
(which seem to me lightly based) of China, Egypt and other
regions, to rival America as the cradle of nicotiana are
referred to the bibliography at the end of this book.
What is indisputable is that tobacco came to Europe from
America. Columbus seems to have been the first European to
report on it; he observed smoking on his first voyage to the
Bahamas and West Indies in 1492, and snuff taking on his
second voyage, 1494-6, but there is no record that he brought
tobacco to Europe. In 1502 other Spaniards reported that the
weed had been chewed in South America from time imme-
morial and was considered 'good medicine'.
While the custom on some of the West Indian islands was
to roll tobacco into a cigar and smoke it, the majority of the
18
14 INTRODUCTION
natives of Central America seem to have smoked tobacco in
pipes or by inhaling through their nostrils, into which were
inserted the twin tubes of a Y-shaped cane, the single, long
leg of which was held over the embers of a wood fire on which
tobacco leaves were allowed to smoulder. The leaves them-
selves and the plant from which they came were known by
different names in various regions. The Y-shaped instrument
of smoking was the tobago, and it was the supposed resem-
blance of the shape of the island of Tobago to a Y which, when
he passed it from the south-west, caused Columbus to give it
this name; the island was neither named after the plant nor
vice versa, as many people believe.
Words have a way of changing their meaning, and not only
has the name of the instrument of smoking passed to the
material smoked, but the name given to the smoker has now
passed to the vendor of tobacco, for in literature of the 16th
and early 17th centuries the smoker was known as the
tobacconist and he was usually said to *drink' tobacco and get
drunk on the fumes.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that the pipe, the cigar
and snuff taking were all known in America before the intro-
duction of tobacco to Europe; so all that we have added is the
doubtful blessing of the cigarette.
This book is not primarily about tobacco, but about the
old-time objects associated with its use in Europe, so we will
deal only briefly about its introduction to Europe and Britain
and who introduced it, particularly the latter, about which
many books and articles have been written without proving
anything. Francisco Hernandez, who introduced the plant to
Spain in 1559, may have been the first European to plant it,
although the claim was disputed by Frfere Andr Thevet, who
had been in Brazil in 1555 and published a book about his
travels in 1558. In this book he described tobacco accurately
and stated that he had brought seeds to his garden in
Angouleme and was growing tobacco there. Certainly the most
famous name in the story is that of Jean Nicot, French
Ambassador to Portugal from 1559 to 1561, for in sending
seeds of the plant to Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, he
INTRODUCTION 15
gave his name to nicotine, and for a time tobacco was known
as 'The Queen's Herb'. It is interesting that tobacco's intro-
duction to the continent of Europe was entirely on medicinal
grounds, and in the form of snuff taking, which held sway for
many years, before it was challenged by smoking. There is a
certain grim humour in the fact that cancer was among the
many diseases and disorders which tobacco was supposed to
cure.
Britain, with its usual contrariness, introduced tobacco
essentially for smoking; snuffing came in a hundred years later.
Among the popular rival claimants for introducing tobacco to
England are Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Sir John
Hawkins and Ralph Lane, the Governor of Virginia. Raleigh
is the most popular contender for the title, particularly be-
cause, since the 18th century, the story of the bucket of water
thrown by a servant over the first smoker he had ever seen,
has become associated entirely with Raleigh. Prior to the 18th
century, this legend is f ound attached to many other persons,
and the bucket of water is sometimes a flagon of wine or a
tankard of ale. However, William Harrison, the Great Eliza-
bethan chronicler, who commenced writing his description of
England in the 1570's, soon after the time of the introduction
of tobacco to England, says:
'Tobacco was first brought, and made knowne in
England by Sir John Hawkins, about the yeere one
thousand five hundred sixty five, 1 but not used by most
englishmen in many yeers after, though at this day com-
monly used by most men and many women. . . .'
This seems fairly conclusive evidence in favour of Hawkins
as the introducer, but in the third edition of Harrison's work,
published in 1681, a footnote is added:
4 Sir Walter Raleigh was the first that brought tobacco
into use, when all men wondred what it meant.'
1 In Cawdor Castle, Scotland, there is a chimney-piece dated 1510
depicting a fox smoking a pipe. How the fox obtained his tobacco at so
early a date is unknown!
16 INTRODUCTION
If you accept 'brought tobacco into use 5 as meaning popular-
izing it as a pleasurable smoke and a fashion, rather than as a
medicine, you have, I think, the true explanation, for certainly
Ralph Lane brought tobacco home to Raleigh in 1586, and by
the following year he was "cultivating it on his estate in
Ireland. Raleigh remained a confirmed smoker of clay pipes
until his last minutes on the scaffold in 1618.
It must be remembered, too, that James I anonymously
published his Counterblasts to Tobacco in 1603 (he acknow-
ledged its authorship some years later), and in it he went out
of his way to brand Raleigh, the man he loathed and judicially
murdered, as the instigator of the tobacco habit. The section
of the arrogant, bombastic treatise reads:
'Now the corrupted baseness of the first use of this
tobacco doeth very well agree with the foolish and ground-
less first entry thereof into this kingdome. It is not so long
since the first entry of this abuse amongst us here, as this
present age can very well remember both the first author
and the form of the first introduction of it amongst us. It
was neither brought in by King, great conqueror, nor
learned Doctor of Physic. With the report of a great dis-
covery for a conquest, some two or three savage men were
brought in together with this savage custom. But the pity
is the poor wild barbarous men died, but that vile bar-
barous custom is yet alive, yea, in fresh vigour, so as it
seems a miracle to me how a custom springing from so vile
a ground, and brought in by a father so generally hated
should be welcomed on so slender a warrant.'
James ended with:
'Surely smoke becomes a kitchen farre better than a
dining chamber; and yet it makes a kitchen oftentimes in
the inward parts of men, soyling and infecting with an
unctuous and oyly kind of soote as hath been found in
some great tobacco takers, that after death were opened.
A custom loathsome to the eye, harmfull to the braine,
INTRODUCTION 17
dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume
thereof, nearest resembling the horrible stygian smoke of
the pit that is bottomless.'
Some may think that James I 'had something' in that last
sentence and that it was care for the good of his subjects
which also prompted him to raise the duty on tobacco from 2d.
to the then penal figure of 6$. lOd. per Ib. His record, however,
shows that the obtaining of money interested him much more
than anyone else's welfare and quite apart from the lucrative
trade which he did in creating large-scale patents of nobility
for cash, he also and this instances what a humbug he was
diverted the taxation from tobacco to himself; moreover, he
granted, for cash, a monopoly to the Worshipful Company of
Clay Pipe Makers! The history of tobacco seems to have been
a series of blasts and counterblasts from James I's condemna-
tion, to Sir Compton Mackenzie's latest eulogy, Sublime
Tobacco.
In many European countries, during parts of the 17th
century, Church and State combined to stamp out tobacco.
Innocent XII excommunicated those who took snuff or
tobacco in St. Peter's, Rome; at Bern prohibition of tobacco
was incorporated in the Ten Commandments; in Russia the
penalties varied from slitting of the lips, or amputation of the
nose, to public knouting; whilst in Turkey the penalty was
death. In England, where the penalty under James I was only
of a pecuniary nature as it has been ever since smoking
increased rapidly, to the great benefit of the king's finances.
By 1614 there were upwards of 7,000 shops selling tobacco in
and near London. Later in the century the use of tobacco was
prescribed by doctors for its disinfectant properties and was
even used in churches as incense. The plague of 1665 gave the
habit further impetus, smokers and chewers being considered
immune and even children being taught to smoke. Pepys
records 'chawing' tobacco to take away apprehension of the
plague and it is related that a certain Etonian was whipped
by his master for refusing to smoke when instructed. At the
Restoration the Court brought back the snuff habit from the
B
18 INTRODUCTION
Continent, but smoking went on increasing until about 1700.
In the second half of the 18th century smoking in England
declined rapidly in favour of snuff taking. The rest of the story
will be unfolded alongside the description of the various
devices, sold by the tobacconist, for use in smoking and
snuffing.
Let us now enter the old-time tobacconist's shop and see
the many desirable objects which he has to offer us. As we
pass through the doorway, we must pause to examine, near
the entrance, the welcoming, carved and gaily painted wooden
figure: he may be life size, or perhaps a smaller figure, standing
on a barrel.
The oldest of these figures is the black boy. At the Sign of
the Black Boy, or At the Sign of the Blackamoor, has been a
popular address for a tobacconist since the early 17th century.
The black-boy figure was originally supposed to represent a
rather 'pot-bellied native of Guinea with deformed feet' and
17th century tobacconists' figures were so depicted. In the
18th century the black boy became more refined and virtually
a blackened European comedian, Plate 1 always, however,
retaining his crown and 'kilt', both consisting of tobacco leaves,
usually painted red, green and gold in sequence. Under his left
arm is traditionally a plug of tobacco and his right hand holds
to his mouth either a 4 clay' pipe, or a cigar, shaped like a
cornucopia.
Latterly, the Blackamoor has often been erroneously
termed a Red Indian and his head-dress and kilt referred to as
feathers. This is confusion: the Red Indian is the much
handsomer, proud-looking figure, traditional as the sign of the
cigar store or tobacconist in North America, Plate 2. This
particular example is 7 ft. 3 in. tall, and is a vigorous carving
of high individuality, executed by Arnold and Peter Ruef, of
Tiffin, Ohio, about 1880. His hands and face are painted the
traditional copper colour, and he wears a brown coat and
leggings, trimmed with red, yellow and green; his hair and
moccasins are black and the brown rifle has a black barrel.
Note the bundle of cigars in his right hand.
Scotland's kilted Highlander, with plumed bonnet,
INTRODUCTION 19
Plate 8, taking sneesh (snuff) from his ram's-horn mull,
was carved about 1810. David Wishart, tobacconist, of
Hay-market, Edinburgh, placed a 6 ft. carved Highlander
outside his shop in 1720. Wishart's figure wore flat cap,
jacket and trews, carried broadsword and targe and had no
tobacco emblem. It denoted to Jacobite sympathizers that a
smoking parlour rendezvous existed behind the shop.Wishart's
imitators converted flat cap into plumed bonnet, substituted
kilt for trews, and snuff mull for sword and targe. Usually
such figures are dressed in Peninsular War period fashion,
1800-14. The long gap between Wishart's figure and later
ones was due to 'Butcher' Cumberland's proscription of
Highland costume after the 1745 rising, not being rescinded
until 1786.
Formerly, the sailor, holding a clay pipe, was sometimes
found in seaports, but not all sailor figures were tobacconists'
signs: some were found outside pawnbrokers.
The Turk, Plate 4, with flowing robes, who should be
smoking a long pipe (it is broken off), was a rather rare
18th century tobacconist's alternative form of welcome in
England. In the 19th century the Turk sometimes took to a
cigar.
Many tobacconists formerly hung outside their premises a
cylinder of wood or metal, with horizontal reeds or ropes
running round it, painted in different colours. It represented a
tobacco roll and denoted that the strong-flavoured rope
tobacco, sweetened with treacle and intended for smoking or
chewing, was on sale within. Writers of the early 19th century
refer also to hanging signs shaped to represent gigantic snuff
rasps as being normal outside snuff shops. Have any survived?
I have never seen one.
What may well be a unique snuff-shop sign is the so-called
snuff-pedlar's staff, Plate 23. Although snuff pedlars undoubt-
edly did a thriving trade in the 18th and early 19th centuries,
and probably some of them carried a staff, I feel it unlikely
that they used anything as long, heavy or beautifully finished
to brave the elements when tramping the streets or country-
side. This remarkable specimen, 5 ft. 10 in. high and all cut
20 INTRODUCTION
from one piece (actually an inverted 'fork' from a tree), shows
an old woman seated, with open snuff box on knee, taking a
'pinch* between finger and thumb. The carving is full of
character and the colouring, which appears to be contemporary
with the date of the costume (1810-20), is extremely natural.
PART ONE
Smoking
Give a man a pipe he can smoke)
Give a man a book he can read:
And his home is bright with a calm delight,
Though the room be poor indeed.
Gifts. James Thomson (1834-1882)
CHAPTER ONE
PIPES AND PIPE CASES
DURING most of the time that Europeans have smoked
pipes, and throughout most of Europe, the clay pre-
dominated, both for men and women. In the 17th, 18th and
early 19th centuries, illustrations show that both sexes smoked
the same shapes and sizes of pipes. Whilst pipe smoking
permeated all stratas of male society, it was not general
among women of fashion.
Elizabethan and James I clays had minute bowls, because
of the costliness of tobacco, which at first cost 3s. per oz.,
coming, via Spain, from the Spanish colonies. By the 1620's
Virginia was producing half a million pounds per annum and
the price of tobacco dropped to Sd. per oz. but these figures
have to be multiplied many times to find today's equivalent.
By 1651 the Duke of Bedford, a very large smoker, using
between oz. and 1 oz. of tobacco per day, was buying
Virginia tobacco for as little as Bs. 4sd. per lb.; but Spanish,
which he also smoked, cost him 10$. per lb. 1 Between 1757 and
1770 Sir John Filmer, of East Sutton Park (whose day account
book is in our possession), paid 1$. 6d. per lb., but then the
price gradually rose and by 1774 he was paying 2$. 4d. per lb.
In 1794 Parson Woodforde paid 2s. Sd. per lb. 2
Clay pipes, being quickly fouled and easily broken, were
used and thrown away in vast quantities. Admittedly, in inns
1 Gladys Scott Thomson, Life in a Noble Household.
2 The Diary of a Country Parson, ed. J. D. Beresford, 1924-81.
23
24 SMOKING
and coffee houses, where it was the custom to present custom-
ers free with clean clay pipes for smoking on the premises, the
procedure was not quite as wasteful, because the long pipes
were put, after use, into an open iron cradle, known as a pipe
kiln or pipe roaster, which was suspended by a ring over a
charcoal fire and the pipes were roasted clean. It is doubtful,
however, if such a device was considered worth using in a
private house, because of the cheapness of clay pipes. In 1651
the Duke of Bedford paid 18s. 6d. a gross for them, but by
1665 he bought them at 225. 6d. per twelve gross lot; in 1695 he
paid anything from 24$. to 36$. per twelve gross, 1 the variation
being presumably due to differences in length as well as
quality. Pipe prices seemed to fluctuate in unison with tobacco,
for Sir John Filmer paid 2s. 2d. per gross in 1757 and 2s. Sd.
in 1774, whilst Parson Woodforde paid 3s. per gross in 1793. 2
Despite the fact that old clay pipes were often ground up
and used as moth ball, for putting in woollens, etc., the bowls
and parts, but usually very little of the stems, are continually
being excavated on old inhabited sites. Consequently, their
original length cannot be determined, but, from the start of
smoking, engravings show that they were made in a consider-
able variety of lengths. Doubtless, quite apart from individual
taste, 'shorts' were necessary for the pocket and longer ones
were smoked at home, or in the inn. Thus length alone will not
determine age, though other factors help considerably. 3
As already stated, early pipes had small, short bowls,
usually of barrel shape, and they became larger, particularly in
height, as tobacco cheapened. Early pipes had a very forward
tilt, or lean over', on the bowl. After about 1700 the fashion-
able bowl in England became more upright, as well as deeper,
although some makers and some countries retained the for-
ward slope later. In the 18th century the top of the bowl was
1 Gladys Scott Thomson, op. cit.
a Woodforde, op. dt.
'Some pipes have dates on them, but even where this does not
occur, recent research, of which some details can be obtained from the
bibliography, has made it possible not only to date some English pipes
within limits of twenty to thirty years or less, but also, by means of
makers 9 marks, to say where the 'days' were made.
PIPES AND PIPE CASES 25
usually parallel with the stem, and after about 1690-1700 the
flat heel or print, on which the maker's mark was often
stamped, developed into a spur, comfortably cool to hold and
particularly useful with churchwardens and other long pipes
which, with their heels often resting on a table, might otherwise
leave burn marks.
Because of the fragility of clays, cases were essential for
those who wanted to carry pipes in their pockets, and the
generalities about clays, given above, help in dating their
cases. Raleigh had a leather pipe case, and doubtless leather
was used fairly often, but the majority of pipe cases, particu-
larly in England, seem to have been plain, hollowed out of
sycamore or birch wood. Plain wooden objects, made essen-
tially for use, seldom survive: when worn or old-fashioned they
go on the fire. So it is with plain wooden pipe cases; I have
never seen one which could be dated earlier than the 18th
century and even they are hard to find.
Ornamental objects of wood have a better chance of sur-
vival, and in Plate 5 are four rare and elaborate cases of 17th
century design, made for pipes without spurs on the heels.
They differ fundamentally from most 18th century cases in
that they have sliding shutters and are unventilated, being
blocked at both ends. Because the spurs, which later became
usual on heels of pipes, would catch against sliding shutters,
18th century cases have hinged lids and are open at the stem
end. The cases illustrated were all intended for pipes with
small, forward-sloping bowls of similar angle and although a
few 18th century cases were made for pipes with the forward
slope, all others which I have seen take considerably larger
pipe bowls. These cases are of such fine quality that it is
possible that they were for silver pipes which Aubrey, the
historian, refers to as early as 1600, and which had been made
in the same shapes as clays. Very few of them, or of silver-
mounted clays with quill mouthpieces, have survived, although
both are known to have been made for the wealthy. The case
at the back, on the left, was formerly in the Moir Carnegie
collection. It was intended for a small-bowled pipe, 8 in. long,
and is carved from walnut and silver mounted. Although it is
26 SMOKING
dated 1745, the rather naive composition and form of the orna-
ment and the shape of the case must have appeared very old-
fashioned at that time and much more appropriate to the style
of a hundred years earlier. The bowl compartment is carved
with a stylized lion, which grasps cherub heads between its
fore and hind paws. The joints of the case and shutter are
carved with dog-tooth ornament and the long panels of both
are carved with foliage. On the case, pierced hearts are
included in the composition, while on the shutter is a shell, and
two girls, one dancing with a scarf and one holding a bird.
The case in front, shown open, with its tapering shutter
separate, came from Ashburnham, Sussex, and is of boxwood,
silver mounted. Carved with dogs, birds, a harpist and angels,
amongst intertwined foliage, it also encloses the initials E.S. It
is tempting to think that it might once have belonged to Sir
Edwin Sandys, explorer, and an early 17th century Governor
of Virginia; on date it could, and the knop, carved with stars in
rope borders, suggests that it did belong to someone con-
nected with maritime exploration.
The case at the back, on the right, of walnut, and probably
late 17th century, takes a pipe 11 in. long and is elaborately
carved with a head, in heavily curled wig, which merges into
an imbricated and twisted fish tail. The shutter and lower part
of the case are carved with floral swags and acanthus scrolls.
The pewter-mounted case, in front, on the right, is the
exception to every rule, for it has a sliding shutter of 17th
century type, but is inscribed c An. B.C. 1800, Joseph Pont'.
Comparison with the other three shows that the stem of this
case is much thicker and coarser, particularly where stem
meets bowl; this enabled it to be grooved sufficiently deeply
to allow the shutter to slide past a spur. As the bowl aperture
is a fairly large one and is set more upright to the stem than on
the other three, the pipe which it held would not have been
inconsistent with the date, in spite of the fact that, at first
sight, this appears to be a 17th century type of case. The
puzzling features go further, however, for this geometric style
of carving is commonly found on Welsh and Scandinavian
treen, but not on that from Latin countries, yet the use of
PIPES AND PIPE CASES 27
D.c. (dopo Christi), instead of A.D., suggests Italian or at
least Catholic origin.
All the pipe cases in Plate 6 are 18th century, except the
small, plain ones for 'cutties', central in front of the picture;
these are 19th century. They, and the plain but well-finished
boxwood example on their right, are the only ones which could
be, and probably are, English. The others are all continental,
and the pipes which they held, whilst varying considerably in
actual angles of bowls, retained the forward tilt, usual in
English pipes of the preceding century. All have metal-hinged
lids, with spring catches and ventilation openings at the
mouthpiece end. Five of them held pipes between 6 in. and
7 in. long, one a 10 in. Their bowls were 2 in. to 2 in. deep
overall, against the more usual Ij in. held by 17th century
cases. The cases at the ends of the back row, which were
formerly in the Bompas collection, are both Dutch and have
an acute forward slope. That on the left is of well-patinated
pearwood, inlaid with brass. The amusing, late 18th century
bearded-man case on the right is carved from boxwood and has
an unusual stem casing, pierced with three tiers of four-light
lanterns. The case, second left, probably from the Dolomites
area, is of olive-wood, and is elaborately brass mounted and
inlaid with piqu. The next two are Austrian: the longer is
carved from pearwood, and the shorter from boxwood; the
latter includes among its motifs a double-headed, crowned
eagle, a boy skipping, a human head, and a cross above a heart
which encloses the initials K.M. Engraving on the copper
hinge repeats the initials K.M. and gives the date 1756.
The Dutch or German specimen, front left, is most interest-
ing; of ebony, mounted and decorated with brass, it is fitted
with a most ingenious combination dial lock, so that no
one else could smoke it in its owner's absence obviously
owned by a man with ideas of cleanliness ahead of his
time!
Whilst briar pipes often have considerable artistic merit,
they are disappointing historically as, although almost uni-
versal today, their origin dates back little more than a century.
According to Alfred Dunhill, the discovery that briar (which
28 SMOKING
incidentally has nothing to do with rose briar) was the ideal
material for pipes occurred fortuitously: in the mid-19th
century a French pipe maker, on a pilgrimage to Napoleon's
birthplace in Corsica, lost or broke his meerschaum pipe whilst
there; a peasant, at his request, carved him one for temporary
use, utilizing the hard, close-grained root of a tree heath or
bruyere, which grows around the shores of the Mediterranean.
The pipe was so cool smoking and generally satisfactory in
wear, that the manufacturer brought away some bruy&re roots
and sent them to St. Claude, a small town in a valley of the
Jura mountains, long and widely noted for wood turning and
carving. Soon pipe making became so important there that it
virtually ousted other branches of woodworking, with which
the townsmen had formerly made their living.
In this story mention has been made of meerschaum, and
there is no doubt that from the second half of the 18th century
both meerschaum and porcelain pipe bowls were challenging
the clay, in what we would now call the higher income group
of Western Europe; but neither material was suitable for
mouthpieces, and on these de luxe pipes they were usually of
amber or carved stag-horn, making the finished product a
costly one.
In north-west Europe Russia, Finland and Scandinavia
the lands pf wood wooden pipes were smoked commonly
from an early date. In England the cherrywood, and in
America the corn cob, had some following, as they still have,
but they cost more than clays, and although they were cooler,
they folded quickly and were not long lasting. They possess
no artistic merit for the collector.
There were, however, other pre-briar hardwood pipes, of
artistic and historic merit in fact, some of them, with scenes
carved on their bowls, are, in their way, documentaries in
wood; they are mostly from central Europe and are of con-
siderable interest to collectors. Although usually lumped to-
gether as 19th century German, some of them are actually 18th
century, and their provenance includes Austria, Switzerland,
Italy and Holland, as well as Germany. They are made from a
variety of close-grained, hardwood roots, difficult to identify,
PIPES AND PIPE CASES 29
and must have provided good, cool smoking, but probably
none of these woods possessed the char-resisting qualities of
bruyere, so the bowls, which are mostly of very large size,
were lined with iron or silver.
These pipes are almost invariably of mid-European shape,
with the bowls curving back, forming a U with the long stems;
the stems curve back again at the mouthpiece, so that in
smoking, the heavy pipe hung down, needing hand support.
This shape drains well and occasionally a screw-capped outlet
for tobacco juices was provided at the junction of stem and
bowl. The stems were usually cherrywood, said to improve
the flavour of tobacco, and the mouthpieces were stag-horn.
In some instances there is a junction length of woven,
flexible tube between stem and tube, or between tube and
mouthpiece. Most of these pipes are silver mounted and the
majority seem to have been fitted with hinged and ventilated
lids, sometimes elaborately pierced and ornamented, for
smoking outdoors.
A selection of these attractive, carved pipes is shown in
Plates 7 and 8. For convenience in grouping, some of the stems
have been removed. The first left, top row, Plate 7, is probably
Bavarian, skilfully carved with an allegorical subject and a
coat of arms. The next, an unusually small pipe of unknown
nationality, has a horse and initials G.W. engraved on the
silver cover; a ploughman with plough is engraved on the
ivory ring which connects stem and bowl, and on the wooden
bowl, which is held between the claws of an animal paw, the
ploughman, and plough theme is repeated in the carving.
The third is one of the well-known, late 18th century series
of German dolphin pipes, in which the dolphin holds the stem
connection in his mouth. Like many of this series, a figure of
Mercury appears in the carving on the bowl; here Mercury is
shown seated, holding a shield which encloses a merchant's
mark, with initials W.S. The silver cover is unusually elaborate,
pierced in the Gothic manner, and has knights in armour in
the 'windows'. The last in this row is carved with a stag,
another popular theme on German pipes.
Bottom left is carved with Mercury on tip-toe, spreading
30 SMOKING
his benediction over a sailing ship, alongside a bale-and-
barrel-loaded quay. Bottom right, another dolphin pipe, shows
Mercury in flight, holding a benediction scroll above a village,
in which are peasants with casks and a beer dray.
Second left is a vast silver-mounted bowl of walnut, skil-
fully carved, showing two figures, a gallant and a maid, in
mid-18th century costume, among rococo scrolls; this exagger-
ated pipe, which has a bowl 3 in. deep inside, and holds nearly
2 oz. of tobacco, is a mid-19th century, Victorian-English
romantic revival, probably made for exhibition at the Crystal
Palace, for it bears the 1851 hall mark. The antithesis of this
example is the artistic, Austrian, mid-18th century pipe bowl
alongside. It shows a hound chasing a stag above a delicately
carved series of pierced rococo scrolls, which provide a cool
hand-grip, whilst keeping the weight down nicely; the bowl is
silver lined.
In Plate 8 the silver-lidded pipes each end of the upper row
are German, competently carved with coats of arms, and are
representative of a large group made in the second quarter of
the 19th century.
The specimen between them, also silver lidded, probably
Italian 18th century, portrays in its fine carving The Holy
Family.
The Austrian pipe, bottom left, with a rather unusual
silver lid, dates from 1790-1800. The bowl is carved much in
the documentary manner fashionable on high-quality treen
around that time. It bears the name Johann Golner. The
miniature scenes depicted, showing wine making, a wine
cellar and peasants drinking in a garden, are based on the style
of Teniers. At the other end of the row is another Austrian
'documentary' pipe, of equally high quality and perhaps with
even more interesting scenes depicted. It shows, in consider-
able detail, merchandise landing at the quay, being carried to
the warehouse, in the warehouse and being sold over the
counter. It appears to have been carved between 1800 and
1810 and may well be from the Adriatic coast.
The pipe second left is an unusual and powerful sculptural
head of an elderly man, with a wart on his crooked nose; the
PIPES AND PIPE CASES 81
eyes are glass and the mouth is coloured. It suggests a study
from life. Who was the original?
The last specimen in this row, the small pipe carved with
flowers and foliage, is 18th century, probably Viennese.
The six briars in Plate 9 are a representative selection of the
vast number of subjects carved between 1860 and 1900. They
include a dolphin, in this later vogue, forming the whole bowl;
a bull with silver nose chain, linked to the silver lid; a hand
grasping a bowl; a Russian soldier and a horse. The pipe in the
bottom row, left, is carved with the crest of the Suffolk
Regiment and the inscription 'Boer War 1899-1900'. Centre,
the reclining nude is graceful and the acute forward slope of
the pipe is reminiscent of the 17th century. In contrast, the
very vertical French bowl on the right, carved with a figure
of a legionnaire, perpetuates the style and size of pipe of the
early 19th century.
From 1850 up to the present, it is a curious fact that there
has been no outstanding style in pipes. Every size, shape,
style, angle of bowl, and both plain and carved, seems to have
been tried; but there have been a few short-lived fashions and
plenty of novelties.
Under this last heading come the walking stick containing
a long-stemmed briar pipe with windshield, Plate 41, and the
wooden 'bottle', left of Plate 10. Both were made in Germany
about 1890-1900. The cap over the end of the pipe is ingeni-
ously constructed with a double inner thread. When it is
removed from the pipe, and the pipe itself is taken out for
smoking, the cap screws back on the stick to form a knob
handle. With the bottle pipe, the upper part unscrews and
contains the mouthpiece; this fits into the hole in the front of
the lower section, which is the bowl. The cap of the bottle and
the metal mounts of both these pipes are silver-plated copper
poor quality and probably made by the firm who, about the
same period, produced similarly mounted and jointed novelty
walking sticks, containing pencils, pens and inkpots.
The clumsy, iron-studded, mahogany, one-piece pipe, with
iron 'candle socket' bowl, is rather interesting, because it is a
once common (in every sense of the word), but now rare, Irish
82 SMOKING
pipe, of a type which was fully documented by Hone. These
extremely heavy and ill-balanced pipes were used by working
men in Clonmel and Dublin between 1820 and 1830; their
owners must have had good teeth! Originally they cost 6d.
each; in 1956 this well-worn specimen was bought for 2. What
a pity it is that our possessions do not attain antique value in
our own lifetimes!
The standing-figure pipes, in this same photograph, are
mostly Swiss and Tyrolean novelties of the 1870's. They gener-
ally represent celebrities and caricatures; note Mr. Gladstone.
The bowls are in the heads and the stems go down into the
bodies; one is shown in front, taken apart. The bust of the
negress is much more sophisticated and carefully finished than
the usual production; it may be French or from French
Morocco.
Little tube of mighty pow'r,
Charmer of an idle hour,
Object of my warm desire,
Lip of wax, and eye of fire;
And thy snowy taper waist
With my finger gently brac'd;
And thy pretty swelling crest
With my little stopper prest.
A Pipe of Tobacco. Isaac Hawkins Browne (1706-1760)
CHAPTER TWO
TOBACCO STOPPERS
EVERY pipe smoker knows, to obtain the maximum
enjoyment from his smoke he must have something hard
to press down the tobacco in his pipe at intervals and correct
'the draw'. Admittedly some smokers manage quite well by
using a finger or thumb as a stopper, but it hardly improves
the appearance of the digit so used.
It is curious that tobacco stoppers have gone out of fashion,
for, averaging a mere 2 in. in length, they take up little room
in the pocket, are pleasant to look at and handle, and their
lack causes all sorts of odd objects to be used as substitutes:
pens and pencils seem to be the most popular, but even um-
brella ferrules are seen serving the purpose at times, with con-
siderable danger to the eyes of anyone in the vicinity. Most
tobacco stoppers which have survived are in the form of small
costume figures or busts, cast in metal. Some of these are
pleasing and ingenious, but the majority obtainable today,
particularly those made of brass, are modern reproductions,
some deliberately faked to look old. Usually they represent
great ones of , days gone by, particularly popular being
Cromwell, Charles I and Nelson; as they cost pence to produce
but often sell for shillings or even a pound or two, they must
be profitable productions.
C 33
84 SMOKING
The most interesting to collect, but difficult and expensive
to obtain, are those of individuality, carved from wood, bone
or ivory. There are numerous references to tobacco stoppers in
literature of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and they show
that silver, pewter, bronze, brass, ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl
and wooden tobacco stoppers were formerly made in large
quantities and that the last four provided an outlet for the
imagination and artistry of anyone handy with knife or chisel;
probably many of the most original and skilfully carved
examples were the work of amateurs. Will Wimble, one of Sir
Roger de Coverley's circle in the 18th century Spectator, is
related by Addison to have made great quantities of tobacco
stoppers during the winter, 'and that he made a present of one
to every gentleman in the country who has good principles and
smokes'. In Dickens' Great Expectations, Wemmick's collection
of curios, in his house at Walworth, contained several tobacco
stoppers carved by the 'Aged Parent*.
Sir Roger de Coverley on another occasion, when viewing
the Coronation Chairs in Westminster Abbey, remarked that
'if Will Wimble were with us and saw those two chairs, it
would go hard but he would get a tobacco stopper out of one
or t'other of them'.
Taylor, the 'Water Poet', in 1649, referring to the famous
Glastonbury Thorn, said: 'I did take a dead sprigge from it,
wherewith I made two or three tobacco stoppers, which I
brought to London.' Many tobacco stoppers were, in fact,
carved from famous wood, such as the Thorn, the Boscobel Oak
or Shakespeare's mulberry tree. Others were caricatures of the
famous, such as the Duke of Wellington, a rabid anti-smoker,
who aroused much resentment among soldiers by forbidding
smoking in barracks. Carved tobacco stoppers, mostly sold by
street vendors, seem to have died out in the first half of the 19th
century. Mayhew in London Labour and the London Poor, pub-
lished in 1851, records an interview with a street seller who said:
6 At that time well, really, then, I can't say how long
it's since I sold little bone "tobacco-stoppers" they're
seldom asked for now, stoppers is quite out of fashion
TOBACCO STOPPEES 85
and one of them was a figure of "Old Nosey", the Duke
[of Wellington] you know it was intended as a joke you
see, sir; a tobacco stopper. 5
As a broad generality, stoppers with small bases are early,
to fit into the small-bowled early pipes. But whilst all the 17th
century stoppers probably had small bases, some of the 18th
century specimens, which show figures in costume of the
period, or have dates carved on them, also have small bases.
All kinds of hardwoods were used, sometimes protected by
silver or pewter mounts, but more often unmounted and left
to protect themselves with a coat of char. For the finest carv-
ings and some really are works of art dense, close-grained
boxwood was almost invariably preferred.
Arms and legs seem to have been the most popular themes,
but in the 18th century the coursing greyhound and the
squirrel holding a nut both enjoyed quite a vogue and were
the subjects of some very spirited carving.
Three versions of the greyhound theme, all in boxwood,
one silver mounted and with silver tail, are shown in Plate 11.
The outsize specimen, also silver mounted, on a plateau above
leaf branches, carved and pierced in the style of mediaeval
ecclesiastical work, is quite outstanding in its quality. On the
right in the same row is a grotesquely carved and silver-
mounted vine-stem stopper, engraved J W 1773. Below are
a delightful carved boxwood figure of a boy dated 1720; a fine,
silver-mounted, boxwood memento mori stopper, carved with
a skull, hour-glass, cross-bones, mattock, coffin and dated 1715;
a superb Flemish early 19th century stopper, of intricately
carved and pierced boxwood. It depicts David with the head of
Goliath around an open 'lantern', supported on a tapering,
leaf-carved pedestal, encircled by a free-revolving ring, above
a lozenge-carved base; and, finally, a silver-mounted boxwood
figure of Shakespeare, above a fluted column. This last was the
speciality of an old man named Salsbee; the standing figure of
Shakespeare, with right elbow leaning on the volumes of his
comedies, tragedies and histories, placed on a pedestal sup-
ported on the busts of Henry V, Richard III and Elizabeth I,
36 SMOKING
is based on the statues by Peter Scheemakers (1691-1770) in
Westminster Abbey and at Wilton.
In spite of their being copies, Salsbee's Shakespeare
stoppers, of which I have recorded four or five dating between
1765 and 1773, all have some quaint variations and individu-
ality imparted by their carver. Salsbee always carved his
name, age and date of carving. His memory was evidently con-
fused and sometimes there are slight contradictions in his age
compared with the date. Some Salsbee stoppers are silver
mounted, others are not and they vary in quality. The one
illustrated is a good early specimen, dated 1765, and Salsbee
gives his age as sixty-three. The mount is engraved Thomas
Stevens, Bermondsey Street.
Most of these stoppers, as is fairly general with 18th and
early 19th century specimens, have end diameters varying
between & in. and in.
The stoppers in the top row of Plate 12 are 17th century
specimens and, as such, naturally very worn. The burry-root
stopper, on the left, is mounted in pewter and the diameter of
the stopper end is only & in., the same as on the carved figure
of a kneeling man in 17th century costume, also mounted in
pewter, the dog, and the finely modelled lion rampant, with
paws resting on a crown. The flower girl in Stuart costume, one
from left, carved from boxwood, probably commenced life as
a statuette, but the charring of the base shows that it has been
used as a stopper.
In silver and gold, finger-ring stoppers exist. Some are
made all in one piece; others have the stopper part made to
unscrew from the ring, which in its turn may include a signet.
One which I have seen of silver was a Jacobite relic of the '45.
The dog stopper is the only example of the ring type in wood
which I know, and is a particularly interesting survival. The
ball-and-lantern stopper at the end of the row, with chained
signet, all cut from the solid, is probably Welsh, dating from
about 1700.
In the bottom row, the first two stoppers, rather crudely
carved as heads of Shakespeare, are said to have been made
from the famous mulberry tree at New Place, Stratford-on-
TOBACCO STOPPERS 37
Avon, and as such would date from the second half of the 18th
century. The attractive Flemish stopper, carved with low-
relief dancers, the miniature soldier, the figure with the
masonic symbols and the silver-mounted bulldog head are all
of the same period and of carved boxwood.
Prickers, for preventing tobacco caking in the pipe and for
helping the 'draw', also rank among smokers' requisites;
several of these are included in Plate IS. In the front of the
picture the clenched-fist pricker is made of thornwood. Top
row, on the left, is a simply turned stopper which contains a
brass pricker. The negro in the same row, made of horn, also
contains a brass pricker attached to the bone screw cap which
forms the stopper. In the lower row the silver-mounted
boxwood hand grasps a detachable miniature pipe of steel,
which is also a pricker. These and the other stoppers in this
picture are probably all English, 18th century, though the two
bellows and the ivory 'crowned mace 9 stopper may be 17th
century. The last is a dainty piece of work, and is shown with
its original lignum vitae protective case behind it.
But he 9 s a frugal man indeed that with a leaf can dine 9
And needs no napkins for his hands his fingers' ends to wipe,
But keeps his kitchen in a box, and roast meat in a pipe.
Knave of Clubbs. Samuel Rowlands (17th century)
CHAPTER THREE
TOBACCO JARS AND BOXES
UNTIL the introduction of the vacuum-lid tin, a lead con-
tainer was the best method of keeping tobacco in con-
dition. If you were wealthy enough to afford a silver jar it was
a good alternative. Even today, domestically, a lead or lead-
lined tobacco jar cannot be bettered, particularly if it has a
lead weight inside, to compress and protect the tobacco from
exposure to the air.
Lead jars were probably used from the introduction of pipe
smoking, but, being easily damaged and the lead being re-
usable, the majority have been destroyed. Of those still extant
some are of 17th century design, but no dated specimens, so
far as I know, have survived from earlier than the 18th
century. They seem to have died out about 1850, and were
largely replaced by glazed earthenware which, although
cheaper, was less efficient. Earthenware jars had been used to
some extent for at least one hundred years, both in tobacconists'
shops and the home, before they finally superseded lead.
Most wooden tobacco jars originally had lead or foil liners,
and being lighter than wholly lead jars, but just as efficient
and less easily damaged, they enjoyed great popularity. From
the early days of smoking they were made in a great variety
of shapes and woods for home use, but usually in the form of
turned barrels for standing on the shelves in the tobacconist's
shop. Both because of its weight and the ease with which the
metal deforms, it is doubtful if lead jars, other than those of
small size, were ever used as shop containers. A large storage
38
TOBACCO JARS AND BOXES 39
barrel, for shelf use, probably, though not necessarily, in-
tended for tobacco, is shown in Plate 14. It measures 12J in. in
height and 11 in. in diameter. It is a rare survival, probably
from the 17th century, and is pole-lathe turned from an un-
jointed block of sycamore. Externally it is painted red, with
remains of decoration in green and other colours. Inside are
considerable traces of a lead paint or foil lining. The domestic
tobacco jar on the shelf on the right shows an interesting com-
parison of size. By analogy of design, which is also confirmed
by its appearance of age, this oak jar was made about the same
time as the barrel.
The cigar moulds in this same illustration will be described
in the next chapter.
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between tobacco
jars and certain tea-caddies, but as a generality tea-caddies
had locks, tobacco jars did not. This test is not infallible,
however, as some jar and box-like caddies had no locks,
because they fitted into outer 6 tea chests' or tea poys which
locked.
In Plate 16 is a representative selection of wooden tobacco
jars, all of which appear to be English, except those otherwise
described. I have never seen any date-inscribed, wooden
tobacco jars, so it is usually impossible to assess age accurately,
but design, when compared with other objects of related shape
and condition, plus knowledge of fashion, make the following
attributions probable. In the top row, left to right, the outsize
oak jar it is 12| in. high over the acorn finial is probably
not as early as it looks; I place it as a Victorian 'revival' of a
17th century design. The ring-turned barrel, on stem and foot,
appears to be a genuine 17th century example. The pyramidal,
octagonal mahogany jar dates from circa 1900. The lead-lined,
mahogany coffin exemplifies the kind of macabre jest which
delighted our Georgian ancestors; an example of this grim
humour was noted in a memento mori pipe stopper, and later
we shall be seeing coffin snuff-boxes. The yew-wood jar, well
turned and nicely patinated, is almost certainly a mid-18th
century specimen. The Scottish alternate light and dark
staved jar dates from circa 1890; this light and dark staved
40 SMOKING
turnery, or coopering, occurred both in Scotland and Holland
in the 18th and 19th centuries. In both countries, designs were
sometimes additionally ornamented by horizontal moulding
of the built up cylinder on a lathe or, in later work, on a spindle
machine.
In the middle row the first jar, of lignum vitae, can confi-
dently be dated as 18th century; it so closely resembles mor-
tars of the same period. The next small jar, also of lignum
vitae, is rather an indeterminate object; it has been made out
of the base of an 18th century coffee mill, but at some time
has been used for tobacco. The cylindric ebony jar an un-
usual 18th century specimen retains its original lead weight.
The jar formed as a snake-infested skull was made in China,
about 1900, for the European market. Inkstands, smaller
versions of this unpleasant theme, were also shipped here.
In the bottom row the sycamore barrel was made at
Tunbridge Wells or Tonbridge early in the 19th century and
the lid is decorated with the famous mosaic. A nice piece of
carvingisthe walnut jar, cut from the solid to represent a negro
market vendor, with some sort of circular discs displayed for
sale on his lap. The upper part of the figure forms the lid,
hinged at the lap' level. Beside the seated negro is an empty
sack and in front an empty barrel, presumably for matches and
ash. It appears to have been made in the second half of the
19th century, possibly in France. The jar decorated with
carved heads, all cut from the solid, came from French Morocco
about 1900 and is most attractive and skilful in its sculptural
modelling of the different types of inhabitants of the country.
The carving is lightly stained to give a naturalistic quality to
the faces and head-dresses. A pipe rack en suite is shown in
Plate 20. The olive-wood barrel is believed to be 19th century,
Italian.
The dividing line between small tobacco jars and large
tobacco boxes is thin: it is often non-existent between small
tobacco boxes and large snuff boxes. To keep tobacco in con-
dition, many tobacco boxes originally had lead-foil linings, but
frequently these have perished and the remnants have been
removed. As snuff likewise must be carefully conditioned,
TOBACCO JARS AND BOXES 41
snuff boxes were often similarly lined; lining, therefore, does
not help in deciding original usage. In all probability a great
variety of tightly lidded boxes were sold by tobacconists for
either snuff or tobacco, according to choice. Doubtless, if a box
were a good one, it might, at different times during its long
life, be used alternatively for snuff and pipe tobacco, and if it
were not too large it might sometimes be treated as a table box
and at other times as a pocket receptacle. The wear on the
carving on some quite large boxes shows that they must have
been carried in the pocket over a long period. In spite of
certain advantages offered by tobacco pouches, many pipe
smokers, even today, prefer the protection which a rigid box
gives against crushing and making the tobacco dusty.
It has become a convention, chiefly amongst silversmiths
and writers on silver, copper, brass and pewter, to designate
oval boxes as tobacco and round ones as snuff. This theory
does not seem to have any sound basis; nevertheless, on the
principle of 'follow my leader 5 , we will describe all the boxes
in Plates 17 to 19 as 'tobacco'. The late 18th century, oval,
Sheraton box, left of Plate 17, is unusually finely made and
veneered; the fan is satinwood, with a mother-of-pearl centre,
the lunettes and side rims of curl mahogany and the angles are
finished with a boxwood and ebony stringing.
The oval box of masur birch, carved with an urn, medallion
and border, is Finnish, circa 1800; it has the clever integral
wood hinge, which probably originated in the Karelian
Isthmus. The oval cedar box, rimmed in, horn and inlaid with
bone, belongs to a small and rare English group, which all
appear to have been made by one man between 1680 and
1710. They bear varied but attractive inscriptions and dates;
the one illustrated proclaims Tor you the best is not too
good 1706'.
The oval maple (?) wood box, with a dog and three birds
in a centre shield, flanked by initials I-G, must be one of the
earliest dated specimens known, for its low-relief carving also
states EW. FECIT 1664. Even today the lid is a perfect fit. This
box, the previous one and the next to be described appear
never to have had foil linings, but they have been treated
42 SMOKING
inside with wax or oil, which has rendered them extremely hard
and non-absorbent.
The last of the ovals in this plate, carved and hollowed
from boxwood, and well worn, is quite a documentary. It
shows a haberdasher's shop, circa 1780, with heavy barred
doors, interior fitments with pigeon-holes and shelves, bales
of cloth and suspended scissors. Behind the counter the
haberdasher measures out ribbon (?) against the ell rule which
his customer is holding.
In Plate 18 are three deep, but crudely carved, Dutch
boxes, all cut from the solid. The central specimen, showing
traces of red polychrome in the background of the scrolling
and dated 1792, and that on the left, have integral wood
hinges. The latter, carved not unskilfully with a scene after
David Teniers, is date-inscribed inside the lid 'Den 17 October
1572', but this date, an instance of 'fake it' not *fecit\ is
probably 200 years before the box was made. The box on the
right, inscribed 'Den 27 APR.' (no year), has copper hinges, a
feature as common on Dutch wooden tobacco boxes as is
sealing the interior with a paint lining, which two of these
boxes retain. A short clay pipe was often kept with the
tobacco in these large boxes.
In Plate 19 the boxes extreme left and right, both lead-
foil lined, were undoubtedly for tobacco, not snuff. The
first, with its depth of 5 in. and integral wood-hinged lid,
opening at the top, would have been unsuitable for snuff;
likewise would the other, which would have caked with snuff
and jammed in the slide.
The oblong walnut box, scooped from the solid and inlaid
with mother-of-pearl and brass pin-points, was a specialized
tourist souvenir of the isle of Rhodes in the last quarter of the
19th century. Many of these boxes seem to have been made,
all varying slightly in size, shape and design of inlay, but alike
in general technique.
The next box, carved from solid boxwood, is dated 1767
and is most intricately and confusedly carved both all over the
outside, and also inside the lid the latter with Adam and
Eve. I do not know its nationality, but there is doubtless some
TOBACCO JARS AND BOXES 48
folk legend somewhere which links up such diverse subjects as
men in Elizabethan costume, naked Red Indians (?), a man
with a tail, two others with asses' heads, one of whom wears his
heart outside his breast, a man with a peg leg, who holds his
severed leg in his hand, a pig with a barrel round its body, and
other weird and wonderful creatures too numerous to describe
here.
The fourth box, also carved from the solid, and probably
German or Austrian, has the appearance of very considerable
age. The box itself is grasped by a lion rampant, with Moses
and Aaron, one at each side, under its paws; in front the
integral wood-hinged lid is carved with a coat of arms.
Literary references to fops' tobacco boxes go back more
than 350 years. One such, penned by Henry Fitz-Geffery in
1617, mentions 'A spruce coxcomb . . . that never walkes
without his looking-glass, in a tobacco box or diall set, that he
may privately conferre with it.' These words may well have
been apposite to the original possessors of the two rare boxes
pictured in Plate 15. These handsome boxes, which date from
the mid-18th century, must have been expensive productions;
though bought by me many miles and several years apart,
they were obviously the work of one skilful man. The larger of
the two is 5j in. long, the smaller 3 in. Both of them are
hollowed from the solid wood and have integral wood hinges;
this may denote Scottish origin. The larger box has three
'windows' cut in the lid, two each in the back and front and
one in each end. These nine windows are mirror-glass backed;
against the centre one on the lid is carved in relief, figures of a
man, woman and two children, in mid-18th century costume;
flanking this large window are smaller ones showing profile
busts. Each of the windows is framed by carved rays which
produce a rather rococo effect. The whole of the background is
infilled with a carefully composed pattern of imbrication.
Inside the boxes, the lids are mirror-glass lined and the box
sides and bottoms covered with a heavy gauge of lead. The
small box follows the same general lines, but with only the
single window, silhouetting two costume figures.
Sweet, when the morn is grey;
Sweet, when they've cleared away
Lunch; and at close of day
Possibly sweetest.
Ode to Tobacco. Charles Stuart Calverley (1831-1884)
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SMOKER'S MISCELLANY
BOWLS UP! Bowls down! Pipes horizontal! Which is the
right way to store them? The controversy has continued
for centuries, and as Plate 20 shows, the obliging woodworker
has made pipe receptacles to meet all views.
The large, 18th century, country-made oak rack, to hang
on the wall, was a type once commonly found in inns and
farmhouses. It provided ample 'accommodation' for visitors,
holding ten 'churchwardens' horizontally, and seven shorter
clays, 'bowls up', at the base. Additionally, it includes a use-
ful trough for spills, etc.
The churchwarden pipe box, or tray, was an 18th century
alternative. It was usually a simple, plain mahogany object,
divided into compartments, as illustrated. Occasionally a
more decorative one is found, inlaid with crossed church-
warden pipes. Normally these boxes are about 26J in. long,
including the small lidded box, for tinder and steel, at the end;
this is a common, but by no means universal, feature. Where
it does not occur the overall length is about 23 in. Widths
vary between 5J in. and 6 in.; depths are usually 2| in. A
few such boxes, or trays, survive in silver and brass, with
tobacco jars, and occasionally candlesticks, en suite.
For those who preferred their churchwarden pipes stored
vertically, the circular pillar stand, with candle serving both
for illumination and lighting, was the ideal. Old engravings
sometimes show this type on a small table alongside a con-
44
THE SMOKER'S MISCELLANY 45
tented smoker, at ease in his armchair. The 17 in. high,
mahogany pillar pipe stand, with octagonal scallop-edged
base tray, shows the grace of 18th century design. The heavy
oak specimen, with three built-in spill vases, typifies the
clumsy deterioration which had developed by the 1820-80
period.
Although friction matches had been invented in 1826 by
John Walker, a Stockton-on-Tees chemist, they remained
expensive and comparatively little used for at least a decade
after: so the spill, or an ember from the fire, picked up in
ember tongs, normally continued to provide the smoker with
a light. 1 Special spill planes were made until quite recently, for
producing the curled shaving spills seen in the illustration.
The rather grotesque wooden figure, with spill basket on
his back, standing on a 'rocky' mound pierced for five pipes,
is German, mid-19th century.
The rack for pipes, 'bowls up', is a good example of
character carving, circa 1900, made en suite with a tobacco jar
in Plate 16.
The smoker's compendium, left of Plate 21, is one of those
amusingly busy, but none the less useful, multi-purpose
objects, in which Victorians of the 1850-70 period particularly
delighted. It is made of pearwood, stained and polished
mahogany colour. Like many other objects of related style,
such as string barrels, match containers, ink-wells and pen-
wiper buckets, made about the same time, it is heavily
mounted with brass. The barrel for tobacco has a tap, which is
a cigar cutter; the severed cigar-ends fall into the bucket in
front. At each side of the barrel is mounted another bucket,
one for candle, the other for matches. On the front edge of the
plinth is a match striker.
'Smokers' Companions', small fitted tables, to stand along-
side 'father's armchair', enjoyed their heyday about the same
time, but continued to be made until the first decade of the
20th century. The majority had circular tops and bases and a
central turned pillar. Equipment built into or on the top
1 Bygone fire and lighting appliances will be dealt with compre-
hensively in another book in this series.
46 SMOKING
always included a tobacco jar and pipe rack. The earlier
examples also had a holder for spills and usually another for
pipe cleaners. Late specimens replaced spill vase by match
holder and some have secondary lidded jars for cheroots and
possibly cigarettes. The whole companion and its equipment
is usually of wood, sometimes metal mounted.
Cigar cutters, being mostly all metal, offer little scope to
collectors of wooden bygones, but Plate 21 shows two which
qualify for illustration. Mephistopheles, nicely carved and
polychrome finished, is probably Edwardian; he bites off
cigars, inserted into his mouth, when the plunger under his
chin is pressed. The turned lignum vitae object alongside, with
circular 'mouth', is a cigar piercer of about 1870, made for the
torpedo-shaped cigars which were formerly so popular. The
bone stud on top is the head of a long pin which passes
centrally through the circular aperture and into the wood
below. To use the piercer, the pin is raised clear of the aperture
into which the sealed end of the cigar is pushed; then the pin
is stabbed down, piercing the cigar effectively from side to
side, without tearing the leaf. For years it was among our
'dunno-whats'. Then it was shown on television; and two old
gentlemen, one viewing in Yorkshire, the other in the Isle of
Wight, who remembered seeing similar piercers used in their
youth, sent us the answer. A test confirmed its efficiency; the
side piercing gives a good 'draw' on the cigar and no bits of
leaf or dust get in one's mouth.
The circular plug-tobacco cutter of mahogany, with horn-
handled knife, was probably used on a tobacconist's counter
less than a century ago. The very individual pocket plug cutter,
made in the form of a sea horse, suggests the work of a seaman
in the days of sail. For shop use, a plug-slicing 'machine', not
illustrated, was developed in France in the first half of the
19th century. The plug of tobacco, D shape in section, is
placed, flat side down, on a moving carriage. When the handle
is turned, the carriage, by means of a worm gear, conveys the
tobacco along the slides from left to right and forces it up
against a wheel formed of diagonally set cutter blades. The
cutter rotates under a curved boxing at one end and the sliced
THE SMOKER'S MISCELLANY 47
tobacco drops into a drawer beneath. The cases are usually
beech, grained to resemble rosewood.
The sycamore pipe mould, made in two halves, is the only
one which I have seen; this is not surprising, because iron, not
wood, moulds for pipes were normally used. This example,
some 150 years old, makes an llj in. pipe. The pipes were
made in a 'flow' series of operations. Briefly, after kneading
pipe clay of the right consistency into long tailed lumps, each
amply large enough for one pipe, the kneader passed them to
a moulder who, with his right hand, drew the long clay tail
over a fine steel rod, held in the left hand; his dexterity was
such that he always exactly bedded the rod in the centre of the
clay and left a ball of solid clay at one end to form the bowl.
Having placed the stem, with solid clay attached in one half
of the mould and closed the other half tightly down on it, a
metal cone, the size of the inside of the bowl, was then driven
into the clay cone by means of a lever, forcing the surplus
clay upwards. This surplus of bowl wall was next removed by
a knife, inserted into the cut in the mould. The rough pipe was
then passed to a trimmer, usually a lad or a girl, and a certain
amount of finishing operations and testing for 'draw' took
place, prior to burning in the kiln. Fairholt, in 1859, relates
that the average output per employee was nearly 500 pipes per
day, and the price wholesale for these pipes was about Is. 4d.
per gross. They were retailed at four for a penny theoretically
a good profit, but the percentage of breakages was high.
Cigarette smoking did not come to Britain on a large scale
until after the Crimean war of 1854-6. Even then the habit
penetrated slowly. In consequence most of the production
came into the 'automatic' machine age, whilst hand-made
cigarettes virtually required no tools. There are, therefore, but
few pieces of treen connected with cigarettes, apart from
cigarette boxes or cases, many of which are beautifully made
but too familiar to appeal to the collector yet. The cigarette
stand with an ivory-nut head and lignum vitae body, from
South America, is perhaps unusual enough to merit inclusion
in Plate 21.
Probably the most interesting gadget is the rosewood,
48 SMOKING
home-cigarette-making tube, brought out in the 1870's or
1880's. Two examples are shown in front of Plate 21; one is
closed, the other open, to show the thinly turned tube, funnel
and ramrod, which comprised the neat little device for making
tapering, paper-covered cigarettes. Similar devices, made of
pearwood and horn, were designed in France. They are
stamped:
MOULE A CIGARILLES
LEMAIRE-DAIME
PARIS
PROPRIETE INDIVTDUELLE DE DESSINS
GARANTTE PAR LA LOI
Packets of brown-coloured, thin, tapering paper tubes were
sold for use with the gadget. They also are printed as above,
but some are additionally worded: 'Henry Solomon & Co. sole
agents for Great Britain and its colonies. London.' As the rose-
wood cigarille makers are not stamped, it appears likely that
they are English-made versions.
It is an interesting fact that Russian cigarettes were
imported in large quantities from 1866 onwards and were more
mouthpiece than cigarette. They seem to have been an early
attempt at a combined holder and cigarette, for the paper was
cut on a spiral and tapered to a point at one end.
Wars and variations in excise duty have been responsible
for many changes in tobacco-using habits. Although a few
cigars were imported to Britain in the second half of the 18th
century, the general taste for cigars was introduced by the
military, who had acquired the habit in Spain, during the
Peninsular war of 1807-14; but with the duty on imported
cigars at 18$. per Ib. in 1815, when the general peace threw
open our ports, nearly all the cigars smoked here must have
been made in this country. In 1823 only 26 Ib. of manufac-
tured cigars were recorded as imported. Then the duties began
to be reduced, until by 1830 they were halved, and the imports
of cigars in that year went up to more than a quarter of a
million pounds. Incidentally, by 1825 cigar consumption in
The Blackamoor, the earliest tobacconist's sign in Eng-
land, dates back at least to the early 17th century. This
specimen, 19 in. high, is an 18th century example
PLATE 1
The carved Red. Indian is the traditional cigar-store wel-
come in the TJ.S.A. This vigorously carved, outsize speci-
men T ft. 8 in. high is by Arnold and Peter Ruef of
Tiffen, Ohio, made about 188O. Photograph by courtesy of
the Henry Ford, Jkftiseum, Dearborn 9 Michigan
North of the border, the kilted. Highlander, -with plumed,
bonnet, has., for the past 2OO years or more, welcomed
those who partake of *sneesh'. This boldly carved, 19th
cen.tu.ry, polychrome figure is 36 in. high
8
The 28 in. high figure of a Turk, in striped, flowing robe,
with red. sash and. head- wear, is a rare, alternative 18th
century tobacconist's sign. His Jong pipe has been
broken off. In 19th century examples, a cigar takes the
place of pipe
Four elaborate, carved wood cases of 17th century
design, for protecting clay pipes in the pocket. The chip
carved case, right, front,* is dated 1800 and is a 'throw
back' in style
PLATE 5
Carved pipe cases of the 18th and 19th centuries. Left,
front, an 18th century specimen, obviously belonged to
a man ahead of his time in hygiene: the case has a com-
bination lock, so that the pipe could not be smoked in its
owner's absence
PLATE 6
Carved wood pipes of the 18tJi and early 19th centuries,
jepre-briarpip
bowl linings
PLATE 7
A further selection of late 18th and 19th century mid-
European pipes. Left and right in front are Austrian,
circa 1795
PLATE 8
Carved briar pipes, made between 1850 and 1900
PLATE 9
German novelty 'bottle pipe', circa 1895. Irish labourer's
pipe, circa 1825, and a selection of 'figure' pipes,
popular in the 1870's
PLATE 10
fcr
Carved boxwood tobacco stoppers of the 18th century are
highly ornamental, as well as useful
PLATE 11
fe
The tobacco stoppers in the top row have the very small
bases which were used for the small 17th century pipe
bowls. The dog 'finger ring' type stopper is very rare in
wood. Many of these stoppers, by reason of their subjects,
are quite documentaries
PLATE 12
Arms and legs were particularly popular motifs. Prickers, for
preventing tobacco 'caking' in the pipe, were sometimes
incorporated in tobacco stoppers; some are shown here
PLATE 13
17th century shop counter and domestic tobacco jars;
late 19th century single and multiple cigar moulds from
Massachusetts
PLATE 14
Fops' tobacco boxes of the mid-18th century have
mirror-lined lids. These two handsome specimens, with
integral wood hinges, may be Scottish
PLATE 15
A representative selection of wooden tobacco jars, from
the 17th century to about 1900
PLATE 16
A selection of fine quality tobacco boxes. The fourth,
dated 1664, must be one 'of the earliest dated wooden
specimens extant
PLATE 17
Three deep, but crudely carved, Dutch tobacco boxes, all
cut from the solid
These five unusual tobacco boxes are described fully in
the text
PLATE 19
Whether pipes should be stored vertically 'bowls up or
down', or horizontally, remains controversial; pictured
here are some 18th and 19th century alternatives
PLATE 20
Early 19th century wooden pipe mould; Victorian
smoker's compendium; tobacco cutters: cigar piercers;
cigarette stand; and cigarette-making gadgets
PLATE 21
The 19th century produced some attractive semi-
mechanical novelty caskets for cheroots; being fragile,
few have survived. Also here are wooden pocket cases for
cigars and cigarettes
PLATE 22
A unique snuff-pedlar's staff or shop sign, carved with an
old woman taking a pinch from the box on her knee;
painted in natural colours. Circa 1813
PLATE 23
Early graters, of the type used by apothecaries and
tobacconists for grinding tobacco into snuff; the first two
on the left are 17th century, the next is Elizabethan, the
last three 17th or 18th century. Lignum ntae spoon, for
taking snuff out of glass bottles; and a large
carotte of tobacco
PLATS 24
Fine quality, Louis XIV, late 17th century snuff rasps,
some of boxwood, others pearwood. They are examples
of the so-called Cesar Bagard work, executed at Nancy
PLATE 25
iroperEnd of yJteyMi
18th century trade card of Fribourg & Treyer. A carotte
of tobacco is shown among the rococo scrolls, top left
PLATE 26
PLATE 27
The two sides of an outstanding, Louis XIV, 17th
century, boxwood rasp. It is believed to depict a satire
on methods of church preferment of the period
PLATE 28
The front and back of another boxwood rasp of the
same period as that in Plate 27. This specimen is par-
ticularly interesting because it records its owner's name
and calling, and maker's name
One of the finest 17th century, boxwood rasps extant.
The Royal French Coat-of-Arms shows the har sinister
between the fleur-de-lis
PLATE 29
Three 17th century, inlaid, German rasps, with slid-
ing shutters ; two open-back, Italian rasps of 17th or 18th
century date; and two dated 18th century, Dutch rasps.
(Abvce) a brass rasp of 1754, with an unusual feature
PLATE 30
Late 17th and early 18th century wood rasps, mostly
French and Italian. Four of them are carved with
religious themes
PLATE 31
More notable carved rasps of
the 17th and 18th centuries.
The one on the left is an
unusual, inlaid. Hungarian
specimen, dated 1743. The
next one, depicting St. Louis,
is rare
PLATE 32
Nearly all the rasps in this
picture have uncommon fea-
tures. The Dutch coaster rasp
on wheels, centre, may well
be unique; its maker almost
certainly made the rasp dated
1725, right of Plate 30
PLATE~33
PLATE 34
PLATE 33
Three outsize rasps of fine quality. They measure
respectively ll in., 13J in. and 12 in.
Late 17th and early 18th century ivory rasps. The
same craftsmen often worked in ivory and boxwood
The working parts of snuff rasps. Left, is back of rasp
shown left of Plate 34, with snuff box above sliding
shutter; right, is back of Hungarian rasp, shown left of
Plate 32; at the bottom, is back of rasp, shown left of
Plate 31, with grater removed. Alongside is a small
carotte of tobacco
PLATE 36
Assortment of table and counter snuffboxes. One in front
has the snuff box mounted on the hd of a tobacco box
PLATE 87
Some of these are souvenir boxes, made from famous
trees, or wood of notable buildings. Also included are an
example of Tunbndge wood mosaic, a Scottish pen-and-
ink decorated box, and two Scottish mulls, the one on the
left with the early date 1684
PLATE 88
Two views of a 16th or 17th century,
boxwood snuff box, with sculptural
quality, technical skill, and virtuosity
in the style of Cellini. It depicts
various figures of mythology, riding on
a cloud, fanned by cherubs
PLATE
Scandinavian, 18th century snuff flasks, hollowed out
of birch and maple burrs. The flasks were filled at the
foot and emptied from the spout
PLATE 40
An early 19th
century walking stick,
containing a snuff box
in the knob handle.
Another, late 19th
century, with three
silver-gilt receptacles
in the handle, and one,
circa 1900, containing
a pipe
PLATE 41
Boot and shoe snuff boxes; the former are 19th
century, but the latter enjoyed popularity both in the
18th and 19th centuries. The most exact models were
probably apprentices' passing-out pieces, but many, in-
cluding the rare double shoes, were love tokens
PLATE 42
The mediaeval-type shoe, centre, front, is probably
Victorian romantic. The green snake, which emerged
from the shoe, front, left, when the lid is slid back,
must, when covered in snuff, have been enough to scare
the stoutest heart
PLATE 43
The three French, early 19th century, ship snuff boxes,
back row, are good examples of coquilla-nut caning.
The ship on the left, same period, is of boxwood. The
round and the oblong burr boxes, in front, are of excep-
tional quality. The two carved boxes on the right are
shaped to fit the pocket
PLATE 44
Selection of snuff boxes, carved from coquilla nut. Most
of the figures are German or Dutch, early 19th century.
The two boxes, right of upper shelf, are believed to be
mid-19th century, in the style of mid-16th century
PLATE 45
French burr-wood snuff boxes, -with tortoiseshell linings;
early 19th century. The ornament was impressed after the
wood had been steamed. A very wide range of subjects
was used. Some of the boxes have secret compartments.
PLATE 46
Book snuff boxes are said to have been the biblio-
phile's choice. They are charming and ingenious in their
simulation of volumes and were popular m the 18th and
19th centuries. Also m the picture are two wooden snuff
spoons and a snuff mallet
PLATE 47
A miscellany of boxes. The group of five on the left are
Scottish hinged boxes, mostly of amboyna. The twin-
barrelled pistol is a novel design
PLATE 48
Animal and grotesque boxes were great favourites; some
of them show considerable character and humour. A
selection of ivory snuff spoons is also shown
PLATE 49
Bellows, pinch-of-snuff hands, planes, hats, helmets and
coffins are all to be found among the bygone boxes of
PLATE 50
THE SMOKEB'S MISCELLANY 49
London was sufficient for a Mr. Gliddon to open a 'Cigar Divan'
in King Street, Covent Garden. It was really a superior coffee
house and social club for men only. Illustrations show it
furnished with divans and small tables against a scenic back-
ground, purporting to represent the Middle East. Cigars, snuff,
coffee, etc., were served and the latest periodicals available. It
was because cigar smoking developed so much as a social
custom that it dealt such a severe blow to snuffing, which, by
its addicts in high society, was considered a graceful part of
the design of living. The 'opposition' view on smoking is
deliciously summed up by the following extract from Hints on
Etiquette published in 1834:
'If you are so unfortunate as to have contracted the low
habit of smoking, be careful to practise it under certain
restrictions; at least, so long as you are desirous of being
considered fit for civilised society.
The first mark of a gentleman is a sensitive regard for
the feelings of others; therefore, smoke where it is least
likely to prove personally offensive by making your clothes
smell; then wash your mouth, and brush your teeth. What
man of delicacy could presume to address a lady with his
breath smelling of onions? Yet tobacco is equally odious.
The tobacco smoker, in public, is the most selfish animal
imaginable; he perseveres in contaminating the pure and
fragrant air, careless whom he annoys, and is but the
fitting inmate of a tavern.
Smoking in the streets, or in a theatre, is only practised
by shop-boys, pseudo-fashionables and the "SWELL MOB".
All songs that you may see written in praise of smoking
in magazines or newspapers, or hear sung upon the stage,
are puffs, paid for by the proprietors of cigar divans and
tobacco shops, to make their trade popular therefore,
never believe nor be deluded by them.
Never be seen in cigar divans or billiard rooms; they
are frequented, at best, by an equivocal set. No good can
be gained there and a man loses his respectability by
being seen entering or coming out of such places. 9
D
50 SMOKING
Cedar cigar boxes, when empty, have more appeal for the
amateur woodworker than for the collector. Cedar cigar
cabinets, although often examples of fine cabinet making, are
mostly somewhat large for collectors of wooden bygones.
There remain, however, cheroot caskets and cases, and cigar
cases.
Some of the caskets are both attractive and ingenious,
being semi-mechanically operated. Two, both about 9 in. high
overall, which open by turning the knob on the top, are shown,
back of Plate 22. The knob turns the centre stem, which passes
through the base into a large, wooden cog wheel. This centre
cog controls smaller ones, which actuate the opening and
closing of the six doors of each casket. The hexagonal example
is French or Swiss, 1830-40 period. It is veneered with king-
wood and has ebonized pivot pillars to the doors. The mounts
are of ormolu and include a lyre on each door. Possibly there
was once a musical box under the base. Five of the doors are
each fitted with gilt holders for three cheroots; the sixth has a
piercer affixed, which also combines a match holder and striker.
The circular model, to hold six cheroots, is of mahogany,
ebonized externally and hand painted with flowers to harmon-
ize with the papier mach^ vogue of 1850; it is probably
English. Many variants of these designs were made, including
some in the Oriental taste. Being rather delicate objects, few
of this type of casket survive in good condition. The circular
rosewood casket operates on a different principle. When
closed, it is 10 in. high overall and resembles a large tobacco
jar, with an outsize candle holder on top. This holder, or cup,
contains a plunger; when this is operated, the top rises on a
brass column and displays, umbrella-wise, twelve cheroots in
gilt metal holders of leaf form. It appears to be mid-19th
century and may be English or continental. Wooden pocket
cases, to hold any number from three to six cheroots, each in
its own separate cavity, were made in the same period. Addi-
tional to the rosewood 'book' type illustrated, amboyna cases,
and sycamore cases decorated with tartan or with transfer
pictures, were made in Scotland and were known as 'maga-
zines'.
THE SMOKER'S MISCELLANY 51
Karelian birch cigar and cigarette cases, beautifully made
from highly figured wood and with integral wood hinges, as
shown in Plate 22, enjoyed quite a vogue in the first thirty
years of this century.
In Plate 14 are two interesting cigar moulds from Massa-
chusetts. The large one holds twenty of the torpedo-shaped
cigars which were popular in the last quarter of the 19th
century and the first quarter of this one. The two halves of the
mould peg together. The single mould, which has a steel clip
to keep it closed, has a separate base to the cavity which
facilitates removal of the cigar, and also, by variation in
thickness, can be used to adjust the weight of the cigar.
PART TWO
Snuff Taking
She that with pure tobacco will not prime
Her nose, can be no lady of the time.
News from the New Exchange (1650)
CHAPTER FIVE
SALUTATION TO STERNUTATION
ENGLISH words disappear and new ones appear in our
vocabulary from time to time; they also change their
meaning. My generation visualizes a square as an open space
in a city or a draughtsman's instrument. Now, I gather, we
ourselves are 'squares'! This, however, is merely a revival of
an old term, for a square or square-toes, in 18th century
parlance, denoted a precise, old-fashioned person. It appears,
therefore, that our ultra-modern youth are even more anti-
quated in their speech than some of them are in their
costume.
What a pity that those wonderful words, sternutatory,
sternutation and sternutative all common parlance prior to
1850, among snuff takers and writers on the subject are no
longer in everyday use. Sternutatory means a substance, such
as snuff, which provokes sneezing; sternutative is provocative
of sneezing, and sternutation the act of sneezing.
Snuff taking formerly came under two distinct headings
habit and fashion. The latter was naturally responsible for the
finest of the bygones associated with snuffing. These, the
elaborately carved or inlaid snuff rasps, alternatively known
as rappoirs or rdpes a tabac, for individual use in rasping
tobacco into snuff, and some of the many varieties of snuff
boxes will be described and illustrated in the following
chapters but first, some notes on the custom.
The snuff-taking habit in 16th century western Europe
originated as a supposed curative for various maladies, and
55
56 SNUFF TAKING
continued to be used for 300 years as an antidote to evil smells.
On the Continent it had by 1620 also become a social grace
among a large proportion of the aristocracy, and one with a
distinct etiquette of its own among nosologists, as the nose-
hungry were known.
Although there were also a few individual snuff takers in
Britain and it was a well-established custom in Scotland early
in the 17th century, it is generally accepted among historians
that the exiled court of Charles II, both men and women,
brought the fashion home, as one of the results of their
continental sojourn.
It does not seem to have made great progress in challenging
the supremacy of smoking, even in Court circles, until snuff-
taking William and Mary came to the throne in 1689. During
their reigns the vogue spread rapidly in aristocratic circles, and
by the time of Anne (1702), another confirmed snuff taker, it
is related that scarcely a man of rank but carried the insidious
dust about him, either in an elaborate box of wood, horn,
agate, tortoiseshell, enamel, gold or silver, or else in the hollow,
ornamental silver head of his cane, Plate 41, at that time as
indispensable an appendage as a sword.
Throughout the 18th century, and during the first thirty
years of the 19th, snuff taking remained the fashionable
addiction, gaining in popularity from the examples of the
Hanoverian kings and queens. Queen Charlotte, though only
seventeen when she married George III, was such a confirmed
snuff taker that she was known as 'Snuffy Charlotte'. The
Prince Regent and his Beau Nash set of dandies continued the
snuff fashion at the top level, but by this time, even in aristo-
cratic circles, the custom of grinding one's own snuff freshly,
with an elaborate continental pocket rasp, was dying rapidly.
Instead, the nobility had their individually perfumed snuffs
blended and prepared for them by high-grade snuff specialists,
who often named the brand after the patron. At Windsor
Castle George IV had a snuff- jar chamber, with a page in
charge of the expensive stock of varieties of morning, after-
noon and evening snuffs, stored in. labelled jars, bottles
and canisters, on tiers of shelves. Additionally, Fribourg
SALUTATION TO STERNUTATION 57
and Treyer of the Haymarket acted in an overall supervisory
capacity.
Dates on some of the rasps illustrated in Plates 25 and 27
to 36 show that they were still being made as late as 1775, but
all those in question are continental and there is no proof that
they were ever used in England. Hardly any individual snuff
rasps seem to have been made in Britain, because the beaux
who used them thought it beneath them to have anything
other than the latest continental fancy, whilst lower-class
habitues had bought their snuff ready ground from the
commencement of the 18th century.
In fact, snuff taking as a habit, among all classes in Great
Britain, as opposed to a fashionable addiction of society, dates
fortuitously from the introduction of ready-ground snuff in
1702. In that year the fleet, under the command of Sir George
Rooke, captured from the Spanish, near Cadiz, several thous-
and barrels of choice Spanish snuff, and near Vigo a further
cargo of Havana snuff, intended for the Spanish market. This
vast quantity of sneezing powder was sold at the English sea-
ports at a very low price, the proceeds being prize money for
the benefit of the sailors and officers. Thus was the general
snuff habit born in Britain. At first tobacconists and apothe-
caries met the demand for the powder by grinding it in mills
similar to those illustrated in Plate 24, most of which have
iron-tipped or studded pestles. Some few, like that on the left,
are made in two parts: the upper has an iron grater base,
through which the carotte of tobacco was rubbed into the com-
partment below. An alternative was a large grater tray, with a
receptacle below it. After rasping the roll or carotte to a rough
'bran', it was then pounded in a basin mortar, with a peculiarly
shaped pestle. By about 1740, snuff was being prepared whole-
sale, in a large grinding mill, powered by a horse, and specialist
snuff shops were coming into being.
In the 18th and 19th centuries there were hundreds of
varieties of snuff sold, flavoured or perfumed with different
scented oils. In the main they came under eight headings
coarse and fine, dry and moist, dark and light, scented and
plain. Rapee, the best-known coarse, dark snuff, derived its
58 SNUFF TAKING
name from the French roper, to grate. It was available plain
or scented and was made from Virginia tobacco. It is generally
regarded as the parent of all other snuffs. Artificially coloured
snuffs, finely powdered varieties, and, above all, scented snuffs,
according to old accounts, lent themselves to most repulsive
forms of adulteration. The fearsome additives were effectively
cloaked by the perfumed oils of bergamot, orange, jasmine,
violet, lily of the valley, civet, musk, cedar and various wines,
in which the carottes of tobacco were steeped, after the leaves
had been prepared by steeping in water to which various salts
had been added.
Some of the best-known mixtures bore such grandiloquent
names as Etrenne, Bureau, Bolongaro, Montagne Carotte,
Martinique, Fa9on de Paris, Hardham's 37, Violet Strasbourg,
Prince's Mixture, King's Morning Mixture, King's Evening
Mixture, King's Carotte, King's Plain, Macouba, Norcott's
Mixture, Jesuits' Snuff, Spanish Bran, Cologne, Old Paris,
Havre, Bordeaux, Rouen, St. Omer, Dieppe, Antwerp,
Mannheim, Seville, Morocco, St. Vincent, Masulipatam, etc.
The Scots had no use for these scented varieties, and Scotch
snuff, made only from the stalks of tobacco, was renowned for
its purity. In Ireland and Wales a taste developed for snuff
made from toasted or roasted tobacco. According to old
accounts, a large tobacco warehouse was burnt down in
Dublin, and one Lundy Foot, a porter at the said warehouse,
purchased for a very small sum a large quantity of the burnt
and scorched tobacco. This he ground up into snuff which he
sold very cheaply to the poor, 6 the blackguards' of Dublin.
The snuff was both very pungent and very popular. Lundy
Foot went on making more of it, opened a shop and became a
wealthy man, selling Lundy Foot's 'Irish Blackguard'.
In the great days of fashionable snuff taking there were
teachers of the etiquette of correctly wielding a snuff box, just
as there were of wielding a fan, or dancing, or fencing; there
were also books on the subject explaining the rules of offering
snuff to a stranger, a friend, or a mistress, according to the
degrees of familiarity or distance. Some users grated snuff
from a rasp on to the back of the hand and sniffed it thence;
SALUTATION TO STERNUTATION 59
some took a pinch from a snuff box. Others used a snuff spoon.
According to an 18th century complainant:
'To such a height with some is fashion grown
They feed their very nostrils with a spoon.'
Snuff-takers' chatelaines of silver were made. Certain
elaborate ones were for ceremonial use at Scottish army mess
dinners. These were attached to horn snuff coasters, passed
along the table, and the equipment included a mallet for dis-
lodging any snuff adhering to the side of the mull, a pointed
instrument to prick it, if it caked, a rake to smooth it, a spoon
for placing it on the back of the hand or thumbnail and a
hare's foot for dusting the moustache, lip or hand.
Special snuff handkerchiefs, usually about 24 in. square,
were also sold for dusting the hand and lip, or protecting the
neck-cloth. For practical reasons, most of these handkerchiefs
had snuff-coloured, chocolate, yellow or red backgrounds,
further embellished by closely printed designs of ballads,
fashionable scenes, or popular events. In 1798 Fribourg and
Treyer sold them at 28s. per dozen. Incidentally, they still sell
them today.
Snuff taking, as a fashion, declined rapidly between George
IVs death in 1830 and Victoria's accession in 1837, though a
most amusing book A Pinch of Snuff by 'Dean Sniff, pub-
lished in 1840, says that it is still 'increasing in popularity 5 . 1
suspect that the book was sponsored by snuff interests, to keep
the fashion alive.
In spite of the world of fashion changing over to cigars,
snuff taking never died out; indeed it is having a mild resur-
gence now and one firm claims to make sixty-five varieties.
Only recently I read of a judge apologizing for delaying a
hearing because his snuff box had come unfastened in his
pocket! Until very recently the 'court 5 was by no means the
only place where smoking was forbidden. Until the 1920 5 s,
when sprinkler systems first made smoking permissible in
many woodworking factories, most woodworkers were snuff
takers. I shall always remember a woodworking factory
60 SNUFF TAKING
manager of forty years ago, who from the front appeared to
be wearing a snuff-coloured suit, but the back view disclosed
it to be blue serge!
Like smoking, snuff taking had its enemies. Here is the
anti-snuff view expressed by Hints on Etiquette^ 1834.
6 As snuff -taking is merely an idle, dirty habit, practised
by stupid people in the unavailing endeavour to clear their
stolid intellect, and is not a custom particularly offensive
to their neighbours, it may be left to each individual taste
as to whether it be continued or not. An "Elegant" cannot
take much snuff without decidedly "losing caste".
"Doctor," said an old gentleman, who was an inveterate
snuff-taker, to a physician, "is it true that snuff destroys
the olfactory nerves, clogs, and otherwise injures the
brain?" "It cannot be true," was the caustic reply, "since
those who have any brains never take snuff at all." '
Oh Snuff! our fashionable end and aim!
Strasburgh, Rappee, Dutch, Scotch! whatever thy name;
Powder celestial! quintessence divine!
New joys entrance my soul while thou art mine.
Who takes who takes thee not! where'er I range
I smell thy sweets from Pall Mall to the ' 'Change*.
Shrubs of Parnassus. James Boswell (1740-1795)
CHAPTER SIX
SNUFF RASPS
SOME old devices used in a shop for converting tobacco into
snuff were described in the last chapter, but the most
common was probably an outsize rasp, a foot or more in
length, tapering in width from about 6 in, to 4 in. It was
usually a plain board of c bat'-like form, rebated out, so that a
wood rim was left round the flush grater, which was nailed in,
and consisted of a sheet of iron, crudely punched with a close
pattern of perforations. Sufficient space was allowed under the
grater for the snuff to fall into a cavity beneath. An opening
at one end allowed the snuff to be poured into a jar or canister.
In Fribourg and Treyer's snuff shop, whose early Georgian bow
windows happily still grace the Haymarket, one of these
graters still survives. Before the days of street numbering the
sign of the shop was The Rasp and Crown'. An old trade card,
probably of about 1730-40, 1 Plate 26, shows the rasp below the
crown, in a framework of rococo scrolls and tobacco leaves,
which also includes, near its top left corner, a carotte of tobacco.
I have recently had the opportunity of examining Fribourg
and Treyer's account books, which go back to 1764 (with a
reference to an earlier one). From these books, which read like
1 Rococo fashion in engraving, as in goldsmiths' and silversmiths*
work, reached England from France twenty years before Chippendale's
Director (1754) showed fashionable designs for rococo furniture.
61
62 SNUFF TAKING
pages out of Debrett, it is apparent that even by 1764 the
individual rasp, for use at home, was passing out of fashion.
Some customers were still buying carottes unrasped until the
end of the 18th century, but the generation which did so was
even then rapidly dying out. The following entries show
different ways of buying snuff:
1764. Sir John Chapman paid
for rasping 1.0.
1764. Jan. 16 Mr. Rakes.
1 carrote Mont n . 18.0.
May 29, 1765. 1 Ib. rappee 5.0.
Lead cannister 6.
1765. Aug. 22 Lord Spencer
1 Paris carrote 1.1.0.
Rasping 1.0.
Cannister 6.
1766. April 26 Walter Smythe
8-lb. Paris Rappee Carrote 2.8.0. x
. Jar and Basket 2.0.
(At that time rappee snuff was 6$. per Ib.)
1774. December 5 Snuff spoon 6.
The canisters to which reference is made were of lead;
some still survive at c The Rasp and Crown'; so also do the
alternative glazed pottery jars; both of these are circular and
probably hold no more than 1 Ib. Square glass jars, shouldered
to a wide circular neck, seem to have been used for larger
quantities and were the variety which were protected by
basketware, as many foreign winebottles still are. References
to these glass jars in baskets seem most common round about
1750. Additional to being packed in a glass jar for dispatch
from the snuff shop, some of the most expensive foreign snuffs
were imported from abroad in long-necked glass bottles,
exactly like winebottles. To remove the snuff from these
1 An 8 Ib. carotte must have been a very large one. The old carotte,
21 in. long, Plate 24, weighs 3 J Ib. now. It is very dry: originally it may
have weighed double, but hardly more; so presumably the 8 Ib. one
referred to in the account must have been grated, though this is not
mentioned. Otherwise it is doubtful if it would have gone into the type
of jar used.
SNUFF RASPS 63
bottles, long lignum vitae scoops or spoons, such as the rare
survival shown in Plate 24, were employed.
Martinique, or King's Martinique as it was also called,
from George IV favouring it, was in particular vogue between
1830 and 1840 and was the last of the expensive fashionable
snuffs to be imported in the long-necked bottles. Martinique
was prepared by a Madame Grandmaison, in the island of the
same name, and retailed at 21s. per Ib. compared with the
normal price range which varied from 6$. to 11s. at that time.
In the 18th century most snuffs were sold in the 3$. 6d. to Vs.
per Ib. range, but some imported and perfumed grades, used
largely as 'essences' for extending other mixtures, were much
more expensive. Spanish Bran is the most expensive snuff
which appears in the Prince Regent's accounts. It was popular
between 1760 and 1815 and cost 3 per Ib. It was always sold
in conjunction with a phial of Vinagrillo, an aromatic rose-
scented vinegar of Spanish origin, which was used for moisten-
ing it; only a small quantity was ever moistened at one time.
This snuff was particularly popular with ladies. The question
of keeping in condition and moistening when necessary, usually
with salt water, was very important among those the
majority who liked moist rather than dry snuffs. Small
wooden snuff pots, which also acted as miniature mortars, or,
more correctly, mixing pots, for stirring while adjusting the
moisture content, were sold by snuff shops in the 18th and
early 19th centuries. One of these, with spoon and pestle or
stirrer attached to opposite sides of the lid, is shown in
Plate 37.
The Fribourg and Treyer accounts give a good idea of the
amounts of snuff used by fashionable addicts. Half an ounce
per day seems to have been slightly below average. Beau
Brummel, a customer from 1799 to 1815, who appears to have
introduced the Prince Regent to the firm, used considerably
less.
One customer is recorded as using over 2 oz. per day.
Fribourg's say he took snuff to excess. It sounds fair comment!
Lord Shrewsbury was the exception to the normal habit
of ordering a little, often. From 1798 onwards he usually
64 SNUFF TAKING
purchased 30 Ib. of snuff at a time and repeated the order at
approximately eleven-month intervals, which I reckon out at
about 1J oz. per day rather a lot, but perhaps he supplied
the family. However, that could hardly explain why he
ordered 150 Ib. in one lot in 1825!
Having now shown that snuff taking was both expensive
and quite a major occupation and social grace of the fashion-
able, it becomes easy to see why the beaux of the hundred
years from 1660 onwards demanded elegant, continental
snuff rasps. Fashionable snuff rasps were mostly made of
silver, ivory and wood. The wood chosen for the finest carved
rasps was usually box, which is close grained, even textured,
hard and takes a fine patination. In its qualities it closely
resembles ivory and the same craftsmen usually worked in both
materials. Although one refers to snuff rasps as being of these
substances, the actual graters are of perforated iron, set either
behind or between two faces of these materials. Most of the
iron graters are missing now, but to the collector this makes
no appreciable difference in the value. In the main, snuff rasps
measure about 8 in. in length, but they actually vary between
5 in. and 14 in., and they divide into three principal groups:
open-backed rasps with exposed metal graters, which were
kept in leather cases; rasps with sliding shutters; rasps with
pivoted shutters.
Silver snuff rasps, quite often, are long snuff boxes with a
grater covering one side, and a hinged outer cover enclosing it;
the box part is large enough to hold a small carotte for grating.
Ivory rasps frequently incorporate a small snuff box at one
end. With wood rasps the small snuff box is a rarity. With both
wood and ivory rasps which include a snuff box, it is never
large enough to hold even a small carotte. Presumably, there-
fore, those who carried a wood or ivory rasp in the pocket had
a separate box, or perhaps a leather roll, for the carotte. I can
find no literature which throws any light on this. Although
some rasps, judging by their wear, were carried in the pocket,
and others are curved to fit the pocket, it is possible that wood
and ivory rasps were not carried as extensively as is thought.
Perhaps most of them were kept at home, to fill the pocket box
SNUFF RASPS 65
or boxes daily, for different boxes and different snuffs were
used by fops at different times of the day.
Wood and ivory rasps follow the same patterns. In their
mechanics, Plate 36, they include an insert iron grater cover-
ing a cavity, which is divided longitudinally by a centre rib.
This rib prevents the grater sagging and also, by diverting
the snuff into two channels, prevents it clogging. At the
narrow end of the rasp there is usually a spout through which
snuff may be poured into a separate box, or on to the back of
the hand. If a snuff box is incorporated, it is in the wide end.
There seems to be no significance, regarding date or country
of origin, in the wide or narrow end occurring at top or
bottom of the design. The earliest types illustrated are those
in Plates 25, 27, 28, 29 and the first three from the left of
Plate 30.
The five Louis XIV boxwood rasps, Plate 25, all come into
the fine art class and are excellent examples of the so-called
Cesar Bagard work, which is believed to have been executed
at Nancy in the last quarter of the 17th century. Like most of
the finest rapes a tabae, they were individually commissioned
and exquisitely carved with the coats of arms and mottoes of
their noble owners, against a small-scale background of
flowers, formal foliage and arabesques. The two on the left
are of the open type, with exposed graters at the back. The
other three have pivoted shutters and are equally finely
carved on both faces. One of them has a risque and amusing
carving on the back. The second and third from the left are a
particular pleasure to me because I bought them as a boy,
more than forty years ago, in the Caledonian Market and
they cost me less in shillings than some do in pounds today.
In Plates 27 and 28 are back and front views of two further
outstanding examples of Louis XIV, 17th century, boxwood
rdpes, with pivoted shutters. Plate 27, which was formerly one
of the prizes in the Evan-Thomas collection, is fully described
in his book. Briefly, the subject of this highly skilled and
cleverly composed carving appears to be a burlesque on
methods of church preferments of the period.
Plate 28, following the same late 17th century outline, is
66 SNUFF TAKING
not nearly so sophisticated in its carving, but is extremely
interesting as a documentary. It is the only rasp I have ever
seen which records both its carver's name and its owner's
name and profession. On the front, below stylized acanthus
leaves, are carved twin flaming hearts in an oval inscribed
Uamour nous unit. At the base are the Emblems of the
Passion. At the back, above a coat of arms, is the inscription
Je suis a Claude de Cabaza, prestre. Beneath the carving of the
Ascension is inscribed Faiie par F. Castel. The snuff flows out
through a hole in the man's head.
This is obviously an example of a secular object which did
belong to a priest; but although records show that snuff
taking was formerly very prevalent among the clergy, I do
not share the common belief that all snuff rasps and other
secular objects, carved or engraved with the sacred initials,
religious texts, or biblical episodes, were originally owned by
priests, made by ecclesiastical craftsmen or intended for
priestly or church use. So many homely objects were decor-
ated in this manner even trade tools that I think one must
assume that the main purposes were usually to remind people
that religion was a part of their daily life and to please the
devout with emblems of their faith.
One of the finest carved boxwood rasps extant is the
ll in. long, French, 17th century specimen, Plate 29, formerly
in the Trapnell collection. The Royal French coat of arms,
above the trophy of arms, armour and standards, shows the bar
sinister between the fleur-de-lis. The whole design is masterly
and well matched by the skilled execution.
The first three rasps, left of Plate 30, are South German, or
North Italian, 17th century. The next two are Italian, of the
late 17th or early 18th century. Most of these examples were
formerly in the Evan-Thomas collection and, before that, in
the Hilton Price or Drane collections. The three rasps inlaid
with engraved ivory and some dark wood have sliding
shutters and hinged brass nozzles. The Italian rasps have
open backs, curved to fit the pocket, and originally would
have had leather cases. The heavy, dark wood of which they
are made is inlaid with mother-of-pearl and brass piqu&
SNUFF RASPS 67
No. 6 is an unusual Dutch specimen, of pearwood, only 5J in.
long, carved in low relief on both sides with tulip scrolls and
inlaid with bone or ivory. It has a sliding shutter over the
grater, and the cavity beneath connects by holes to the
hinged snuff box, which is lined with red lacquer. It is dated
on the back of the case 1740. Like two others in this picture,
it includes a heart motif in its decoration and was doubtless
a love token. The Dutch rasp on the right, with sliding
shutter, is inlaid on the edges with bone, has a border of
brass piqu and includes among its low-relief carved motifs
a heart, double-headed arrow and the initials I.S. On the back
is carved RECHD. v BASCHIN and date 1725. The brass rasp,
across the top of the photograph, differs from all others which
I have ever seen, inasmuch as the snuff from the exposed
grater on the other side is precipitated through the piercing
over the whole length and, therefore, it was presumably used
over a long snuff box. Its nationality is unknown. Its motifs
include a crown above a pair of scissors, initials I.O.H. and
date 1754.
Plate 31 shows a selection of late 17th and early 18th century
carved wood rappoirs, mostly French and Italian and several
of them characterized by religious themes in their carving. The
majority were formerly in the Evan-Thomas collection. No. 1,
left, is dated 1733 and bears initials G.Q. and B.I. Presumably
the centre motif, between the hearts, represents le roi soldi. It
is unusual in shape and, more so, in having a snuff box at the
back, fed by a hole in the right half of the divided receptacle
behind the grater, whilst the left half feeds the spout. The
back of this rasp, with its grater removed, is shown in Plate 86.
No. 2, dated 1743, is a rather ambitious, but not very skilled,
composition of interlocked biblical scenes and religious motifs.
Nos. 3 and 4 are both carved from boxwood, with the Cruci-
fixion and Emblems of the Passion; No. 3 also includes an
Adoration, heads of angels, etc., and, though very worn, is
much the finer composition and carving; it is inscribed
FLORENT BERTAUT. No. 4 is dated 1741. No. 5 shows a rather
naive rendering of Abraham being restrained by the Angel
from sacrificing Isaac. No. 6 is bold and unusual in its carving,
68 SNUFF TAKING
with a boar's head forming the spout and acorns carved on the
back; its nationality and date are speculative. No. 7, with
pivoted shutter, the only rasp in this picture which has not an
open back, is Italian, probably 17th century. It is carved with
the name JOSEPH LANTI.
Plate 32 shows some more notable 17th and 18th century
rasps. The 11 in. long rasp, on the left, is a rare specimen,
dated 1745, probably Hungarian. It is of dark, heavy wood,
inlaid with contrasting light panels, carved with armorials
and bordered with silver pique; its back is shown right of
Plate 36. It was formerly in the Carnegie collection. Next at the
top is an early 17th century boxwood rasp, portraying St.
Louis crowned. I have seen other examples of this subject in
ivory, but not in wood. On the right, the John the Baptist
rasp is inscribed at the back that it belongs to Jean Baptiste
Gimier, living at Aviltaneus, 1749. The other four rasps in this
photograph are all French, boxwood, carved with coats of
arms, and dating from the first quarter of the 18th century.
Centre, top of Plate 33, is a finely lettered, German, 18th
century rasp of unusual type, so deep inside that it could have
held a small carotte. On the left is its shutter, continuing the
lettering. The inscription translates:
'I will in lowly state remain
and not for high position strain.'
How happy for the world it would have been had Hitler been
the owner! The chip-carved crudity on the right, another very
deep rasp, which bears some resemblance to a fish, is the only
domestic specimen which I have ever seen which is likely to
have been made in the British Isles. I believe it to be Welsh,
18th century.
Though there are not many survivals now, coaster snuff
boxes, for passing along the table after a dinner or other social
function, were not unusual, neither were wine coasters on
wheels, but the coaster snuff rasp on wheels, centre of this
picture, must always have been a rarity. It was obviously
made by the same man who fashioned the rasp right of Plate 30,
SNUFF RASPS 69
and may also be dated around 1725. The 18th century rasp
immediately below it, either English or German, is an open-
backed, curved type for the pocket; it is unusual in two respects
portraying a hunting scene, and in having it arranged to
view horizontally. It was formerly in the Carnegie collection.
Bottom is another 18th century, curved, open-back rasp,
probably Dutch, formerly in the Trapnell collection.
Three outsize rasps, but of such fine quality that they
could not have been intended for shop use, are portrayed in
Plate 34. They could hardly have been carried in the pocket,
however, as they measure respectively llj in. by 8| in., 13f in.
by 8 in. and 12 in. by 8f in. Curiously, the largest is the curved
type, which one usually regards as shaped to the pocket. This
one, centre, is probably from one of the 18th century German,
Austrian or Hungarian Archduchies; its carving is inlaid with
brass piqu. The rasp on the left, 18th century, possibly
Austrian, has a sliding shutter and hinged snuff box at the
back (shown left of Plate 86). The interesting armorial designs
on the two sides are not identical, but both include a mer-
chant's mark. The open-back rasp on the right, an Italian,
17th century conception of the sacrifice of Isaac, is a com-
petent carving, flattened by wear. Six fine-quality, late 17th
and early 18th century ivory rapes & tabac are shown in
Plate 85. The details of the photograph render description of
the carving unnecessary. Second from right is likely to be
Flemish, the others French. The three longest incorporate
silver-hinged snuff boxes at the back.
Here's two full boxes, taste which you think right,
The one's to smoak, the other's to clear the sight;
I do declare they're both the very best;
Then pray confess Pm the Tobacconist.
A bill of Von de Heyde in Bermondsey Street (1760)
CHAPTEE SEVEN
THE BOX FOR THE SNUFF
SNUFF BOXES were formerly made in such variety of
materials, shapes, sizes, styles and finishes, that they can
easily provide an assortment diverse and large enough to
satisfy the most discriminating and, indeed, the most voracious
collector. They are also available at prices to suit most purses,
although it would not take many of the jewelled bibelots of the
18th and early 19th century to make a hole in a sizeable
fortune.
Tobacco being the basis of snuff as well as smoking, many
old boxes formerly used for snuff have sometimes been des-
cribed as tobacco boxes. For whichever purpose they were
intended and often this is debatable the few 17th and very
early 18th century survivals are usually oval and either plain
or engraved, or simply carved in low relief. The materials
generally used appear to have been wood, silver, horn, pewter,
brass and ivory.
As fashionable snuff taking increased in the 18th and early
19th centuries, so the snuff-box family proliferated. Although
wooden boxes were doubtless always made in greater quanti-
ties than any other, they were largely superseded, in aristo-
cratic circles, by Battersea and Limoges enamel, tortoiseshell,
silver and gold. The last two were sometimes further em-
bellished by chasing, to form mounts for panels of enamel,
mother-of-pearl, jade, rock crystal, agate and other semi-
precious stones, or miniature paintings on ivory. Additionally,
70
THE BOX FOB, THE SNUFF 71
the most elaborate and expensive were encrusted by the
jeweller with diamonds, pearls, rubies, etc. Some of the most
precious of George TV's snuff boxes were melted down to form
jewellery for Queen Victoria.
From George I to George IV, the equivalent of 'saying it
with flowers' was the gift of a snuff box, to either sex. A large-
scale example of the custom is recorded in the coronation
accounts of George IV, which record that 8,205 15$. 5d. was
paid to Rundell & Bridge, the Royal silversmiths, for snuff
boxes for foreign ministers*
Although the tendency was to lavish the most exquisite
workmanship on the most expensive materials, there are many
snuff boxes of wood which come into the category of excellent
design and perfect craftsmanship and a few which come into
the fine-art class. Two superlative examples are illustrated in
the frontispiece and Plate 89. Admittedly, the intricacy of
their carving must have rendered both of them most unsuit-
able for holding 'dust'; but that remark applies to all the
jewel-studded, chased silver and gold, and filigree boxes which
were made; this unsuitability of certain snuff boxes for pur-
pose was commented on by early 19th century writers.
The circular box, of which both sides are shown in the
frontispiece, is hollowed from a single block of boxwood It
closely resembles a modern powder compact It measures
4$ in. in diameter and would have been made in France,
probably in the neighbourhood of Nancy, approximately 800
years ago. The design is a masterly composition and the fine-
scale carving, very much undercut, has the crispness which
denotes the work of a master. Doubtless because it is so ex-
quisite, it never appears to have had any use, and exceptfor the
patination which it has acquired through age and waxing, it
is still just as it left its maker's hands. The pictures are so clear
that no account of the carving is needed; the hinge is silver.
The snuff box pictured in Plate 89 is not so photogenic and,
therefore, needs more description. It is much smaller than the
last; it could be contained in a 2j in. diameter ball. Like the
last described, it is boxwood, but there the resemblance ends.
72 SNUFF TAKING
style of Cellini and may be 16th or 17th century, southern
French or Italian. This unique and remarkable box, which in
the posture of its figures so much resembles the much larger
salt-cellar which Cellini made for Francis I, displays the same
outstanding technical skill and virtuosity, but, like Cellini's
work, somewhat lacks artistic sensibility.
The subject of the carving is Diana and her hound, with an
infant, possibly Jupiter, holding Ganymedes (in the form of
an eagle), and Pan holding his pipes. They are riding on a
cloud, fanned from below by cherubs. Snuff is put in through
a sliding shutter under the clouds, and released through a side
nozzle, concealed in a cloud swirl.
Throughout the snuff period, in humble circles, the prin-
cipal alternatives to wood remained ivory, brass, pewter and
horn, with nutshells and, in the 19th century, papier mach,
additional. Incidentally, a variety of papier mliche made from
potatoes was said to be particularly efficacious in keeping
snuff moist.
Although special snuff waistcoats were worn, with capa-
cious flap pockets in them for snuff boxes, many of the boxes
were too large, or else too elaborate and delicate, to be en-
trusted to the pocket. They were, in fact, intended for table use
in the home, for passing along the table at convivial functions,
or, in the case of the more robust specimens, for a free dip on
the counter of a tobacconist's shop or at an inn. The last was
a very common custom which, incidentally, is still retained in
an inn at Gerrards Cross. The snuff was rasped daily and a
large circular box was provided, sometimes engraved with
such sentiments as 'Only he is a true man who will help a
friend at a pinch'. Such boxes were usually about 6 in. in
diameter. One made from figured mahogany is shown, front
left, Plate 37. Another, of yew wood, carved in spirited fashion
with a demon playing a drum, is central at the top; on the
right, the satin wood box, inlaid with ebony, may have served
the same purpose, but was more likely used in the home. The
other boxes in the same picture are all table boxes. On the left
is a large 'book' box with hinged lid, and next to it a yew-
wood sphere. Between the two circular boxes is one of the
THE BOX FOR THE SNUFF 73
wooden mixing jars referred to in Chapter Six. The two-tier box
in front comprises a snuff box on the lid of a tobacco box and,
like the adjacent mahogany jar with handle, was probably
used for passing round among friends. All these specimens
appear to be of the late 18th or early 19th century.
I have seen engravings of fanciful silver snuff-box coasters
on wheels, for passing along the table, but have never seen
specimens in wood. Probably the most famous ceremonial
table snuff box, or series of boxes, is that belonging to the Past
Overseers' Society of St. Margaret & St. John, Westminster,
which meets annually for a dinner. The original inmost box of
the series is a humble one of horn bought by a Mr. Henry
Monck at the Horn Fair for 4d., and presented to the Past
Overseers' Society in 1713, for the general use of members. It
was ornamented with a silver plaque, engraved with the
donor's name and date. As time went on, more inscriptions on
silver were added, until no space was left. As it became the
custom each year to engrave some account of an important
happening during the period, it was soon necessary to add an
outer case to the first, and so on. By 1878 the nest of boxes
had grown to seven in number, of which the outer one, an
imposing octagonal casket, 40 in. high and 24 in. in diameter,
was made from a beam of Westminster Abbey.
The making of snuff boxes from famous trees, or timber
and metal from famous buildings, was formerly quite a mania
and, according to a writer a hundred years ago, boxes made
from Shakespeare's mulberry tree would have cubed up
sufficient wood to build a warship. This may be somewhat of
an exaggeration, because you can make a great many snuff
boxes out of a fair-sized branch. Nevertheless, some relic boxes
may not be genuine and I like the old story of the meeting of
snuff addicts boasting about their relic boxes: one had one
made from the deck of the Victory; another from the table on
which Wellington wrote the Waterloo despatch; a third from
Canova's footstool; a fourth from the timbers of the Royal
George; a fifth from the wreck of the Betsy Caines, the vessel
that brought William III to England in 1668; a sixth from a
plank of the Red Barn with Corder's shots and Maria Martin's
74 SNUFF TAKING
blood distinctly visible! All these were capped easily by
another member of the party, who said he had a rather worm-
eaten box made from the tiller of Noah's Ark!
In Plate 38 is a selection of those boxes which announce
their history. At the back, left, the large circular box is made
from the oak of 'Old London Bridge 1176'. The box, extreme
right, proclaims 'Lancaster Church 1094'. In front, left, is 'Oak
and BellMetal of YorkMinster, burnt May 20, 1840' and, next
to it, 'The roof of the House of Commons destroyed by fire,
October 16, 1834'. The large burr box, right, in front, contains
a silver-lined receptacle, with hinged silver lid engraved 'A
knot of oak from Cowper's Tree, Yardley Chase 1840'. Then
follows an extract from one of Cowper's poems, referring to
the oak.
Central, in the top row, is a Regency souvenir box, transfer
printed, 'He that is not a friend at a pinch, is not worth a
snuff'. To the right is a Tunbridge wood-mosaic box, also
early 19th century, and on the left a pen-and-ink-decorated
Scottish box, depicting the 'Death of the fox'. This box has
the famous Scottish integral wood hinge. The wide range of
Scottish tartan, pen and ink, and transfer-ware and also
Tunbridge-ware snuff boxes will be described and illustrated
in a further book in this series, devoted to 19th century
souvenir ware.
Of the two boxes in this picture not yet described, the oval
mull or box, centre front, must be one of the earliest-dated
specimens extant. It is Scottish, made of lignum vitae, silver
mounted, and is engraved with initials I.K. and date 1684.
Next to it is a typical 18th century horn mull. Its silver band
is engraved 'A grand refreshment'.
The Scots pronounce mill as mull, and the original Scottish
mulls were grinders, like those shown in Plate 24, but the name
mull became transferred to the Scottish receptacle for the
snuff, usually a horn with the point curled. In the National
Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, is a conical horn box for
snuff, tapering to a straight point. My guess is that such boxes
were originally used to hold the carottes and may have had
graters under their lids. When the snuff was purchased ready
THE BOX FOE THE SNUFF 75
ground, and a pocket box was needed, it would become logical
to curl the horn to prevent it making a hole in the pocket.
Before proceeding to the next chapter and its pictures of
many varieties of snuff boxes, brief mention should be made
of snuff flasks or bottles, which were formerly an alternative
receptacle in aristocratic circles in several parts of the world.
The wealthy aristocratic Chinese, who grew their finger-
nails to a great length to indicate that they did no manual
labour, could not, in consequence, grind their own snuff, nor
could they take a pinch between finger and thumb. By keep-
ing their snuff in exquisitely fashioned, carved and inlaid
hardstone bottle with short necks, which had spoons fitted to
their stoppers, they overcame the dilemma which they had
created. With the spoons, they transferred the snuff to the
back of the hand for sniffing. A similar procedure was formerly
common among the wealthy in Spain and Morocco, but the
bottles were usually made from small gourds and nut-shells.
In the Scandinavian countries snuff flasks were used in the
18th century, Plate 40; some of them are fitted with chained
silver stirrers or spoons, which form the stoppers; others have
ivory stoppers. They vary considerably in size, some doubtless
for table, others for pocket use. The bodies of the flasks are
usually hollowed out of maple or birch burrs; the actual scoop-
ing out is done from the centre of each side, where the orna-
mental silver or ivory disc is then inserted. The flasks were
filled, presumably with a small funnel, through the hole at the
base and the snuff removed through the spout at the top. For
convenience of photographing, the flask on the left, with
handle, is shown upside down. Though the inscriptions which
sometimes occur on them make their purpose abundantly
clear, these snuff flasks are often confused with and described
as gunpowder flasks in various collections.
'The time has come,' the author said,
'To talk of many sorts;
Of shoes . . . and ships . . . coquilla nuts . . .
And snuffy, burry warts.'
(With apologies to Lewis Carroll)
CHAPTER EIGHT
'OF SHOES . . . AND SHIPS . . . AND . . .'
O HOES represent one of the largest groups among wooden
O snuff boxes. A selection is shown in Plates 42 and 48, but
there are literally hundreds of varied specimens to be obtained,
particularly if materials other than wood are included.
The shoes which were carved cover, in their styles, every
period from mediaeval times (see centre, front row, Plate 43) to
the end of the 19th century. As snuff was not known in Europe
in mediaeval times and as, moreover, the few dated specimens
usually show dates in the 1880's, many people are inclined to
dismiss all boot and shoe snuff boxes as Victorian romantic
revival work. This, however, is wrong, as regards the shoes any-
way, because Fairholt, writing in 1859 about quaint forms of
snuff boxes, says 'One favourite in the last century was A
"Ladies Shoe' and he illustrates one similar to the pair, one
from the right, front of Plate 43, and to one on the stand
immediately above them.
It looks, therefore, as though the shoe had at least two
phases of popularity one in the 18th century and another in
the late 19th, and that probably it was out of fashion in the
mid-19th century, when Fairholt was writing.
It has often been said that shoe snuff boxes were made as
'passing out' pieces by cobbler apprentices; this is probably
true of the most accurately produced models, particularly
those studded with brass tacks and having steel sole and heel
tips. It must be borne in mind, moreover, that woodworking
76
*OF SHOES . . . AND SHIPS . . . AND . . .' 77
formerly was a very essential part of the cobbler's trade, and
miniature 'lasts' were an apprentice's recognized passing-out
piece.
The association of shoes with love and marriage goes back
to the Bible. The silver shoes on the wedding cake, the ancient
Yorkshire custom of 'trashing' throwing old footwear after
brides and bridegrooms, as they leave the church and the old
shoe tied behind the carriage, continue the connection to this
day. The heart motifs frequently found, inlaid with ivory and
mother-of-pearl on shoe snuff boxes, suggest that this type
were particularly regarded as love tokens. This is further
substantiated by some dated examples being made in pairs and
having different initials on each shoe and also by the rather
rare twin-joined-pairs, which proclaim 'We two are one'. The
nicely chip-carved, twin-joined-pair, one from left, front,
Plate 42, is Scandinavian; it contains two separate cavities. The
balancing twin-pair, on the right of the picture, has hearts
carved on the toes and MARRY on the lid; it has a single snuff
cavity and is Welsh, as is also the large chip-carved shoe with
mirror insert, central in the front row. Left of this are a pair of
button boots, dated 1884, and right a pair of mahogany shoes
(one on the shelf above). Both of these are probably appren-
tices' pieces, as is also the accurately steel-tipped and brass-
nailed mahogany shoe, on its side, back row, right. Next to the
latter is a boot, the heel of which pivots round, to disclose the
snuff cavity in the sole. This is the only instance I know of this
treatment. All the other boxes shown, open from the top; the
majority have sliding lids, but a few are hinged and some have
lift-off lids.
In Plate 43 more pairs of shoes are included; those at the
back, near the left, are particularly good apprentice examples,
in brass-studded and steel-tipped rosewood. In front, a pair of
carved sabots provide a pleasant variation. The boot, left,
front row, in this picture must have provided many a shock,
for when the lid is slid back a most realistic green snake, with
metal eyes, pops out. If it emerged from a cloud of snuff it
must have appeared horrific enough to startle the most iron-
nerved nosologist.
78 SNUFF TAKING
Plate 44 pictures some exceptionally fine-quality snuffboxes.
Those in the top row, all being formed as ships, would, accord-
ing to certain writers in the past, have been carried by sailors.
Whilst, in many instances, it seems logical that there was a
connection between the subject forming or depicted on a box
and its owner's profession, I cannot believe that it applied to
the particularly delicately carved ship boxes, which were often
made from an exceptionally fragile material.
The box on the left, hollowed from a block of boxwood,
depicts an early 19th century warship; the pivoted lid is not
original. This box shows definite signs of wear and may have
been carried in the pocket; its guns and the name on the stern
are inlaid with silver; the name is almost indecipherable, but
looks like RICHARD CUNDA. The other three ships are French,
carved from coquilla nuts and fitted with silver hinges. They
are much more fanciful in their treatment and, having many
delicate projections, would not have stood up to rough treat-
ment, even in boxwood, whilst in the extremely brittle
coquilla nutshell from which they are made, they must always
have been regarded essentially as table bibelots. The ship on the
left is the CERES, with the full-length figure of the Goddess of
Plenty, complete with cornucopia, depicted against pierced
flower and foliage tracery on the lid. Next is the TRINITE, with
the crowned Virgin and Child delicately carved beneath a
pierced Gothic canopy. The bowsprit terminal is formed of
three angel heads. Both these ship models date from circa
1810, but that on the right, which bears no name, is later and
shows the Biedermeir influence of the second quarter of the
19th century.
As the existence of coquilla was almost forgotten until I
carried out research on the subject some years ago, it may not
be out of place to give brief details, particularly as the nut was
used very largely for snuff boxes of many shapes and sizes.
Until I published the results of my research, such boxes and
'eggs' were usually described as 'burr', 'root' or boxwood.
Actually, they are made from the nut of the Attalea funifera
palm, sometimes called the Piassaba, and they have been
imported to Europe from South America, from the mid-16th
C OF SHOES . . . AND SHIPS . . . AND . . .' 79
century or earlier. They are extremely hard and brittle, polish
easily and are characterized by a handsome tortoiseshell
mottle. Ever since their introduction to Europe they have
been esteemed by carvers and turners for numerous orna-
mental and useful purposes, although their absence of long
grain makes them fragile, whilst their oiliness, useful for keep-
ing snuff moist without having to line the boxes, makes
repairs difficult. If you have the misfortune to break a
coquilla object, it will glue much better if you moisten the
fractured edges with a strong solution of soda, to absorb the
oil, and then dry before applying the adhesive. A coquilla nut
is the size of a hen egg and when it was desired to make some-
thing longer than could come out of one nut such as the ship
boxes the extensions were dowelled on with ivory, bone or
brass dowels; in the case of certain suitable objects, such as
ornamental vases and urns, the various sections were threaded
into each other. Until the mid-19th century many coquilla
objects, such as the ship boxes, were carved and polished by
first-class craftsmen; but during the latter half of the 19th
century coquilla work degenerated into the familiar pierced
and varnished eggs, containing rosaries, which were sold out-
side the Madeleine in Paris and the Pantheon in Rome.
All the snuff boxes in Plate 45 are made of coquilla nut.
Most of the grotesque figures are German or Dutch, the
majority early 19th, but probably a few of them late 18th
century. The standing figures all have hinged flaps behind
them. The bodies represent a whole coquilla, the head and feet
being dowelled on, the latter usually inserted into the natural
'eyes' of the nut. The first two boxes, left on the back shelf, are
respectively Sicilian and Italian; they have silver hinges. Both
are 18th century. The first shows a mythological subject, the
second, Daniel in the lion's den. The two boxes on the right,
carved with Romayne heads, were described by me in Treen
as probably being made about 1559. Their style, crudeness of
construction and extremely worn appearance made this attri-
bution likely, not only in my opinion, but also in that of the
various authorities on the period whom I consulted. I must now
amend that conclusion, because I have since come across
80 SNUFF TAKING
another six of these boxes and several other objects constructed
and decorated in the same manner; some of them are hardly
worn at all and show features which, in my opinion, stamp
them as mid-19th century romantic revival.
Now for some details of the boxes in the front row of Plate
44. The D-shaped box, on the left, is not of the first quality,
but is unusual in its shape and in having free-standing pillars
carved at the corners; the rebated lid is detachable. The next
two boxes, although almost devoid of man-made ornament,
are absolutely in the top grade and show that perfection of
simplicity and good proportion which requires great skill to
attain. Each is made from carefully selected burr maple, with
particularly handsome markings. Both have silver hinges;
that on the circular box is scrolled and connected to a silver
rim which encircles the lid and encases the thumbpiece. The
oblong box, with the bombe sides, hollow-canted corners, and
shallow-domed lid, with incorporated thumb lift, exactly
follows the outline of certain mid-18th century boxes made in
enamel, gold and silver. Both of them were probably made
about that time.
The two boxes on the right have several points in common.
Both date from circa 1800; both are cut from a solid burr
of birch or something closely resembling it burrs are notori-
ously difficult to identify. Both have the integral wood hinge,
usually associated with Scotland and Scandinavia especially
Finland. Both are curved to fit the pocket, a feature common
enough in metal, but difficult and, therefore, costly in time,
to make in wood. The pointed box, with its all-over scrolled
acanthus ornament, could easily be Scandinavian or Scottish.
Its neighbour, on the right, which seems to bear something in
the nature of an armorial device, would, I expect, if identified,
turn out to be Scottish.
In case any readers are mystified by the term burr (in the
U.S.A. known as burl), here is a brief explanation. Burrs are
wart-like excrescences on the trunks of trees, formed by
growth round a wound, or clusters of dormant buds actually
they are small knots which never quite develop into branches.
These clusters gradually form solid, shallow protuberances;
'OF SHOES . . . AND SHIPS . . . AND . . .' 81
they are often of considerable diameter, particularly where
they occur on the 'butt' that is, the junction of trunk and
root. Sometimes burrs are induced artificially by felling trees,
the stumps of which then 'stool' that is, they emit clusters of
new twigs, which are broken oft and, when grown over, form
burrs. Some trees are more prone to grow burrs than others.
Walnut, elm, yew, mulberry, birch and maple are all high up
in this category and their burrs are much prized for cutting
into veneers; but the last two are the most likely to be found
in sufficiently sound condition to hollow out, to form boxes or
bowls.
Apart from the handsome markings, burr wood is emi-
nently suited for bowls which are to be silver mounted and,
therefore, must not distort, and also for small boxes which
must not warp or shrink unevenly, otherwise their lids would
not fit. Burrs meet the case, because they have no distinct long
fibres in one direction and, therefore, none of the 'width only'
shrinkage, which characterizes normal wood. Their tangled,
interwoven structure makes them unusually stable for small,
hollow receptacles.
A provincial paper says, that a gentleman in Devonshire has
invented what he calls a snuff-pistol; it has two barrels, and being
applied to the nose, upon touching a spring under them with the
fore-finger, both nostrils are instantly filled, and a sufficient
quantity driven up the head to last the whole day.
The London Journal (circa 1830)
CHAPTER NINE
SNUFF BOXES IN GREAT VARIETY
AMONGST circular wooden snuff boxes is a well-known
/JL French group, usually described as Napoleonic, although
the themes which they depict are much wider than that title
suggests. They are all made from maple or birch burr, and to
a universally high standard, with linings of tortoiseshell.
Judging by their subjects, of which there are probably a
hundred or more, the majority were made between 1800 and
1810. They usually measure between 3J in. and 3 in. in
diameter. A few boxes of similar type, but only about 3 in. in
diameter, appear to date from the second half of the 18th
century; their subjects include some in the Chinese taste and
also one, at least, showing Prince Charles Edward.
All these boxes were made in the same manner: first
turned' to a solid block of the required diameter and thick-
ness, they were then submitted to steam treatment and, whilst
relatively soft, scenes or other subjects were impressed on the
tops with medal dies. Sometimes another die, simulating
engine turning, was impressed on the bottom. After hardening
up, a fine horizontal saw-cut was made through the block and
the two layers were recessed to form box and lid, and then
lined with tortoiseshell. A few of these boxes have secret com-
partments concealed in the base. These may contain a profile
of Napoleon or an erotic picture.
Some representative examples are illustrated in Plate 46.
82
SNUFF BOXES IN GREAT VARIETY 88
Top row, left, is based on the famous Rubens painting 'Cimon
and Pera', here called 'La piete filiale\ Next is a satire on
England, entitled 'Allegorie sur la bataille des 3 Empereurs*.
Round the border is the inscription 'II a vu sans effroi leur
violens efforts*. The scene, illuminated by a garlanded sun-
head, shows a crowned French eagle, perched on a prostrate
double-headed German eagle; the French eagle has seized a
Russian double-headed eagle by one claw, has knocked off his
crown and is proceeding to pull the feathers out of his wings,
On the left a Prussian lion is slinking off, tail between legs.
Across the channel England, in the form of a complacent
bulldog, sits watching, with fleet before and the Tower of
London behind him; there is a Napoleonic secret compartment
in the base. The last box in this row is 'Susanne surprise au
bain\
In the second row we have 'Retour de Chasse de Henri IV 9 .
In the centre is a handsome box with an ivory relief carving
behind glass. Sometimes, as an alternative, gilt commemora-
tive medals are centred behind glass panels in boxes of this
type. The box on the right, showing Wellington in profile,
appears, at first sight, to be wood, but is really made from one
of the sawdust-based plastics which were invented in the
mid-19th century.
The bottom row contains three very interesting boxes. The
two on the left depict the principles of craniology. The first
shows events in the life of Dr. Gall. The second is impressed
with three views of a skull with the 'bumps' numbered; on the
bottom of the box is a key to the 'bumps'. The box on the
right is one of the rare 'double head' types. Turn the picture
round and you will see entirely different faces; the man turns
into a horse. Another example of this type, not illustrated,
shows a smiling face which, when the box is turned round,
becomes a picture of misery. Occasionally, when these pressed
boxes show simply the head of a notability in profile, the
pressing has been sharpened up by a slight amount of carving.
Another large group of boxes, said to have been particu-
larly popular with students and bibliophiles, are the 'books',
Plate 47. Except where they have dates inscribed on them, it is
84 SNUFF TAKING
impossible to gauge their age accurately, but they appear to
have enjoyed popularity both in the 18th and 19th centuries.
They are almost invariably carved out of a solid block and a
lot of work went into simulating the book-binding. Some are
very charming, with inlaid or chip-carved covers and gilt or
boxwood leaves. Sometimes the owner's name, or initial, is
substituted for the title of the volume and a heart is inlaid on
the spine. Most of the geometric chip-carved boxes are Welsh.
The majority of book boxes have sliding lids, but one shown
here is pivoted. They vary from crude to fine quality. Two of
the crudest have slot-screwed spines, which 'lock' their sliding
lids. Two lignum vitae snuff spoons and a snuff mallet are also
shown in this picture.
The two snuff boxes, on the left, back row, Plate 48, and the
three in front of them, are all Scottish, with the integral wood
hinge. All are tortoiseshell lined, and each is hollowed out of a
block of amboyna. The one at the back has two compartments,
with separate lids. On the shelf in front of it is one of the well-
known cushion type, which were also produced as miniature
boxes less than 1 in. long, but complete with tortoiseshell
linings. Below is a reeded oval section box, a reeded cylindric
box and a box curved to fit the pocket. These Scottish boxes
are so well made that many of them serve as 6 shag' tobacco
boxes today, although they were made anything from 100 to
160 years ago. In the Moot Hall, Aldeburgh, is an amboyna
cushion snuff box which belonged to the poet George Crabbe,
1754-1832.
The box standing on end, centre, crudely decorated with a
heart in fret-cut bone and a rather naive picture of a girl, is a
Welsh 19th century love token. The diamond-shaped box in
front of it suggests good cheer, with its inlaid punch bowl,
goblets and clay pipe. Below, the novel twin-barrelled pistol,
of walnut, contains a snuff cavity, with sliding lid on the
underside.
Right, back, is an oval trick box, of which quite a few
were made. When the pivoted lid is swung round, another lid
is found beneath it: the puzzle is how to open the second lid.
In front of it is a rather crude Welsh (?) box, inlaid in bone
SNUFF BOXES IN GREAT VARIETY 85
and some dark wood, with a snake on its sliding lid. Below is
a Welsh chip-carved circular box, probably 18th century, and
next to it is another circular box of a type of which few sur-
vive: the lid is on a centre pivot and when swung round admits
the finger and thumb. The other three boxes in this illustra-
tion merit inclusion because they are somewhat unusual in
their shape, carving or inlay, but none of them is of particu-
larly good quality.
Circular wooden snuff boxes still exist in large quantities;
often they are quite decorative because of the choice of wood,
although the majority of them are perfectly plain or very
simply turned; some of the ring-turned and ornamental-
turned specimens are quite interesting. If you ever come across
a plain circular box containing traces of a red powder it is a
snuff box which contained Spanish Sabillia, a brick-red snuff
powder, much esteemed round about 1800 as a tooth powder.
It cost 16s. per Ib. and had a reputation for keeping the gums
healthy.
Animal snuff boxes are very eagerly sought by collectors.
A selection is in Plate 49. It includes three toads the one on
the perspex stand is a particularly good one of burr maple, with
silver inlay and hinges also a reclining dog and a horse head;
these have snuff cavities inside them and hinged or sliding
lids beneath them. The squatting monkey, the two monkey
heads, the bulldog head, the boar head and the hunchback, are
similarly hollowed out and have lids at the back. The bulldog
head is not photogenic: actually it is a very good quality, 18th
century, boxwood box, silver lined and with silver lid. The
snuff spoons, shown alongside, are bone.
With Plate 50 we come to our last selection of snuff boxes.
Bellows occur in tobacco stoppers and even in pipes, and one
can see the implication of blowing up the embers. With bellows
snuff boxes, presumably the allusion is to blowing away the
dust anyway they are rather pleasant.
So, too, are the 'hands', taking a pinch 'twixt finger and
thumb. One would have expected that such apt snuff boxes
would have been made in large quantities, but this does not
appear to be so. They are both scarce and expensive. The box-
86 SNUFF TAKING
wood example has a hinged thumb; the rosewood specimen
has its lid at the wrist line.
The two planes were probably woodworkers' charming
fancies. As mentioned earlier, woodworkers, because of fire
hazards, were notorious snuff takers until recently. The planes
are the type known as Bismarcks, or German planes, about
ninety years ago. It does not follow, however, that the boxes
were necessarily German, for these planes were used in
England too. The wedge in front of the c plane box' lifts out of
a dovetail groove and then the lid, with the 'iron' and wedge
on it, slides forward.
Behind the planes, you can take your choice of snuffy
headgear. Right, is a tortoiseshell-lined, Napoleonic hat, early
19th century, and next to it, a peaked cap, later still, and made
from figured birch. The well-patinated helmet is much earlier.
It is Italian and may be 17th or 18th century; it is inlaid with
various woods and tortoiseshell, with brass piqud lines be-
tween the inlays.
On the left are some of our ancestors' macabre jokes a
death head and three coffins. The first is an 18th century box,
hinged at the back. Two of the 'coffins' may be 18th or early
19th century; the one lying down has a trick lid, similar to that
on the oval box, right of Plate 48. Mostly, these coffins are based
on the allusion to dust; some of them have inscriptions on
them, such as 'Sacred to the dust of Virginia', but the coffin
box on the left appears to be a genuine memento mori. It is
hollowed out of kingwood and has a bronze lid, neatly en-
graved: 'Mr. Charles Russell Wyatt died 13th May, 1825. Aged
34 years.' I have never been able to ascertain anything about
its history, but in an endeavour to do so I sent an illustration
of it to a widely read journal. This did not produce any
information; some time later, however, I had a letter from
America, from a gentleman who very much wanted to purchase
it. I replied that it was not for sale. There followed another
letter asking if I could not find another one for him. I explained
that my wife and I were collectors, not dealers, but that it
happened that we had a duplicate 'coffin', which he could
have, if he were prepared to arrange with his London agent to
SNUFF BOXES IN GREAT VARIETY 87
pack, ship, deal with declarations, etc., as we did not know
anything about the regulations and did not want the bother
of finding out. A cheque for the price named came to hand
immediately and a few days later my wife received a 'phone
call from a London firm of export packers to know whether
two men would be enough to send to collect the coffin! Mrs.
Pinto replied that she would put it in a ten-cigarette packet
and post it to them!
For our farewell to bygones of bygone snuff takers let us
conclude with the last rites of Mrs. Margaret Thompson of
Boyle Street, off Savile Row, London, who died in 1776. She
stipulated in her will that all her unwashed handkerchiefs and
enough snuff to cover her body were to be put in her coffin,
that six snuff-taking maidens were to be her pall-bearers, and
that her servant was to walk ahead of the coffin, scattering
snuff over the crowd.
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Most of the writing in this book stems from research on old
documents, sifting of hearsay, investigation and analysis of ancient
customs and phrases, and, above all, long-term examination of the
old-time devices associated with the use of tobacco. This examina-
tion has been extended far beyond my wife's and my collection
and has embraced objects in many public and private collections
in various parts of the world. It has also included the inestimable
benefit of interchange of opinion with other collectors and students
of social history.
To those readers who desire further general information on the
tobacco habit, or particular aspects of it, I recommend the
following:
Belfast Museum: Objects connected with tobacco smoking, etc.
Publication 44 Quarterly Notes No. XXII (1914).
Corti, Count: A History of Smoking (1981).
'Dean Snift of Brazen-Nose': A Pinch of Snuff (1840).
Dunhill, Alfred: The Pipe Book (1924); The Gentle Art of Smoking
(1954).
Evan-Thomas, Owen: Domestic Utensils of Wood (1932).
Fairholt, F. W., F.S.A.: Tobacco: Its History and Associations (1859).
McCausland, H.: Snuff and Snuff Boxes (1951).
Mackenzie, Compton: Sublime Tobacco (1957).
Myer, Reginald: Chats on Old English Tobacco Jars (1927).
Oswald, Adrian, M.A., F.S.A., F.M.A.: 'Tobacco Pipes' (clay pipes,
their dating and places of origin). The Concise Encyclopaedia of
Antiques, Volume Four (1959).
Pinto, Edward H.: Treen (1949).
Price, F. C. Hilton: 'Early Pipes' (clay). Archaeological Journal
(1901 and 1902).
89
INDEX
The numerals in heavy type refer to plate numbers of illustrations
ADDISON, 84
'Animal' boxes, 85, 49
Ashburnham, 26
Aubrey, 25
BAGABD, Cesar, 65
Beau Brummel, 63
Bedford, Duke of, 23, 24
'Bellows': snuffboxes, 85, 50
tobacco stoppers, 37, 13
Blackamoor, 18, 1
Bompas Collection, 27
'Book' boxes, 50, 72, 83-4, 22,
36,47
Boscobel Oak, 34
Bottles: snuff, 75
Boxes: pipe, 44, 20
snuff, 70-87, Frontispiece,
37-50
tobacco, 40-3, 15, 17-19, 37
Briar pipes, 27-8, 31, 9, 41
Bruyere, 28
Burrs, 80-1
'Butcher' Cumberland, 19
CANISTEBS: snuff, 62
Carnegie Collection, 25, 68, 69
Garotte, 57, 61, 62, 64, 74, 24,
36
Cases: cheroot, 50, 22
cigar, 51, 22
cigarette, 47, 51, 22
pipe, 25-7, 5, 6
Caskets: cheroot, 50, 22
Catherine de Medici, 14
Cawdor Castle, 15
Cellini, 72
Chatelaines: snuff, 59
Cheroot: cases, 50, 22
caskets, 50, 22
Cheroots, 50
Cherrywood pipes, 28
Churchwarden: pipes, 25
racks, 44, 20
stands, 44-5, 20
trays, 44, 20
Cigar: cases, 51, 22
cutters, 46, 22
Divan, 49
duty on, 48
moulds, 51, 14
piercers, 46, 21
Cigarette: cases, 47, 51, 22
stand, 47, 21
Cigarette-making tube, 48, 21
Cigarettes, 47, 48
Cigarilles, 48
Cigars, 48, 49
Clay Pipe Makers' Company, 17
Clay pipe mould, 47, 21
Clay pipes, 23-5
Coasters: snuff box, 68
snuff rasp, 68, 33
'Coffin' boxes, 86, 50
Collections: Bompas, 27
Carnegie, 25, 68, 69
Drane, 66
Evan-Thomas, 65, 66, 67
Hilton Price, 66
Pinto, 12
TrapneU, 66
Columbus, 13
Combined snuff/tobacco box, 73,
37
Companions: smokers', 45
98
94
INDEX
Compendium: smokers', 45, 21
Coquilla nuts, 78, 44, 45
Counterblaste to Tobacco, 16
Coverley, Sir Roger de, 34
Cowper, William, 74
Crabbe, George, 84
Cutters: cigar, 46, 21
plug tobacco, 46, 21
Cutties, 27
'DEAN SNIFT', 59
Dickens, Charles, 34
Divan, cigar, 49
Drake, Sir Francis, 15
Drane Collection, 66
Dunhill, Alfred, 27
Duty on: cigars, 48
tobacco, 17
EVAN-THOMAS
66,67
Collection, 65,
FAIRHOLT, 47, 76
Filmer, Sir John, 28, 24
Fitz-Geffery, Henry, 43
Flasks: snuff, 75, 40
Foot, Lundy, 58
Fops' tobacco boxes, 43, 15
Fribourg and Treyer, 56, 59, 61, 63
Friction matches, 45
GALL, Dr., 83
George IV: coronation accounts,
71
snuff jar chamber, 56
Gladstone, 32
Glastonbury Thorn, 34
Gliddon, 49
Gourds, 75
Grandmaison, Madame, 63
Graters: snuff, 57, 24
'HAND' boxes, 85, 50
Handkerchiefs: snuff, 59
Harrison, William, 15
Hawkins, Sir John, 15
'Head-gear' boxes, 86, 50
Hernandez, Francisco, 14
Highlander sign, 18-19, 3
Hilton Price Collection, 66
Hinge: Scottish wooden, 43, 74,
80, 84, 15, 38, 44, 48
History of: snuff, 55-60
tobacco, 13-18
Hone, 32
IRISH Blackguard, 58
Irish pipe, 31-2, 10
JAMES 1, 16, 17, 23
Jars: snuff, 62
tobacco, 38-40, 14, 16
KILNS: pipe, 24
LANE, Ralph, 15, 16
Lemaire-Daime', 48
MACKENZIE, Sir Compton, 17
Mallets: snuff, 84, 47
Matches, 45
Mayhew, 34
Medici, Catherine de, 14
Medicinal uses: snuff, 55
tobacco, 17
Meerschaum pipes, 28
Memento mori, 35, 86, 11, 48
Merchants' marks, 29, 69, 7, 34,
36
Mills: snuff, 57, 24
Mirror-lined boxes, 43, 15
Monck, Henry, 78
INDEX
95
Moth ball, 24
Moulds: cigar, 51, 14
pipe, 47, 21
Moule a cigarilles, 48
Mulls: snuff, 74, 38
Prices of: clays, 24, 47
snuff, 63
tobacco, 23
Prickers: tobacco, 87, 13
Prince Regent, 56
NAPOLEONIC boxes, 82-3, 46
Nicot, Jean, 14
Nicotine, 15
Nosologists, 56
Nutshells, 75
PAPIER MACHE, 50, 72, 22
Past Overseers' Society, 73
Pepys, 17
Perfumes: snuff, 58, 63
Piercer: cigar, 46, 21
Pinto Collection, 12
Pipes: boxes, 44, 20
briar, 27-8, 31, 9, 41
carved wood, 28-31, 32, 7, 8,
9, 10
cases, 25-7, 5, 6
cherrywood, 28
clay, 23-5
corn cob, 28
Irish, 81-2, 10
meerschaum, 28
moulds, 47, 21
porcelain, 28
racks, 45, 20
silver, 25
standing figure, 32, 10
stands, 44-5, 20
sticks, 31, 41
'Pistol' snuff box, 84, 48
* Plane' snuffboxes, 86, 50
Planes: spill, 45
Plug cutter, 46, 21
Porcelain pipes, 28
Pots: snuff, 63, 37
Pressed wood snuff boxes, 82-3,
46
QUEEN'S HERB, 15
RACES: pipe, 45, 20
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 15, 16,
25
Rapee, 57
Rdpes a tabac, 55, 65
Rappoirs, 55
'Rasp and Crown', 61, 62, 26
Rasps: snuff, 57, 61-9, 25, 27-
36
Red Indian sign, 18, 2
Rooke, Sir George, 57
Rope tobacco, 19
Rubens, 83
Ruef, Arnold and Peter, 18
Rundell & Bridge, 71
SAILOR tobacconist sign, 19
Salsbee, 35
Sandys, Sir Edwin, 26
Scheemakers, 36
Scotch snuff, 58
Scotland: National Museum of
Antiquities, 74
Shakespeare, 34, 35, 36, 73
Sheraton snuff box, 41
4 Ship' boxes, 78, 44
'Shoe' boxes, 76, 77, 42, 43
Shop signs, 18-19, 61, 1, 2, 3, 4,
23
Shrewsbury, Lord, 63
Silver pipes, 25
Smokers' companion, 45
Smokers' compendium, 45, 21
Sneesh, 19
INDEX
Snuff: bottles, 75
boxes, 70-87, frontispiece,
37-50
coasters, 68, 33
flasks, 75, 40
graters, 65, 24
handkerchiefs, 59
history, 55-60
jars, 62
mallets, 84, 47
medicinal uses, 55
mills, 57, 24
mulls, 74, 38
pedlar's staff, 19, 23
perfumes, 58, 63
pots, 63, 37
prices, 63
rasps, 57, 61-9, 25, 27-36
spoons, 59, 63, 84, 24, 47
sticks, 56, 41
table boxes, 72-3, 37
varieties, 57-8
waistcoats, 72
'Snuffy Charlotte', 56
Solomon, Henry, 48
Souvenir boxes, 73-4, 38
Spectator, 34
Spills, 45, 20
Spoons: snuff, 59, 63, 84, 24, 47
Standing figure pipes, 32, 10
Stands: cigarette, 47, 21
pipes, 44-5, 20
Sternutation, 55
Sternutative, 55
Sternutatory, 55
Sticks: pipe, 31, 41
snuff, 56, 41
Stoppers: tobacco, 83-7, 11, 12,
13
TABLE snuff boxes, 72-8, 37
Taylor, John, 34
Teniers, 30, 42
Thevet, Frere Andre", 14
Thompson, Mrs. Margaret, 87
Tobacco: boxes, 40-3, 15, 17-19,
37
Counterblaste to Tobacco, 16
cutters, 46, 21
duty on, 17
history, 13-18
jars, 38-40, 14, 16
medicinal uses, 17
pipes, 23-5, 27-32, 7, 8, 9, 10,
41
prices, 23
prickers, 37, 13
roll, 19
rope, 19
stoppers, 33-7, 11, 12, 13
Tobacconists' signs, 18-19, 1, 2,
3, 4, 23
Tobago, 14
Tooth powder, 85
Trapnell Collection, 66
Treyer, Fribourg and, 56, 59, 61,
63
Trick boxes, 84, 86, 48, 50
Tube: cigarette-making, 48, 21
Tunbridge wood mosaic, 40, 74,
16,38
Turk sign, 19, 4
WAISTCOATS: snuff, 72
Walker, John, 45
Wellington, Duke of, 34, 35, 73,
83
Wemmick, 84
Westminster box, 73
Wimble, Will, 34
Wishart, David, 19
Wooden hinge, 43, 74, 80, 84, 15,
38, 44, 48
Woodforde, Parson, 23, 24
