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Mr. Bill's Pipe & Tobacco Company

TOBACCO WATER PIPES

TOBACCO WATER PIPES   The idea of forcing smoke through water before allowing it to enter the mouth was probably originated by the African Bushman or Pygmies.   Many years before Columbus discovered the New World, natives were smoking from a variety of water pipes such as gourds, hollowed out wooden logs, horns of animals and sections of bamboo.   The most practical vessel for holding water was the coconut shell because it was hard and durable.  This water pipe was known as the narghile, a word that means "coconut shell".  It was fitted with a pair of reeds or bamboo tubes, one to hold the burning tobacco and the other to draw the smoke through.   The smoke of the water pipe is cooler than that of any other pipe. By the time the tobacco smoke has bubbled through the water and passed out of a tube, it is very mild. The water acts as a filter which keeps the impurities, tobacco flakes and moisture particles from entering the mouth.   (Studies by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service have shown that tobacco smoke filtered through a water pipe contains about 50% less carcinogenicity than smoke from standard pipes, cigarettes and cigars.)   Today, water pipes remain very popular. They are made from a wide variety of designs and materials.  Some are equiped with more than one hose so the bearer of especially fine tobacco may share it socially with friends.   If you have the inclination to smoke a water pipe, you can find them in many good pipe shops. You can vary the taste of the smoke by adding different flavorings to the water or ice for extra mildness and coolness.  The water pipe is a cool, healthy and agreeable departure from ordinary pipes.   Mr. Bill's stocks a wide variety of water pipes in all of our stores.

This article was published on Friday 14 March, 2008.