Pipes as markers of social status in 18th century Sweden
phys.org
Bob
"During certain periods, smoking a well-used pipe was a sign of high status. To achieve the desired seasoned appearance, people would sometimes have their servants smoke their pipes for them. The pipe was not simply a tool for smoking tobacco, but also a marker of people's identities and places in the social hierarchy," says Bergman Carter, who has studied the social aspects of tobacco smoking in 18th-century Sweden.
"Pipes used by people from the lower social classes were coarser, unpolished and more likely to have shorter stems, while those from higher social classes smoked longer, more carefully finished and polished pipes."
Pipe stems were generally between 20 and 45 centimeters long (8 to 18 inches), considerably longer than those of most pipes today.
"To smoke a pipe with a 45-centimeter (18-inch) stem, you need to remain relatively still, which was difficult for people in the lower, manual-labor classes," says Bergman Carter.
How pipes became status symbols in 18th-century Sweden
In the 18th century, a clay tobacco pipe could reveal more than you might think. Its length, quality and condition, as well as the way it was used, could signal social status. In a new doctoral thesis, Lund University archaeologist Robert Bergman Carter shows how smokeways at the time served as...
