We are an authorized, direct-from-the-publisher retailer of NEW books. Our titles are ON HAND and available for immediate shipping. Table of Contents Tobacco was unknown in the Old World until the discovery of America, where the various species of the plant seemed to thrive in several regions, both in North and South America. The story begins on a day in November 1492 when Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, two members of the Columbus expedition, were put ashore to explore an island and there saw natives smoking what appeared to be bundles of dry leaves. The leaves we now know to have been tobacco and the island in question was Cuba. The 450th anniversary of the discovery of America was commemorated belatedly by Cuba in 1944 with the issue of a set of stamps dated 1492-1942. The large 10 centavos violet portrays two astonished Spaniards looking at the recumbent figure of a huge native leaning his head and shoulders against a tree and smoking a big cigar. The stamp is captioned in Spanish 'Jerez and Torres discover tobacco'. It took many more expeditions and about half a century for the tobacco leaf and seed to reach Europe via Portugal and Spain. In the beginning its use was purely medicinal and many curative properties were wrongly attributed to it. By the closing decades of the 16th century, however, `drinking tobacco', as smoking was then called, had become the indulgence it is today. The American Indian custom of smoking tobacco in pipes quickly reached Europe and the first pipes were essentially functional and closely resembled one of the types commonly found in America. Before long ornamentation began to be applied and this increased over the centuries, reaching a peak during the 19th century. Whether a pipe is a cheaply moulded clay or an artistically carved meerschaum, its chief interest from the collector's point of view lies in the social or historical background responsible for its creation rather than in its monetary value.
In order to give the reader a general idea of the collecting possibilities in this vast field within the compass of a comparatively small book, it has been necessary to omit a number of interesting types of pipes. The choice of what to leave out has been the most difficult part of an otherwise very enjoyable task. Wherever possible I have tried to make amends by illustrating and captioning some items not mentioned in the text. Apologies are offered to those who do not find a favourite specimen described or illustrated.
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