Lot of Gambier earthenware (clay) pipes, the most famous clay pipe-maker of the nineteenth century.
Pipes of clay were first smoked in England after the introduction of tobacco from Virginia in the late 16th Century. Sir Walter Raleigh, who founded colonies in the New World, was one of the first to promote this novel habit, although religious leaders did not approve and persecuted people for it.

At first only the rich could afford tobacco, though farmers soon began to cultivate fields of it in England. However, King James 1st was not favorable and had crops destroyed and so tobacco was then imported with tax applied.
By the mid 17th Century the manufacture of clay pipes was a well established trade with millions produced locally and for export. Around 1720 a huge industrial decline took place and snuff taking in the upper classes became popular and smoking was discouraged because of health risks. Clay pipes came back into fashion again in the 19th Century. By then Dutch, French and German designers as well as English were competing for attention where production was elevated to a grand form of art. Almost every aspect of everyday life was celebrated on a clay pipe including: plants, animals, birds, Coats of Arms, Royal events, names of Inns, sporting events, advertising, heads of celebrities and even characters from mythology. By Heather Coleman – Dawnmist Studio