The Turks have displayed the greatest refinement and taste in the manufacture of their long and beautiful chibouks or pipe-stems, to which they attach the amber mouth-piece, so agreeable to the lips and free from all impurities.
A peculiar species of clay was discovered in Turkey so remarkably argillaceous as to supersede all other substances for the construction of pipe-bowls; and these Oriental and philosophic smokers have displayed their wisdom and science in the peculiar form into which they have molded them. The form of a lüllé, or Turkish pipe-bowl, is that of an inverted cone, the base of which, when filled with tobacco, forms the surface. The design of this form is to present a greater surface of exposure to the atmosphere, and to bring a smaller body of tobacco in contact with the bowl, which is made as thin and delicate as the nature of the material will permit, so as to possess the least quantity of body, and thus less power of retaining heat. The pipe should be lighted in the centre of the bowl, not with a piece of paper, which would scorch the surface of the tobacco, but with a small piece of spunk. At each inhalation the ignited circle enlarges and extends toward the edge of the bowl, and as the combustion takes place proportionally downward, it is evident that all the tobacco is consumed without the assistance of fingering it, as the Germans are in the habit of doing.
The stem is always of wood, but great care is used in its selection. Jasmine is cultivated expressly for pipe-stems, and carefully trained so as to increase in length and uniform thickness. Cherry-stems are much prized and more durable than the jasmine, and there is a species of wild fruit tree called germeshek, peculiar to Turkey, remarkably suited for the use of tobacco, and very generally used. These pipe-stems are never less than four or five feet long, and perfectly straight. The object gained by the length is that the smoke arrives at the lips comparatively cool, having deposited its more solid particles in the stem, which being perfectly straight is easily cleansed; for it is an essential point that the pipe should, contrary to German philosophy, be kept pure. Still another advantage gained by the length is that the pipe may be easily disposed of for the moment, resting by the side or against a table without deranging the tobacco in the bowl, which should always have a small brass tray beneath it to protect the floor from any accident.