Smoking Gear
Tobacco was a commodity used by almost the entire population for many centuries. It was most easy to smoke by pipe. These pipes were made of (white) clay and fragments of these can be found in large quantities on most farmer fields. Besides really cool pipe designs and a large collection of different maker marks, several metal items can be found which were used for these pipes.
Metal items consist of so called 'pijpenwroeters' (pipe scrapers) and 'vonkenvangers' (spark protector). The pipe scrapers were of different models - the ones I found can be seen to the left. It is also commonly known that these certain types could also be used as nails or hooks (when hammered into wood).
Some claypipes had very nice decorations, besides all kinds of engravings these sometimes were formed in a head - like this one found on a field.
Above: production of clay pipes.
Fragment of a 'Vonkenvanger' as can be seen to the right. It was used on a claypipe to avoid sparkles exiting the pipe when inhaling.
The other small piece is very interesting: it depicts a Napoleon figure which was used on a 'pijpenwroeter' - this one was found (by coincidence) on a French (1747) battlefield near Bergen op Zoom!
