I'm not a huge smoker, but occasionally I like to smoke out of my pipes. Are you a big smoker or what?
I have smoked with a pipe before. It is the oldest form of smoking.
Oh really? That's really interesting, so what were some of the first things that people smoked?
Native Americans smoked tobacco long before Europeans arrived. They had ceremonial pipes to perform their rituals.
So they did they also smoke tobacco recreationally or was it seen as strictly a religious, ceremonal herb?
Both. They also smoked to seal covenants and treaties. This is where we get the term "peace pipe" from.
That makes a lot of sense, did any other places in the world grow and cultivate tobacco to smoke in their pipes?
Tobacco made its way to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, then spread across the world quickly.
So when the Europeans got a hold of tobacco, did they make any changes to the pipe designs of the Native Americans or has the design remained fairly constant?
Europeans developed gourd pipes, which were more elaborate than the Native American long pipes.