Note 3 — Chapter III · TEHERAN.

The form of these was very various, though the principle of action was always the same: the smoke was conducted to the bottom of a pint or more of water and then sucked up in bubbles through it, a gurgling noise being produced. Some used the long “snake” or nehpeech, a spiral of copper wire covered with coloured leather, and forming a flexible air-tight tube some four yards long; this was the more old-fashioned way, and required good lungs. A servant held the pipe itself at the side of the master’s chair. Others affected the wooden stem with the pipe; this as a rule is held by the smoker himself, and no great effort is required in smoking, as the tube is only eighteen inches long and air-tight, which the “nehpeech” or “snake” seldom is, save when quite new.

The portion between the pipe-head and the water-holder is as a rule always the same: a wooden tube some fourteen inches or more long, with numerous indentations, turned in a lathe, and coming to a point, so that any pipe-head will fit it; from the end of this an inner tube goes to within an inch of the bottom of the water. Sometimes this tube is made of ebony, at other times covered with silver, and rarely with gold. In its side at the bottom is the hole for the snake-like tube, or the stick.

The water-reservoir is usually of glass, either plain crystal, or cut Bohemian; the shape of these glasses is that of a wide-mouthed, long-necked decanter, and the neck serves as the place by which the whole contrivance is held. In summer a porous clay bottle is generally used as cooler by all classes, rich or poor.

Another kind of reservoir called a narghil (narghil, a cocoa-nut) is made, having its shape like a cocoa-nut, with a spike or small knob at the sharp end; this rests on the ground, and is meant for travelling. It is made of brass, silver, or gold, and often in the two latter cases enamelled; the “meāna,” or middle tube, to this kind of pipe is often two and a half feet long, and the stem two.

Yet another form of kalian exists for travelling, and that is a copy of the glass reservoir, of a rather squat shape, in buffalo or rhinoceros hide; this is often, indeed usually, covered with enamelled plates of gold and silver, often encrusted with gems, and is only in use among the very rich.

As the great personages of Persia are constantly travelling, these more elaborate forms of pipe are frequent; and, as a man’s pipe often gives an idea of his social position, money is very freely lavished on them. The mouth-piece is simply either wooden, or else the end is shod with silver. The head consists of, among the poor, a clay reservoir for the tobacco. These cost a farthing. But most Persians, though only of the lower middle class, manage to have a silver pipe-head; this consists of three pieces, the handle or chōb (wood), a carved and turned piece of wood pierced with a conical hole which fits the meāna (or stem)—this may be represented by the lower two-thirds of an old-fashioned wine-glass, with a small foot; the fire-holder, which is of gold, silver, or stone, is fitted to this, and represents the upper third of the wine-glass; and on this all the ingenuity of the Persians is lavished in the matter of ornament. From its under edge hang four or six little silver or gold chains four inches long, terminated by flattened balls.

Lastly, the wind-guard, which prevents the fire from falling or being blown up into an excessive state of incandescence, is usually made of silver, and is an inverted cone of the same size as the fire-holder, fitted to it with accuracy, and provided with two holes to give the requisite amount of draught; at the side two pairs of chains depend from the upper edge of this, and are made to reach as far as do the lower set.

The fire-holder is lined with a mixture of clay and plaster of Paris, on which is placed the tobacco, freshly moistened and rubbed into coarse fragments (though connoisseurs prefer a more elaborate preparation)—about three-quarters of an ounce is required; it is flattened and smoothed, the surplus water being squeezed away. Upon it are placed morsels of live charcoal, which are blown into a fierce flame, and the excess of water in the reservoir or bottle being driven out by blowing from the bottle, which is always nearly filled. A few draws are taken by the pipe-boy to see that all goes well, and to get rid of the taste of fresh charcoal, and get the tobacco well alight, and it is then handed to the smoker as under weigh.

On the fire-holder, however—perhaps because it is opposite the eye and so most conspicuous—are seen the highest efforts of Persian art. It is, whenever it can be afforded, of purest gold, though often thin; some rare exceptions are unornamented; more ordinarily it is chased or covered with high repoussé work, or elaborately engraved. Or it may be so encrusted with turquoises till little, if any, of the original metal shows; or it may be ornamented with elaborate enamels of birds and flowers, or of fruit; and a favourite pattern is vine-leaves of transparent enamel let into the deeply-cut metal, and the bunches of grapes of varied colours.

More often three or four ovals, some two inches long, are filled by portraits of a girl or boy—of course fancy ones—and the spaces between them filled with flowers and birds. These enamels are very beautiful, very costly, and very brittle; ten pounds being a common price paid to an enameller to decorate a gold head, while as much as one hundred tomans, or forty pounds, are given by great and rich amateurs.

Of the kalians, the heads and reservoirs of which are thickly encrusted with gems, I do not speak at present; I had few opportunities at that time of seeing such, and, as a rule, they are only possessed by the Shah, his sons and uncles. I trust the reader will bear with this long but needful detail as to pipes.