Dad's mother, Delora Thayer Stimer, smoked a clay pipe. He said that only the family knew it. After all, smoking was frowned upon by the Wesleyan Methodist Church. She was a devote member.

But Grandma was English. Clay pipes had been around since the sixteenth century over there. It was a form of relaxation for many women, both of the gentry and the working class. She didn't drink, but she certainly did smoke.

Have you ever seen a clay pipe? I understand they can still be purchased today. A clay pipe is not glazed and is very fragile. They are easily broken. A problem is that they burn “hot” and can be hard to hold. That didn't stop Grandma. Their small size could easily be concealed, if necessary.

If you are considering taking up the habit of smoking a clay pipe, do you want a long stemmed or a short stemmed clay pipe? I understand that Grandma preferred a short stem. Probably those were the ones most readily available back then.

What about the tobacco? Prince Albert in a can was a good choice. Prince Albert was Queen Victoria's consort, so you can see how long Prince Albert Smoking Tobacco has been around. I suppose if you grew tobacco you could smoke your own. It would be easier than rolling your own cigarettes. Anyway, proper ladies didn't smoke cigarettes; they smoked a clay pipe.

Some tobacco connoisseurs prefer clay pipes because there is no transfer of flavor from the pipe to the tobacco. A clay pipe give a “pure” tobacco flavor. Briar smoking pipes impart a unique flavor to the smoking experience, or so they say. Today, clay pipes are also prized for the authenticity they give to Civil War reenactments.

Grandpa had to be the one who purchased her Prince Albert in a can. She wouldn't have dared show her face in church if she was seen buying smoking tobacco. Since lying is a sin, she couldn't say she was buying it for Grandpa. Everyone knew he smoked a briar pipe and used Bull Durham in a drawstring bag.

Grandma would have been horrified to see me smoking cigarettes in my early years. That just wasn't done in her day. Well, we seemed to have come full circle. Any kind of smoking is frowned on now-a-days. We know the dangers of cancer and heart disease that smoking tobacco cause. I haven't smoked in fifty years. That is probably one of the reasons I am still alive today. Grandma died in her forties.