Great Fire tobacco pipe

The fashion for smoking added to the risk of fire in London. Tobacco was first brought to Europe from the Americas in the mid-1500s and the custom of smoking it in a pipe became popular from the late 1500s. The earliest pipes had very small bowls, reflecting the high price of tobacco at that time. It was thought to be good for the health and was recommended as a treatment for asthma, consumption and gout, among other things.

Not everyone agreed - King James I disapproved of smoking so much that he wrote ‘A Counterblaste to Tobacco’ in 1604. During the 1600s it grew in popularity and by 1614 there were 7000 tobacco shops in London. During the Great Plague of 1665 tobacco smoking was recommended as a preventative. By this time, men, women and even children smoked tobacco pipes. This example dates from the mid-1600s.

This tobacco pipe was found during the excavation of a shop on Pudding Lane that had burnt down in the Great Fire of London.