Dear Readers,
Potent tobacco, very rare and therefore expensive would use a smaller pipe.
Also easier to carry than Sherlock Holmes' calabash......
Here is a little more info:
http://www.jti.co.jp/Culture/museum/eng ... index.html
"Japanese Tobacco
During the early years after its introduction into Japan, tobacco became the subject of much prohibitive legislation, but in spite of legal hindrances, the cultivation and use of tobacco continued to spread.
By the time when the bans were lifted in the seventeenth century, tobacco was firmly established as one of the most popular consumer luxuries throughout all social levels, including the rank and file of the lower and middle strata of the population.
The characteristic Japanese method of smoking finely-minced tobacco in the long-stemmed, thimble-bowled pipes known as kiseru is also believed to date from approximately the same era. This custom of using finely-shred tobacco was to prove of significance in the history of Japanese technology, for the original hand-shredding process was soon supplemented by a variety of mechanical techniques, that stimulated the early development of qualitymass-production machinery in Japan.
In addition, the decorative possibilities of smoking paraphernalia opened up new fields for the creative energies of craftsmen in numerous areas of applied art.
In these and other ways, influences from tobacco made their mark upon early modern Japanese art , society, farm economy, agriculture, transport and technology.
In the years after 1868(meiji), when Japan once more became open to cultural stimuli from other parts of the world, new kinds of tobacco products were imported from abroad and rapidly naturalised.
In particular, the introduction of cigarettes revolutionised the smoking habits first of city-dwelling tobacco connoisseurs and then of con- sumers throughout the nation.
The indigenous tobacco industry flourished as never before, with rival manufacturers striving to outdo one another through flamboyant publicity campaigns.
At the same time, the Meiji-era government was quick to realise the value of tobacco as a potential source of revenue. In 1904, all stages of tobacco leaf processing and sale were brought under government control as a national monopoly, which remained in effect until 1985. Today, too, tobacco and tobacco products continue to play significant roles in Japanese society, agriculture, economics, medical science and other areas."
Best wishes to all!
go
