
12 • A Banded Slate Tobacco Pipe
Ohio or Indiana, Mound Builder culture; 200BC – 200AD
10 cm long
This pipe originates from the very beginning of tobacco’s long history of being smoked, when it was believed to be used in North American shamanic rituals of spirit and power. Its beauty is in the clever use of the slate’s natural pattern of bands, which appear like spirals of smoke.