Pipe Making | Dying Arts #8
The Three Ravens PodcastPlay episode
Show notes
In this week's bonus episode, Eleanor talks us through the history of clay and wooden pipe making.
Part of the "Dying Arts" series, we start by discussing the first recorded uses of smoking, including from Ancient Scythia and Aztec culture, and track the changes which took place from things like incense burning and Ancient Greek "Vapour Baths" through to Native American ceremonial pipes, tobacco deities, and the eventual impacts of recreational smoking on European life.
After chatting through the rise and fall of pipe smoking in particular, we then discuss various types of pipe, and the methods and materials used to make them, as well as some of the ways pipes have appeared in folk and popular culture - from Gandalf and the Hobbits honking away on 'Pipeweed' to Sherlock Holmes, as well as the strange connections between pipes and fairies, smoking tigers, and much more besides...
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Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.
Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’
We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.
Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.
Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…
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