Old Woman Hicks Tube Pipe, 1920’s

‘Old Woman Hicks Smoking Her Pipe’ – She is wearing calico dress with blanket around her lower half, her beaded pipebag is in front of her, leather satchel by her side. Pipe looks to be wrapped with leather or cord.

The tube pipe design dates back to over 5,000 years old, first found in Neolithic sites throughout the Mississippi Valley.  The design was also a favorite of the Maya in Central America depicted in some of the earliest known artwork depicting smoking.   The tube pipe design also spread throughout ancient India and Asia (supposedly independent of America’s design) where it was used to smoke cannabis known as a Chillum.  1920’s

 

 

 

 

Mayan Bas Relief carving of ‘God L’ also known as ‘the old smoker god’ smoking a tube pipe in the Temple of the Cross in Palenque, Mexico dating as early as 226 BC