Lakota Beaded Horse Picks | ||
Similar pick above shows scale. | Paula says - "A pick is used to clean out the pipe bowl of burned tobacco before filling it with fresh tobacco." | |
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Pipe Tampers and Picks - There are a number of different pipe tools that can be used depending on the smoking mixture. These include the pick and the tamper. A pick stirs up the smoking mixture, giving it more air so it will burn more readily and quickly. It can also be used to clean the pipe bowl. A tamper packs the smoking mixture down so it burns more evenly and more slowly. As far as Native American pipe tools, the pick was traditionally a pointed wooden stick used to clean the pipe bowl and stir the herbs and grasses. After tobacco was introduced, tamper were made to press the tobacco tightly in the bowl so it would burn slower and stay lit. Alan Monroe, Lakota artist began making catlinite tamper about 20 years ago. They are made of solid sacred catlinite from Alan's own mine at Pipestone National Monument in Pipestone Minnesota. The stone has been buffed and polished to a high gloss with beeswax. They range in style from simple to very ornate. Small to quite large and heavy. Plain or in the image of an animal effigy. Each tamper has a hole drilled in it so that a leather thong, feather, horsehair or other adornment can be attached to the tamper. We offer tampers with a simple buckskin lace and glass crow beads but these can easily be embellished or removed to make the tamper reflect your unique personality. |
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