Opium Pipe on Stand

This hand-crafted opium pipe is simple, elegant and finished in bone. It rests on a custom-made stand. Chinese culture had a longstanding love affair with all things opium beginning in the 8th century, when people began to use it as the cure for many an illness. Starting in the 19th century, smoking opium recreationally became an entire culture unto itself. Opium use was as much about the paraphernalia surrounding its use as it was about the opium.