Snuff and Puff: Nguni Smoking Traditions

The Xhosa proverb ''Wabeka inqawe'' meaning “ laying down the pipe” refers to a person dying and laying down their pipe for the last time. This saying indicates the importance of pipe smoking amongst the Xhosa people. 

Smoking is almost always done in a groups and is often a social activity. It is also used as a way to communicate with ancestors.  Shapes, carvings, beadings and lengths indicate the different types of smoking rituals. 

These Xhosa pipes are often referred to as Umabuyakude - implying their length. They are smoked by women as a social activity. In addition to the pipe smoking the women brew a vat of amarhewu, a sweet thin porridge which they drink as a refreshment.

This pipe is used by Xhosa men but it is not the traditional legnth or shape. As pipes are a source of pride and prestige amongst the Xhosa,  they have started to evolve into impressive and distinguishing shapes so that the smokers can show them off at social gatherings. 

A snuff spoon creatively attached to a necklace. Snuff, instead of pipes, is  preferred the diviners and healers known as Sangomas.

A South African Sangoma or tradional healer Phansi Museum's founder  Paul Mikula met during one of his many collecting trips in Southern Africa. 

Tobacco is not always smoked, it is sometimes crushed into a powder and snorted off a delicately carved spoon. Here we see a beautifully crafted snuff spoon which can double as a necklace.

A comb-like snuff spoon which doubles as a hairpiece — enhancing the wearer's hairstyle and ensuring that a suff spoon is always close at hand. 

Snuff pots are not only useful but are also intricately carved and creatively decorated by the wearer. Although the items are meaningful and distinct to each person,  they are worn conspicuously either in the the hair, around the arm and sometimes even as an ear piercing. 

 Snuff taking is a social institution of great  importance. Before engaging in a debate it is usual to take a pinch to clear the brain. Snuff also accompanies family offerings of meat and beer to the ancestors if  asking for children.

Note the stripped telephone wire which covers this traditional Zulu snuff pot. As industrialization entered the once rural dwellings, parts of the infrastructure were brought into the process of producing these kind of items - completely changing the fundamentals of their design.

This tabacco bag belongs to the Mfengu clan, a subsection of the Xhosa nation. As writer  Dawn Costello outlines, tabacco bags are often used by young Mfengu women who are ready to be married. These bags are decorated with thongs and are worn over their skirts. 

Amongst the Thembu clan, tobacco bags are used in ceremonies where gifts are given to initiates."The girls of the umtshotsho and the sweethearts of those undergoing initiation send them cloth tobacco bags into which sweets and tobacco, tied in a handkerchief, are put." - Dawn Costello

The beautiful and intricate pipes, snuff pots and bags of the Nguni people surpass a mere utilitarian function and are seeped in meaning, tradition and ritual. The Phansi museum holds a vast number of these special objects, celebrating their cultural value.