T.J. Macon in his book Reminiscences of The Richmond Howitzers tells of one ---
At Morton's Ford a trick was resorted to which served its purpose admirably. When in winter quar-
ters, the boys would have extra pipes and tobacco lying around loose, and the first thing a visitor would do on entering a tent would be to take one of the pipes and fill it with his host's tobacco. Some of us thought that this had gone far enough, and decided to try and put a stop to it. Therefore, they took the best pipe and put first a layer of tobacco, then a layer of powder, then a layer of tobacco and another layer of powder, and finally a layer of tobacco ; this completed the charge. It
was then important to see that the draught of the pipe was free from obstruction, then place it in a conspicuous place. In nine out of ten cases, when a visitor came in, he would take up the pipe and commence smoking, and when the fire reached the powder it went off like a rifled gun, blowing the pipe all to pieces. It had the desired effect of breaking up the bad custom, as no man would smoke another's pipe after that experience.
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