Current research on smoking pipe residues

This paper presents research into the identification of tobacco residues in ancient smoking pipes. Two techniques have been used so far: gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS), and Raman microscopy. GC/MS has been used successful in the past by the author to identify ancient tobacco residues, and the results of this round of analysis support prior research. Raman microscopy, which has the advantage of working on dry samples without solvents, was not successful. It appears that combustion products overwhelm any useful signal that would identify the substance smoked. We are pursuing the use of Raman in non-combusted samples.