"What do those people want with a stolen pipe?" Uncle Neil showed Leonard and the others a picture of the missing item on his mobile phone, and Joan looked at it curiously.
The reason for her question was quite simple: the picture showed a yellow-brown, somewhat crudely shaped clay pipe, and it was not immediately apparent why it would be considered precious.
"For the Native Americans, this is indeed a very valuable item," Leonard quietly explained to Joan. "Because Native Americans consider tobacco to be very sacred."
"According to their customs, the smoke produced during the smoking process can convey a person's wishes and thoughts to the deities; therefore, they can smoke the pipe alone or pass it around within a community or family."
