yard of clay

plural yards of clay

1. archaicslangA long pipe for smoking; a churchwarden pipe.

   […] he failed repeatedly until he took over his famous house in Haymarket, where for many years, surrounded by such admirers as Byron, Tom Moore and Hazlitt, he smoked his yard of clay, drained his glass of 'daffy', and […]

   1954, Denzil Batchelor, Big Fight: The Story of World Championship Boxing, page 44

   1 more example

   "Inside these illuminated holes, at a distance of about three inches, were ranged at this hour, as every passer knew, the ruddy polls of Billy Wills the glazier, Smart the shoe-maker, Buzzford the general dealer, and others of a secondary set of worthies, of a grade somewhat below that of the diners at the King's Arms, each with his yard of clay."

   1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge