SC - probably a legal question...

[Mastercahankyle@cs.com]

That weird gizmo has been used for several generations in our
family by using it to hold olive oil. You soak the soapstone in
the oil and use it to help light a fireplace or furnace. Don't
know nuttin' about no mulling! Ours was from the van Patten side
of the family, and was from the early 1700s.

- -margali
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The Quote Starts Here:
A year or so ago I ran across a gadget in an antique shop which
turned
out to be a tin-lined copper vessel looking a lot like a beer
stein,
with a hinged lid with a notch on the edge, as if to allow the
lid to
close neatly over some kind of utensil. The utensil was a simple
iron
stick with a threaded business end to which a nut had been added,
and
this was holding in place a lump of soapstone about the size and
shape
of an egg, drilled through to receive the iron bar. It turned out
this
gadget was specifically for the purpose of mulling beverages, to
be used
by heating the stone end of the dipstick in a fire until glowing,
then
sticking it into the stout, or whatever. The lid kept it hot and
probably limited foam overflow.