The glassmaking canes consist of hollow steel. The tube is fitted with a mouthpiece called a bauquin, and slightly widens at the other end to adhere to the molten glass collected in the oven. The cane serves to introduce air into the incandescent glass mass. Its origin is ancient. Around 100 BC, a Syrian glassmaker invented a 3.93 to 5.24 ft cane (1.20 to 1.60 m) with a mouthpiece. It marks the beginning of blown glass, which would spread throughout the Middle East before reaching Europe and the Roman Empire.