Oakum
Oakum can be used to seal cast iron pipe drains. After setting the pipes together, workers pack oakum into the joints, then pour molten lead into the joint to create a permanent seal. The oakum swells and seals the joint, the "tar" in the oakum prevents rot, and the lead keeps the joint physically tight.
Today, modern methods, such as rubber seals (for example, gaskets or o-rings) are more common.
Tar (string instrument)
The tar appeared in its present form in the middle of the eighteenth century in Persia. The body is a double-bowl shape carved from mulberry wood, with a thin membrane of stretched lamb-skin covering the top.