Is there anything to beat the enveloping, sensual, swooning pleasure of a deep, hot lingering bath? The joys of the homely tub is a ritual of some 120 years standing as the convenience of indoor plumbing was introduced at least to the wealthy in the 1880s. An enamel finish impervious to hot water was perfected for cast iron baths, and by 1910 baths as we know them, were being mass-produced.