What does "lit their pipes" mean?

[M3dic]

Hi,
I'm just reading book called Three men in a boat and I found a phrase that i don't understand.

Then he and his three fat, heavy friends sat in the back of their boat, and lit their pipes.

Could you please explain me what does “lit their pipes“ mean ?
I guess that it is not written in present simple, is it ? So could you please write it in the present simple or in infinitive ?

Thank you very much,
David.

[Yankee]

Hi David

'Lit' is a past form of the verb 'light'.

I presume that the four people lit their pipes and then smoked them.
Here is a picture of a man lighting a pipe:
http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/1999/01-22/photos/pipe.jpeg
.

[M3dic]

Thank you