Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-07-21
The Virtues OF Tobacco.
[ From the Pal Nal Gazette


An Irishman who had a termagant wife
quietcd an outbreak of ill-hunor by pre-
senttng the lady with q short pipe, OF which
SO he remarked, with Quakerlike simplicity.
tnat pc ace was good thing at any price.
Ihere is much peace In tobacco. A legend
even relates that IL was introduced TO Eu-
rope by man whose professional business
was peace seeking. It was or was not-for
doctors differ-a certain NJ de Moot, French
ambassador at the court of Portugal who
brought tobacco under the notice OF Cathe-
rine de Medicis in the year 1860 or there
ab0uts. In france, tobacco was therefore
called nicotiane, or the "queen's weed" in
England ii got It's more enduring title be-
cause, says tradition, Francis Drake carried
away The first samples from Tobago. 1t was
lhe WILD man VINO taught his civilized
brother the calm delights OF smoke. The best
tobacco In the world for cigars is perhaps
tnat found at Cuba, and the oest tOba eco in
Cuba is grown at Vuelto de Abajo. The best
snun comes from Macouba, q village at Mar
Unique, where the Empress Josephine was
born. The best Turkish tobacco IS that
raised In Macedonia. Tombeki, which is ex-
cluslvely smoked in narghilehs, comes from
"ersia. When good, 1t looks like new shoe
leather used for soles Tombekf should be
washed at least three times before smoking.
IL is difficult to understand the source of the
pleasure derived from tobacco. II it came
nom the sense of smell, we might enga Ze
servants 70 smoke for us and preserve the
whlteness OF our teeth as well as the inoffen-
slVeness OF our hair and clothes. II 1t de-
pended on taste, we should get more ioy out
OF qu1d than out OF cigar. 1t cannot be-
long 10 the touch, because chocolate pastilIes
and some needle cases feel like cigars in
nan. The sight seems to have no part in orr
delectation, because tobacco Is almost de-
prlVed OF It's perfume by darkness; yet If its
SAVIOR depended wholly on light, suggests
sage VINO has lost all men tai Conference in
smoky thoughts, TOBACCO would give more
pleasure In the sunshine than in the shadow
and no true smoker has ever piped assent To
such a statement.
Van Helmont, travelling in desert places,
fnhQnnn tnI Id,
periods against hunger or fatigue, and he de-
clares that he could make immense Journeys
on loot with no other sustenance. Doctor
stephenson, an American physician, OBJ
served that tobacco may be almost counted
on as specific in certain forms of infiamma-
Tory eryslpelas. He covers the infiamed sur
Iace with wet tobacco leaves, and keeps the
there TILL nausea supervenes. A mem Der OF
the college OF medicine at Stockholm AYERS
mat the dried leaves OF the potato plant
would answer the same purpose, and that
lar better smoking ingredients may be made
from them than from the coarser kinds of to-
oacco IN common use. Much of the tobacco
sold at Hambug and Bremen is mixed with
potato leaves. The tobacco which comes
from Maryland Is the only sort which can be
smoked in short pipes without danger to the
mucous membrane OF the mouth. II mingles
lmpercept1bly with the potato leaf and the
adulteration can hardly be detected A
learned man declares that we are grievously
In error who talk OF "meerschaum" pipes;
we should say "Kummer" pipes, and com
memorate perpetually our obligations To the
olscoverer OF a compound which has nothing
10 DO WI Tn the sea nor with its foam. An
selm, who has written profound work on
pipes, fDstructs man Kind that they should he
OF the simplest forms, SO as to be easily
Cleaned, ana that there should never be any
wood, metal, caOutchouc, or horn connected
with them. Hummer pipes may be discreet
~ cieansed by pouring streams OF boiling
bake clay pipes in a hot oven after the din
ner has been taken out OF 1t. Pipes have had
names, like swords-names born OF love or
known tn hiSfn
tasia, one as "Paradise." Toe rrst belonged
TO poet, the other to Omar Pasha, who had
q name 10 conJure with among the Turks.
Tobacco is believed to have destroyed the
art or conversation, but perhaps it has only
improved 1t. Smoking does not render talk
Impossible or even difficult; but it condenses
II and makes IL sententious. Tobacco com
presses long winded discourse into an epi-
gram. IL is at the bottom OF the Inference
between the Welshman's prayer and that of
TO bis patron saint, 'few words are .best:D
whereas Mawworm has never done with
words, and would let his pipe out in more
cient and acute Brtton would keep alight,
The smoker wants no other furniture than
s son, Eerman Under: II he begins to burden
p1ncers, he ceases to be q man and beconesa
cupboard. Directly the nrse ash falls off ft.
the havor Is impaired, and the smoke be-
comes hot, acrid, and unwholesome. Smok.
ing, which has greatly increased In recent
years, is, at All events, much better than TAX
ms shun, WuiCu oibsTdceC the very waist
coats Of our forefathers. "Had our noses -
unused q philosopher, sheen intended for
dustholes, they would have been turned the
other way" Possibly. And ft is by no
means clear to logical intellects that our
mouths were intended for chimneys or thew
might with more fitness have been opene al
the top OF our heads, and every man might
pave served as barometer to mis- neigh6or,
who could have forseen the state OF the
weather by noting whether his neighbor was
blinded by his own smoke or otherwise.
Youth and love depart from rs T0hacco Re-
mains and perhaps IL consoles as. 1t is the
only form OF happiness which is left to some
whom the world mas treated unkindly ale
te lsisse ma femme ct ma pipe" raj leave
thee my vile and my pipe, and I can speak
well for the pipe'1 were the last words OF
Gayarnis vaeabond. The dying good for
nothing was not ungrateful. No man has
ever laughed In smoking; we are rather
grave with glad thoughts over oar tobacco,
and the moraifxing or demoralizing weed
seems silently 70 convey to us the 9roaf
truth Of life. with which we do well 70 grOW
familiar, "Tu qnoque In pulverem reverte-
ris." That u, AL Of % but the odor Of GOOD
deeds. :.