The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-12-04
..Drfnking Smoke - in Persia.

We gathered in the cosiest corner of
the room. We clapped our hands; a
servant who was nOdding in the hall
entered and at once began preparing the
pipes He placed a crystal vase before
each of us; it was mounted with fretted
silver and was topped with an elaborate
" gilded earthen bowl; from its neck the
snake-like stem, a fathOm long, wound
with threads of gold and silver, stretched
to the lips, upon which rested a mouth
piece of clouded amber. The vase was
half filled with rOse-water, and in each
vase a handful of fresh rose leaves was
sopped in this water. The pipe-bearer
then took a handful of tumbak, a mild,
sweet, Persian weed, plunged it into
basin of water and wrung it out like a
sponge. We regarded with curious eyes
the preparation-sO would you. The
tumbak is still damp; he presses it into
the pipe-bowl and heaps it up, making
a little nest in the center of it. Then
a live coal is placed in the nest, where 1t
sends up a thin, fragrant steam. You
throw yourself back upon the cushions
of the divan; you place upon your lips
the superb amber mOuthpiece, three or
four inches in length, and carved, or
oirdled with hoops of gold. You eX-
haust your lungs, and draw in, through
the glittering coils of the stem, volumes
of cool, deodOrized smoke. II this
smoke has any flavor it is not that of to-
bacco; it is infinitely finer, sweeter,
more delicate. Is it the rOse-water
through which the smoke has passed
by means of q tube that extends from
the base of the bowl nearly to the bot
tom of the vase, and then rises in
bubbles, like snOwballs, and en-
tered the flexible stem near the throat
of the vase? Or is it the moist tum-
bak, exuding some subtle essence
under the hot breath of the glowing
| Goals? Or is il only fancy that pos
sesses one when the nargileh is well
/ lighted and the pipe-bearer sits by watch
| ingit as if life hung upon the cOnsumma-
| ton of this solitary smoke? Occasion
ally he probes the bowl or places fresh
Goals within it, and then he smiles as
the white clouds pour forth in immense
volumes and fill the chamber with the
| incense of the Orient. The inhalation
| is complete; one breathes the smoke of
tumbak as he breathes the very air; the
| bosom heaves like the rise and fall of
| great wave at sea- you imagine you are
| doubling your inches across the chest; a
pleasurable thrill is communicated to
| every nerve in the body. You flood your
whole interior with smoke. A happy
thought strikes you, you laugh and the
/ cloud that is discharged from your
mouth is like smoke belched from can
non. There is something suggestive OF
/ intoxication in all this. The water bub-
! bles in the cistern of the pipe; the rose
/ leaves tumble about and delight the
eye; the gurgle sooths the ear; the pal
/ ate IS enchanted with long draughts of
impaIpable essence from a source that
/ seeems absolutely ineXhaustabie.
ssDrinking smoke the Arabs call it.
1t is the only term they use to express
the act. And pray why should they not
drink it, when it has been tried by fire,
filtered in bath of roses, chilled in its
flight through that writhing stem and
sid at last through handful of glowing
amberP''-C. w. StOddard'S Letter 10
San Francisco Chronicle.