The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-11-23
How the Asiatic Smokes.

The Asiatic, SO far as my observation
goes, never smokes his tabacco pure.
The simple leaf is too strong for him;
and his taste for sweets leads him to
mix it with sugar, molasses or honey,
and-in the case of the luxurious, nota-
bly, the young Mohammedan "swells''
to perfume and, qualify the mixture
with paste of roses and spices. When
ready for the pipe it looks like crude
opium, tenacious black amalgam,
and when kindled gives out a faint,
sickly odor, surprisingly tenacious and
penetrating. A Hindoo smoking his
hookah, or even the plebeian hubble.
bubble, can be smelt out from long
distance-as the lurking servant often
finds out to his cost. apparently un.
conscious of the far-reachng properties
of the scent, he will squat Just round
the corner to have quiet smoke with
friend when he ought to be about his
work, and retribution, guided to the
spot by the nose, suddenly overtakes
him in his fancied security. The varie.
ties of tobacco grown In the East are
chiefly ''Shiraz" and "Latakia;" and
though they differ in degrees of quality,
they are very seldom above mediocrity
for the European taste. There is no
preparation of the leaf worth calling
preparations; for the Oriental smoker
depends upon his particular tobacconist
or his own servants to mix up the COM
pound TO suit his own taste. The flavor
of the actual leaf itself, therefore, goes
for little. When away from their own
country, however, the natives of India
will change their habit and smoke the
pure leaf-as, for instance, in the sugar
plantations of Mauritius, where / have
seen the coolie smoking original-look-
ing cigarettes of his own manufacture.
But the most surprising specimens OF
the self-made cigar are to be found
among the emancipated negroes of that
earthly paradise, the Seychelles Islands.
There the tobacco plant has run wild,
and the negro will sometimes so far be-
stir himself as to order his wife to make
him some cigars; and the results are
such distorted. preposterous caterpillars
of tobacco as might make q Regent
street tobacconist howl. The material,
however, is excellent, being the best
Havana or Virginia leaf run wild, but
without curing or preparation of any
kind is naturally coarse and acrid. The
negro, however, likes it, and consumes
his home-rolled cigar in unstinted
abundance.
During the bombardment of Alexan.
dria one of the houses that suffered Sc.
yerely was that of Haiti Nasim, the Gig.
arctic manufacturer. But he impro-
.vised temporary quarters. and in jury.
rugged sort of way managed to keep
abreast of the extraordinary demand
which the presence of SO many British
officers created. And what superb Gig.
arettes the old Haiti made! / remem.
Der sitting with him one evening smok.
ing, overlooking the bombarded square,
and listening to his "reminiscences OF
Alexandria temports actt; and he told
me, ong-ether things, that one of the
best judges of tobacco he had ever
known was the late Sultan. And he
clapped his hands, and girl brought
him q box of his Majesty's private
brand, 'the Sultan;'' and l certainly
found it the daintiest, most ladylike
smoking. But in the evening un.
rolled couple and charged my Turk.
ish pipe-a large amber bead for mouth.
piece, jessamine stem, and bowl of da-
clay-with the contents: and
when had finished the pipe it seemed
as if I had been smoking only the ghost
of tobacco, a mere adumbration of the
weed. Fairies, if they smoke at all,
probably smoke "Sultans."
But as this paper seems to have con.
cerned itself chiefly with criticisms Of
others tobacco, l ought in fairness to
add that the very worst tobacco ever
put into a pipe-worse than the Boer,
worse than the Chinese-was some OF
my own growing and manufacture
While in India was permitted to as
sist at the public cost in some expert.
ments in tobacco cultivation, and for
my own hobby selected Guatemala"
seed. The result was amazing, terrific,
disastrous. l distributed it all among
my servants;and they, poor wretches,
out of respect to me, smoked it. But il
took them months to finish five pounds
/ thought should never have smelt the
last Of it--S. James Gazette.