Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-30
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, a 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 a long
distance-as the lurking servant often
finds out to his cost. Apparently UNI
conscious OF the far-reaching properties
of the scent, he will squat just round
the corner to have a quiet smoke with
q friend when he ought to be about his
work, and r%etribution, guided to the
spot by the nose, suddenly overtakes
him in his fancied security. The varic-
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
preparation; for the Oriental smoker
depends upon his particular tobncconist
OF his w 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 I 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 a Regent
street to%bacconist 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 Oar and acrid. The
negro, however. likes it, and consumes
his home-rolled cigar in unstinted
abundance.
During the b~ombardment Of Alexan-
verely was that Of Hajji Nasim, the Gig
arctic manufacturer. But he impro-
vlsed temporary quarters, and i'll a 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 Hajii made! Iremep-
Der sitting with him Il evening smok-
ing, overlooking the bombarded square,
and listening to his "reminiscences OF
Alexandria temporis acti: and he told
me. among other things, that one of the
best Judges of tobacco he had eve,
known was the late Sultan. And he
clapped his. hands, and a girl brought
him a box of his Majesty's private
brand, 'the Sultan;'' and l certainly
found it the daintiest, most latlylike
smoking. But in the evening / I'M
rolled a couple and charged my Turk
ish pipe-a large amber bead for mouth.
piece, jessamine stem, and bowl of da-
nascened clay-with the contents; and
when had finished the pipe it seemed
as if l had been smoking only the ghost
of tobacco, a mere admiration 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, ought in fairness to
add that the very worst tobacco l ever
put into a pipe-worse than the Boer,
worse than the Chinese-was some of
my own growing and manufacture.
While in India l was permitted to as
sist at the public cost in some expert
ments in tobacco cultivation, and for
my w hobby selected "Guatemala'
seed. The result was amazing, terrific,
disastrous. | distributed it all among
my servants; and they. poor wretches.
out OF respect to me, smoked it. But it
took them months to finish five pounds.
l thought l should never havo smell the
last OF it.-St. Jaanes' Gu.etts,
The -fmcricun Journay OF foresTy