The Penn's Grove record., 1886-09-11
HOW THEY USE TOBACCO.
Peculiarities of the Tobacco Trade
Tricks and Oddities of Smokers.

"How do men smoker" repeated the
man of knowledge, as he tilted back in
chair and lit a cigar. 81 should
that by asking another question
that is, Why do men smoker You
tell me why a man uses the 'noxlous
weed and I will tell you how he does
it. There r an infinite number of
reasons why men smoke. Some men
smoke because they are nervous, some
smoke because they are phlegmatic
many merely from habit, a very large
number do 1t because others do so, and
a small minority smoke because they
really enjoy it.
"a nervous nan will smoke because
he thinks that it will soothe his too ac-
tive organization. Such a mar will take
short quick puffs, n after another in
constant succession. A nervous smoker
l can spot every time.
Then there are the phlegmatic
smokers. They + followers Of Sir
Walter Raleigh, because they want a
stimulant and they think, or pretend to
think, that tobacco will stir up their
sluggish temperaments. Such men
take tobacco as a man would take a
whisky cocktail. A great many men,
in fact | might say almost all men who
have smoked for any great length OF
time, smoke more from habit. To see
these men fumigatlng always disgusts
me. They don't seem to think of what
they are doing. No thought of the
pleasant sensations which they are or
might be experiencing seems to enter
their minds. They puff away and emit
the blue volumes of choice Havana in
combustion as if they were SO many
Chinese. They smoke as they would
sleep or dress for dinner. Their one
idea seems to be to get through and
light another. You will see a man pull
Ing away on a stump OF a cigar, every
little while looking at it impatiently
and wondering if he will ever get
through so as to start the next one.
Now, why should they do this2 They
are not enjoying themselves. They
simply seemto consider 1t a duty to get
away with so many cents or dollars
worth of cigars in a day. And they
perform the task.
NOW, smoking is one of the most
delightful experiences in the world of
sense, to those who can appreciate 1t.
Some men are, however, 30 coarsely
made AS not to have any knowledge of
the fine pleasures of life. You set be-
fore such a man a dainty dish, a pate
de fol gras, a few exqulsitely Drowned
frogs legs, or any other Of the triGmphs
Of n Iarannh phaf4a ont md uphaf null
he do? He will swallow them down like
so much corned beef and cabbage or
pork and greens, He is so crudely
constituted that his palate cannot APP
preoiate tho niceties Of the culinary art.
In the same way. if you set before him
a dainty glass of rare old sherry or
Madeira, he will gulp it down with no
more knowledge of its virtues than If it
were a l0-celt glass of Jersey lightning.
SO it is with aome smokers. One of
your Cross-grained men will pull away
on a choice culling from the sunny
fields of the West Irdies with no more
satisfaction than if it were an old clay
pipe full Of navy plug. Probably he
won't enjoy it as mucn. With a man
of finer grain, however. it is different.
81 enjoy, above all things, the sight
Of a cOnnoisSeur of the weed at work
on a fragrant Havana. He takes a
dainty puff. Then he draws the cher
lshed 25 or 50-center from his lips and
gazes at it lovingly, meanwhile emit
ting from his lips a slender thread of
blue smoke. Then he will pause and
the fragrant, soothing narcotic will
seem to penetrate through every nerve
in his body. That's the way a man
ought to smoke. I've no patience with
those fellows who hurry through their
smoking just as they hurry through
their dinners, never stopping to enjoy
it. Such men rush through life in the
same blind fashion. They don't know
what real enjoyment is. Smokers have
all sorts of peculiar tricks and oddities.
One man l once knew had a trick of
constantly knocking off the ashes with
his little finger. He would keep that
little finger wagging continually, and
when there was no ashes he would burn
his finger. But 1t was a habit which
he seemed wholly unable to overcome.
Some men whom l have known would
always swallow the smoke. The nIco-
tine laden vapors which they would
take into their stOmachs must have
kept those organs in a constant state of
d~istension.
"Others seem TO find an inexplicable
delight in making chimneys of their
noses and sending the smoke in volumes
through these OFFICES. | once knew a
man who had a peculiar trick of shut
ting one eye to look along his cigar
with the other as he put it into his
mouth. He was a bashful man and
never thought of flirting with the girls
ON the street, but that habit used to
get him into no end of scrapes. Howl
Why the girls all thought he was wink
ing at them.
The peculiar habits of smokers will
sometimes run through a whole family
| remember a funny instance of that.
A man came to me in my office one day
and represented himself as a brother of
an old friend OF mine. He was a shah
by, forloTn-looking specimen and / was
not inclined to believe his story, espec-
tally as there was no personal resem-
blance to his brother. But | sat and
talked with him awhile. He told a
plausible story, but still / was not in
clined to believe HIM, and finally | told
him to clear out, that L couldn't be
bothered with him. Then my better
feelings came to the front and 1 gave
him a cigar. He took it with a sad,
forgiving smile and lit 1t.
"IIe hadn't taken but one puff be-
fore | was on my feet begging his par
don. After taking that puff he had
taken out his cigar with a peculiar jerk
and had blown the smoke out of the
corner of his mouth in a manner which
l had noticed and laughed over a hun
bred times when with his brother l saw
him do it. l knew then that | was not
being imposed upon.
'But talking about smoking makes
me think what a wretehed habit 1t is,
after all. II is expensive, dirty, re-
pulsive. viii l have cigarp Well, yes;
thank you, Have you got a matchp"
A Great General.
Twenty years ago the name of Crei-