Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-05-17
Temperance.
WHAT WE sMOKEAND CHEW
Not Pure Tobacco, but Various Sweetened
and Medicated Preparations.

and Medicated Preparations.
1t is rather late in the day. says
Health and Home, to enter protest
against the use of tobacco. Whatever
the faculty may say on the point OF It's
injurious qualities, however much the
clergy may point out the possibility OF
it's leading to intemperance, the fact re-
mains that large proportion OF the
world uses tobacco in some form or
other. The Chinese, according to their
accustomed vanity, pretend to have
been acquainted for many ages with
tobacco But we must remember that
in the earliest written oriental tales
which have come down to us-the car
abian Nights Entertainments there
is no allusion to the custom of smok-
inc, and there is every reason to be-
lieve that all oriental smoking was
imported from England, and that Sir
Walter Raleigh lit the first pipe smoked
out of America.
The aduIteration of tobacco, very
common both in this country and
| abroad, arises from two considerations.
The pure, natural leaf. in its yellow hue,
| is undoubtedly the finest tobacco in the
market. But so many accidents con-
| spire to render the finest leaves scarce
| that even the natural leaf itself is lmi-
| tated. Coarse leaves are bleached by
the use of chlorine to the bright yellow
color of natural leaf, and sulphuric acid,
| properly diluted, is used to make the
little ''freckles." which are supposed by
connoisseurs to indicate superior quail
ty of leaf.
But the natural leaf" somehow,
doesn't seem to suit the taste of the
average chewer of tobacco. He asks a
certain degree of sweetness in his plug.
To fill this bill and create a special fla
vor which shall give kind of identity
to peculiar brand and cause it to be
eagerly sought for is the object of the
manufacturer.
When the bundles of steamed leaves
are fully dried they are ready for the
application of the mixture of sirup and
icOrice, which imparts to the chewing
tobacco of commerce its sweetness and
flavor The leaves must be as dry as a
bone when subjected to this licorice
bath, for the least dampness will render
them white with mold in a few hours.
This mold is removed Zone of the adulte-
rations) by dip into diluted muriatic
acid and in too many cases forms part
of the solid cake of a better quality. The
heat of the mixture causes the pores OF
the leaf to expand, and the sweet syrup,
penetrating every fiber, impregnates ii
thoroughly. From the vat the dripping
bundles are carried out of the flat ROOT
of the factory and exposed to the sun
for one days sunshine is worth more
than can be told in the manufacture
After this the leaves are taken into q
drying-room, where the thermometel
during the day is at 80 degrees. A
night the whole power of the furnace il
turned on, and the heat is so intens,
that in the morning the room has to b.
cooled off before the operators can ente
it. When the tobacco has, under thi
powerful heat become perfectly dry, TIN
adulterator gets in his work.
: One factory sprinkles it with New
England rum, another uses Jamaic;
rum, another moistens it with the rank
: est corn whisky he can find, and eacl
t brand has its own peculiar essential oil
Some use fennel, others ginseng, Will
the acrid sumach, Astounding in tannin
e cheap and plenty, gives the peculia
burning of the tongue which character
ICES much ''tine-cut" Astringent barks
: worm-wood, the refuse to the cinchons
8 and others give the bitter taste whic
some consumers like, and the twist c
NEGRO head" which is largely eXporte
to tropical climates, gets a special al
sorptiOn.
We have heretofore published til
statement of Mr.. Cooper, revenue co
: lector of North Carolina, himself lare
4 tobacco manufacturer, asserting tn;
tonqua bean and wintergreen were ais
IS largely used in adultering tobacco, bot
: of which are deadly poisons, and tn;
he knew of negro who, having dram
a wineglassful of the mixture, died
d half an hour.
If these things be true of the ordina1
chewing tobacco. what can we say
/ the smoking article, where sticks al
IS stems and dirt and all uncleanness 6
>, tn mako M, Ell nisnr9 Whnrn or
:, ought to show the wrinkled edge of
pure leaf it shows a front like that of
composite bit of marble.
A true tobacco cigar is fine in gra
- and free from stems. The wrapper
= nothing in cigar; the filling is ever
% thing.
) No leaf is worthless for the manufa
IL ture of one or another of the innumer
NJ BILE brands between the golden CHI;
with which the millionaire fills h
L meerschaum and the laborer his cudd
e, Almost the only chemically pure toba
10 co is that which the planter dries
~ himself. spreads on the cotton sheet
the garnet, and sends little Tommy
pa bring him bunch of-crumbling it
tween his fingers to fill his pipe. B
e. this simplicity doesn't please. The pu
d. lie would rather be poisoned.
s.