The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-12-16
POISONED TOBACCO.
Some of the Baneful Drugs Used In the
ctcrins of Cigarettes.

| D"ctcrins of Cigarettes.
The local representative of larg.
southern tobacco house in this city
speaks as follows regarding the poison
ous character of cigarettes. He says in
answer to the question: Are cigarettes
very injurious?
"The amount of drugs used in doctor
ing them is appalling. There is a GER
kind of cigarettes regarded as one OF
the most salable in the market, in
which enervating drugs are used to a
frightful extent. Millions of these
cigarettes are sold annually. One house
in New York sells on an average 5, 5,000,-
900 day, and the profits of the pro.
prietor of the brand are said to be a
third of million dollars year. Vale
rian and tincture of opium are extern
sively used in the manufacture of the
cigarettes. The tobacco, which is a
Virginia production and naturally OF
straw color. is rendered dark, soggy
| and greasy by the process to which it
is subjected. An experienced tobacco
| mist can detect the presence of valerian
by the smell. The drug imparts a
sweet, soothing effect, that in little
time obtains fascinating control over
the smoker. The more cigarettes he
smokes the more he desires to smoke,
Just as is the case with one who uses
opium. The desire grows into pas
sion. The smoker becomes slave to
the enervating habit. 70 the insidious
nff Of hn IL Is nf4 A1I
very success with which the particular
brand has met. Unfortunately that
success has caused an army of imita-
tors to spring up, and nearly every
day some new brand is placed on the
market. By the use of drugs it is pos
sible to make a very inferior quality of
tobacco pleasant. They are put on the
market at such price that the poorest
can easily procure them, and the boys
90 in swarms for them"
Now let us hear what the same we'll
informed gentleman says about the
''Hayana f1avoring" so much in de-
mand:
ut is made from the tonca bean,
which contains drug called mellolo-
tis, deadly poison, seven grains beng
sufficient to kill dog 1t has become
quite an article of commerce, and is
extensively used in the manufacture of
cigarettes.
''Does the paper wrapper of cigar
cite add great deal to its injurious
ness?h
Certainly. There are three sorts of
paper in common use, made respect.
lively of cotton and linen rags and from
rice straw. Cotton paper is made
chiefly in Trieste, Austria, and the
linen and rice paper in Paris. The
first, manufactured from the filthy
scrapings of rag -pickers, is bought in
large quantities by the manufacturers,
who turn it into pulp and subject it
to q bleaching process to make it pre-
sentable. The lime and other SUBJ
stances used in bleaching have very
harmful influence on the membrane of
the throat and nose. Cotton paper is so
cheap that a thousand cigarettes can be
wrapped at a cost of only two cents.
Rice paper is rather expensive. To-
bacconized paper is manufactured. 1t
is common paper saturated with tobac-
co in such way as to initiate the veins
of the tobacco leaf very neatly. 1t is
used in making all-tobacco cigarettes.
ArsenicaI preparations are also used in
bleaching cigarette papers, and oil OF
creosote is produced naturally as con-
sequence of combustion. The latter is
very injurious to the throat and lungs,
and is said to accelerate the develop
ment of consumption in any one pre-.
disposed to the disease. N 7. Imdc
Dendesst.