Wichita eagle., 1888-03-31
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Daily eagle
THE WEED IN PERSIA.
sN ORIENTAL LAND, SAID TO BE
THE SMOKERS PARADISE.

ne SMOkGR'S PARADISE.
The Persian's Social Position Shown by
the Number and Value of His Pipes.
The Eternal Water Pipe-The Etiquette
of Smoking.
Persia is the smokers paradise. In the first
place. tobacco is cheap; fourteen pounds of it
in the cured leaf cost from three to ten shill-
ings. There is no midGleman or manufac-
turer to mix, chop, scent, favor and adulterate
it. The grower cures it and packs it in bags
of skin. In these bags the merchant sells it to
the retailer: and then the smoker, pipe in
hand, samples the various lots, and purchases
from pennyworth to bagful, as seemeth to
him good. There are various kinds of tobacco
in Persia: the leaf tobacco, which is smoked
in the kalan, for Eubbe-bubble; the kurdish
tobacco, which is almost white, and consists
of the leaves and stalks of the plant coarsely
pulverized. This is very fragrant pipe
tobacco, and nay lie obtained mild or excess
lively strong, and it is smoked in chibouques
or in the Arab short clay pipe. The only
recommendations of the Arab pipe are its
cheapness and its portability. 1t is simple
tube of clay about six inches long, with
bore an inch in diameter; it is constructed in
the middle, and bent at nearly a right angle.
it is essentially the poor mans pipe.
Crammed with Kurdish tobacco, of which
it will hold half an ounce, it is passed from
hand to hand until it is smoked out.
In the north Of Persia and in the capital
the papiros or cigarette, is rapidly gaining
ground; the commonest SAMSON tobacco is
used as rule, or a very similar article grown
in Ghilan and rather superior to it. but the
real national pipe of Persia is the kalian.
Among the merchant ard tradesman class
the kaiian is ever between the lips The
peIipatetic vender of smoke is seen in Persia
in every place where men congregate for
business or pleasure. Even at executions the
criminal will ask for and receive farewell
Wifi Of the eternal water pipe before he is
blown from a gun. have seen a man IN
dergoing the long agonies Of crucifixion seek
ing solaco in the kalian
TIE PERSIAN AND HIS PIPES.
The social position of the Persian is shown
by the number and the value Of his pipes
The pipeOcarer to a great man is highly
paid domestic, who may hive III his care
from fifty to a hundred pipes, varying in
value from Is to $500. The pipes of the
king and Of the royal princes are often made
entirely of gold incrusted with profusion of
gems; the middle and upper classes generally
content themselves with l,alians whose reser-
vors and stems are of solid silver, the bowl
only being of gold ornamented with gems or
enamcls The religious classes mostly affect
u kaian Of the simplest kind; the water reser-
voir being a wide mouthed bottle Of coarse
porous clay, tho stem being composed of
ON. .icl,t
son, and the bowl made Of a black porceair
resembling ebony in appearance. But in the
privacy OF their own harems the holy men do
not diSdain to smoke the costly pipes of their
wives: for everybody smokes in Persia-old
men and maidens, young men and children
and the Old women are the most inveterate
smokers of all
Among the middle classes the water reser-
voir is often COMPOSED OF glass. deliberately
cut and often decorated with the ilorid col
ole,l and gilt ornamentation which Turkish
art has rendered familiar to us. These glass
reservoirs, for which there is an enormous
market throughout Persia and central Asia, /
are made in Russia. Rose water is frequently
used in place Of the vulgar fluid: rose leaves,
tiny rosebuLs, and The immature fruit Of the
almond or plum are tossed into it. and as the
violent motion pleasant sight is thus offered
for his contemplation, much resembling the
pretty toys that may be seen IN some of the F.
filter shops in London. In the hot weather a
porous clay reservoir is affected by all classes,
as it is supposed to cool the water that puri- (
fies the fra grant smoke; they viii even ice /
the water. The water is changed every time /
the pipe is lighted and is itself not without |
its uses; for ii is an ever handy and never |
failing emetic-a useful thing in country ,
where poisoning is not infrequent.
ETIQUETTE AND FUNCTILIo.
Probably the PeIsians are the most poetical
as well as the most practical people in the
world. All through the summer the stems Of .
their pipes are decorated with circles of tiny
moss rose buds; or, the interstices having been
filed with grass seeds or grains of corn, the
pipe is handed to the smoker covered with
rows Of sprouting verdurc an inch and n half .
long. This decoration of pipes is part of the
duty of the pipe bearer or of the ladies of the
harem. and the pipe bearers office is no sine
cure. He has several stocks of tobacco of
varying quality.
The etiquette and punctilio of pipe smoking
ere endless When visitor is offered pipe.
and there is not a second one, he declines it at
once; his host must smoke first. This, if the
entertainer he much superior in position, he
viii actually do, but otherwise he declines,
and the guest, having first offered the pipe to
the other visitors, who decline it as a matter
IF course, proceeds 10 smoke, and then 1t is
handed round to everybody i'll order Of rank
No business in the east can be done with
,ut the smoking of many water pipes; it
,orms large l-2-tion of the enjoyment of tho
Oriental bath, it fills up the pauSeS Of CONVEX
'ation, and, when man is at loss for an
answer, il gives him time to think The very
ound Of the bubbling water in a hot country
S soothing to the ear. That it is not smoked in
Europe is probably due TO the fact that he
Who would smoke the Persian water pipe
would need 10 keep Persian servant to fill
t for him.-Foreign Letter.
Sketch of Won Hpltla