New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-09-23
TOBACCOS OUADRICEETENNIAL.

Although. as Nation, we are admittedly the
most extensive consumers of tobacco In the woriu'
vet BY a strange oversight no preparation Chao
we are aware of has been made TO ceiepraoe Ill
-, hsattipa manner the four hundIcdth ami
vcrsary Of the first discovery of the fragrant
nicotine weed, which, according to ancient RECORDS
and traditions. should be commemorate during
tho second week OF next November. 1t was IN
November 1892, that Columbus, after landing ana
taking possession Of San Salvador, one OF the
bahama Islands sailed of and proceeded 10 dis
cover tho island Of Cuba. The first exploring
marty which he dispatched into the interior re-
notted on their return that they found the natives
carving lighted hrebrands wherewith they
kindled one end OF small rolls of dried herbs whlc
they put the other end between their lips, sucking
the smoke through the roll, aud then puiinS IL
our through their mouths and nostrls. IL Is
strange that tho SpaniaTds, who had actuany seen
the Cuban aborigines smoking cigars and who
brourht smoking tobacco hack with them TO the
Old World. should have used it not in oonvoluted
rolls. but in pipes, until the latter end OF the
eighteenth century But this may possibly be
accounted for by the fact that the Spanish eX-
plerers subsequently discovered tribes superior
in civilization % the first Cuban aborigtnes whom
they had encountered, and who used pipes for
the purpose Of inhaing the fumes of their
tobacco The habit Of snuff taking was first OBJ
served by Columbus on the occasion OF his second
VOYAGE to the New World, in l4J6, and wac
recorded by his companion, tho Franciscan monk,
Ramon Pane Tobacco chewing was first seen
by the Spanish explorers on the coast OF South
America in 1902.
While our forefathers of the sixteenth, seven
tcenth and eighteenth centuries speedily became
addicted to the use Of tobacco in the form of
snuff, chewing and smoking pipes, 10 Is curious
that II was not until the Close OF our last war
with Great Britain that the fashion OF smoking
tobacco in tho shape Of cigars was inaueWated
here The practice seems % have been imported
from Spain into Germany, France and England
by the troops OF thos- three nations returning TO
their respective countries at the close OF tho
Pcninsular wars, and then % have been brought
over here from England. To-day cigars and
cigarettes havo almost entirely superseded tho
ancestral pipe in the United States although the
pipe still maintains its popular favor, though
not it, superiority, in certain countries OF the
Old World
Notwithstanding all the efforts which have been
made dufing tho last three hundred years In every
civilized country Of the universe to check tho
consumption Of tpbacco-efforts in which church
nnathenas. medical warnings, legal prohibitions.
and the ontreates OF the great temperance societies
have all at time or another played an active
part-thc Use Il tobacco to-day IL more universal
than ever in every portion Of the globe. With
the exception q the King of Abysstna, who cuts
Of the noses and lips Of any Of his subjects
caught smoking, the various rulers and Govern
mcnts Of the world have abandoned all attempts
10 put u stop TO the use Of tobacco, and by i'm
posing taxes thereon have converted It into their
most profitable and certnin source OF revenue.