The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-09-23
FINE CUT OR Plug.
The Extent to Which the World
Is Addicted to Tobacco.
Ours Not the Only Nation-A Salt sea
Sailor Started the Bad Habit-some
Good Stories About Men Who Use
the weed-A Chance for Poets.

few weeks ago a New York paper
stated that during 1891 the inhabitants of
the United States chewed eighty-fve tons
of tobacco. This paper was once edited
by Robert 2. Porter, Commissioner of
United States Census. AS a matter of fact
we produced, and for the main part con-
sumed. not eighty-fve tons, but $1,000
tons (l9O,GO0,O00 pounds and the output
Tor 1892 will exceed these figures.
1t has been said that the American is
the only nation to chew tobacco, compare
lively speaking, but this is not so; and
furthermore, the practice Of chewing to-
bacco IS much more widely spread than
the average man has any idea. For in
stance,Ein the frozen north, the Lapland-
er prizes tobacco higher than any other
necessary, and has done since the earliest
days, and away back in 1867 they used to
chew tobacco and spit in the palms of
their hands, then smelling of the expec-
loratlon, and SO RECALLING at once two
senses, those of taste and those of smell,
with one piece of tobacco" My author
lty goes on to say that the richest of the
Laps used to chew tobacco between meals
and especially after such meal as des-
ert, the ''cud" being used over and over
GSdlns anu HOL CueWSQ OUT dll at once,
ana between times it was carried in the
chewer's ears. The Djour tribe in Africa,
up TO fifteen years ago, used to place
pine bark fiber in their rude cigars, and
this was not only to facilitate a draft
through the crude tobacco and rough
product, but also that the dry ii her might
absorb the oil, ETC., during combustion,
and then the end and fibers be used as a
cud for chewing. Native tribes in the
Himalayas measure distances, and have
done for years, by the number of "cuds'
necessary to cover 1t, and reckon so
many "cuds'' to the mile instead of so
many yards. In Europe the brown bears
used Tor dancing, and the pets in every
Alpine village are all trained through
their love for piece of chewing tobacco
and the trainers chew with the animals,
and so inoculate the beast with the hui
man saliva. A well-knOwn medical ce-
lebrity has recently printed his opinion
that the reason of the Warlike Tziganes
being for generations free from diphthe-
ria and throat troubles is due 10 their in
ordinate love for and use Of chewing to-
bacco.
IN England chewing has increased with
giant strides during the past ten years,
and this fact is to a certain extent in
dorsed by the official table of exports. 1t
was the English sailor who first brought
the habit into prominence, for its origin is
lost in antiquity, and when the sailor be-
came addicted TO the chewing of tobacco
he found the lonely hours of his watching
very long indeed without something to
take his attention, and as he was not per-
united to smoke at his post. he tried chew
ing, and found it filled the bill. His own
shlp-made plug to-day takes a great deal
OF beating for purity and flavor; TO make
it he took tobacco, dipped it in Jamaica
rum mixed with molasses, laid the leaves
flat, one on the other, and when he had
sufficient quantity, he rolled them around
lengthways; then he took a piece OF can
vas and wrapped that around it in a pc
cuIiar way, and then cords so that they
could be tightened from time to time.
This was hung up and given a twist every
now and again, and the result was a not
unhandsOme, novel and delicious plug.
The great chewers in England, however,
are the farm hands; they are not allowed
to smoke around the stock yard and build
ings, and on many establishments even
the dry" smoking Of an empty pipe is
forbidden; and so in the early hours OF
the day, cold and often hungry for an
hour or so, the farm hand takes pinch of
what is called 'black shay" a rough fine
cut. and at four 10 SIX cents per ounce,
made for pipe smoking, and places the
pinch in his tooth, " /. e., the side of his
mouth, and so finds comfort. Another
class of chewers are the gardeners and the
machinists, while hundreds OF English
men chew the end of their cigars.
Coming over the Atlantic we find the
women of Paraguay have been famous
for years as great cheWers of tobacco. and
instances are recorded of ladies welcom-
ing guests, taking the tobacco out of the
mouth until they shave kissed their Wis
ltoTs and then replacing 1t. Many of the
South American tribes actually eat and
swallow tobacco cut in small pieces. In
the United States the introduction of
chewing is untraceable, and probably
came from Virginia, where 1t was intro
duced by the sailors or the early settlers.
at the present time the practice is ubiqui
tous. Stories are told from time to time
about the practice OF the chewing habit
dying out, but the figures of production
keep pace with the population, and there
will not be much decrease during the life
of the present generation of adult men.
The rising generation will not probably
chew to the same extent that their fathers
do and have done, and the reason is not
far TO seek. It is due to the terrible cl-
garette, for whatever be its short COM
ings or its virtues, it has undoubtedly
stopped the chewing habit with our
young men. Boys at college twenty
years ago took to the chew to show their
emancipation from the apron strings"
and to show they were men; to-day they
take to the cigarette for the same reason,
and scores Of young men may be found
cut.
The reported dying out of the habit is
due 10 the greater secrecy and privacy of
the users Those whose memory will
take them back to 1860, to 1866, or even
later. will remember what sea of saliva
and Juice covered the floors OF the ferry
boats and ferry houses; and viii recall the
time when no man at theater or enter
taiument would dare 10 have put his hat
ON the floor beneath his seat for fear of
the amber-colored fluid that rolled with
ever increasing volume from the back
seats to the orchestra, and necessitated
the scrubbing of the floor between each
peformance. This is all thing of the
mart. and although one now OCCASION
ally meets a chewer VINO makes a DIS
pusting exhibition Of himself to the an
noyance of all around him, he is the ex-
ception-far, far from the rule.
when men are worried they take more
Kindly TO chewing! Ask any prominent
dealer located where busy men congre-
trate. and he will tell you that when panics,
err are in the air, and big deals on hand,
the smart business man takes chew.
Watch the cigar stand at the Fifth Az
erue Hotel any evening, but more espe-
eiaIlv at political crises, and see we'll
3,asSed men, regular customers at the
house. one after another, stroll up TO the
sand hold out their hand with never
SXord receive the packet OF tine cut, take
= sscnd,, and hand II back. No charge
1,ade Roscoe Conkling was an inveter-
90 1.hewer. but he chewed cigars, Henry
1'Iays and those newspaper men who
-. Tho .s5eath watch in the room be-
heps Vi bic nj No. 9 West pwenty-third
oat win remember the cigars they
s,noLed were Henry Clay, CONNIE IL
S,,,t that. had Conkllng lived, would
oass',redIv have been chewed. Our older
o