The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-12-27
WOMEN AND NICOTINE
ALL OYER THE WORLD THE eENTLeH
SEX FANclEs THE CIGARETTE. ;.


Saxon Women Did Not Smoke Cigarettes.
Now 1t IL Almost Proper.
Despite the crusade led on the one side
by tobaccophobiacs and on the other by
enterprising American cigar dealers, the
wicked cigarette still keeps on Its career OF
conquering and to conquer. 1t is made
and used In every land, and, according to
Bome German statistioian, enough are
smoked every year to reach to the moon.
Only of late years has the cigarette been
used by women of tho Anglo Saxon race.
las late as 1850 1t was an unheard Of thing
for an English or American lady TO use
tho dreaded article. Since then there has
been revolution In every respect The
cigarette is used universally in both Great
Britain and the United States and in daily
increasing quantities by the women Of
both countries. N' ''
Tho habit received official sanction In
1Ss2, when the Princess of Wales first put
them on the table at o large dinner party
given to her own sex, and In this country
when the wife Of president served them
lat ladies' dinner at the White House.
In other countries there Is no such preju-
dice. Women and girls use them along
side of their fathers and brothers. Never
theless women do not smoke them exactly
as men do. They are in the main more
delicate and dainty. / spoke to leading
Broadway tobacconist yesterday, and he
said: MEN smoke any cigarette that
comes along and generally prefer those
that are stronger or coarse. Only one man
i'm go shows any Judgment and chooses
the finest varieties In the market.
when women buy cigarettes, 1t Is Just
the opposite. Nearly all want tobaccos as
fine as those Of Turkey or Egypt, and only
one in ten cares for the harsher flavor Of
the American lenf"
mime. H. de lie Croix, wife Of Professor
de lie Croix, one of the distinguished for
eign representatives at the Worlds fair,
has travelled very extensively and given
this subject considerable thought. She
said to me: If you take 1t the world
around, women are much more fastidious
I'm their smoking than are men. In Bel
GUM, where 1 was born, the women fol-
low the example of their French sisters,
but not with the Same abandon and grace.
"'In France any number Of women dis
eipato In this fashion. They enjoy Whit
with their coffee after a meal or during q
friendly chat or an evening party. They
prefer light cigarettes, but, strange to say,
do not seem to care for mouthpieces.
They have very pretty kind, which, I
think, are homemade. They are wrapped
in rice paper, but are hardly any thicker
than match. ! have seen a few of this
sort In Germany, but nowhere else.
"'Tho Spanish women are inveterate
smokers, bnt contine their choice to tho to-
bucoos of Cuba and Porto Rico. They dis
like the manufactured article and almost
invariably roll their own. They use a flaky
preparation, which can DO readily put into
| proper shape. They also show oonsidera-
la tY,fr tr,t 1atr
| Besides the white rice paper and cotton
| paper they employ tobacco paper and ma
| terial favored with chocolate, rose, yanil-
| la, musk and other perfumes.
| 1.-THE Portuguese are as much addicted
to smoking as the Spaniards. They like
the strong, black tobacco of Brazil and
annually import of it large quantities.
The women are not as delicate In their
smoking as are those of Spain and France
The tobacco is SO black that it discolors
their teeth as well as their fingers and fire.
| quently induces the front teeth to decay.
| "'Along the African shore, in Algiers
and Tunis, both the native and European
| women indulge In the habit. They have
o great variety to choose from. They grow
| q fair quality of tobacco in that country
and make 1t into very passable cigarettes,
and they also mix 1t with the American,
Spanish and Turkish leaves. The native
women have comical way of squatting
down in Turkish fashion and making q
batch Of cigarettes upon one of the low ia.
bles in use In that part of the world.
They think nothing of rolling so or 100
at single sitting. Some are hard smok-
ers and do away with just as many as they
can make.
Egypt is devoted to tho weed. Strange
ly enough, although the land grows to-
bacco, 1t Is of such poor quality as to be
used by none save the poorest That
which Ia employed both for home con-
sumption and expectation to all parts of
the globe comes from Roumania and Rou-
malia.
In China the trail of tobacco smoke
Is everywhere. Almost every Chinaman
Is well acquainted with the weed, and SO
are millions of the other sox. A Chinese
lady is extremely exquisite in her enjoy
ment of nicotine. She will not touch the
tobacco of her own land or of Japan, Su-
matra or Manila, but wants the finest va
rieties of American or English manufac-
tnre Instead of rolling it in one paper she
docs 1t In two, so arranging the sheets
that the lower one becomes a mouthpiece
and the upper one reservoir of tho to-
bacco. She smokes 1t almost to the last
particle and then throws the mouthpiece
away. Tho cigarette itself is very thin
and the smoke light and cool. In this
way she avoids staining her teeth or her
hands, When she smokes, she washes 1t
down with occasional drafts Of hot tea,
and when finished she employs tongue
scraper, toothbrush and sachet powders
to still further cleanse her mouth.
Wealthy Chinese ladies' will have quite an
outfit. There will be two or three hand
some jars for holding the tobacco, a hand
some matchbox, nn ash cup, a little vase
for holding the cigarette papers, a silver
urn for the finished cigarettes, two or
three small boxes for mouthpieoes and a
handsome salver of either metal or lacquer
upon which all these things are served.
"'The women of Japan are moderate
smokers. They use Japanese tobacco,
which looks like reddish brown sewing
silk and is rather insipid and weak. They
roll 1t, but not with the same grace as the
Spaniards, and smoke 1t under the most
incongruous circumstances. One is with
the meal and the other when taking a
BATH 1t is no uncommon thing for two
Japanese ladies to be bathing in the same
room, and to increase the pleasure of the
occasion by using cigarettes from the time
they enter the room until they leave 1t.
They arc exquisitely clearly, these Japa-
nese women, and battle SO many times a
day In hot water that they never carry
with them the femiliar nicotine per
fume. '"-New York Herald.
Strategy.