The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-22
TOBACCO SUBSTITUTE
Patents Issued on Queer Things for
smoking and Chewing.
MADE OF NEEDLES
Sunflower. Corn and Rhubarb
Leaves for Chewing Beets. POI
tatoes. Cabbages and 1ur-
nlps as Substitutes.
washington Corr of the Philade,phia

Washington Corr. of the Philadelphia
Times.
Among the queerest inventions re-
corded at the patent office are ideas
/ for tobacco substitutes. Apparently
the whole vegetable kingdom has been
ransacked for material to take the
place of the herb nicotian in the manu-
facture of cigars, plug for chewers and
fuel for the pipe. There is hardly a
| familiar herb whose leaves are not
! called into requisition. 1t is no idle
! tale that the potato, the beet, the cab
bage and the turnip help out the COM
mercial supply of the nobler weed. For
the preparation of these plants and the
initiative doctoring them there are
numberless ingenious processes
Many of the patented substitutes.
| however, do not pretend to counterfeit
tobacco. For example. one inventor
has secured exclusive rights in the
idea of making cigars with filters of
pine needles. The needles are Ito be
gathered when they are green and
full of tarry matter" A wrapper of
moist tobacco leaf is put around them,
and the cigar, when dry, is guaranteed
to burn readily. 1t is warranted to
cure throat and lung troubles. An
other patent is for cigars of sunfiower
/ leaves, which are to be cut when the
seed ripens. The use of a tobacco
wrapper in this case is allowed to per-
sons long accustomed to that weed.
A woman has secured a patent on
cigars of eucalyptus leaves. She says
that they. unlike tobacco, leave a
clean and pleasant flavor in the
mouth" Also she claims priority in
the notion of employing them for the
pipe, for snuff. as tooth powder, and,
with suitable fats, in the manufacture
of soap and candles. Another inventor
proposes to use the leaves of Indian
fol OH
ing and smoking. The stalks of the
corn are to be boiled in water to
syrup, to which is to be added quassia
or capsicum, or "other bitter botanic
product" The leaves. having been
dried in the sun, are to be dipped In
this syrup before making them into
cigars and plug.
Not few inventions are for the pur-
pose of robbing tobacco of it's alleged
harmful properties. One man proposes
to accomplish this object by saturat-
ing the filters of cigars with a prepara-
ton of the needles and twigs of the
pine, incidentally imparting a desirable
fragrance. The extract is to be pre-
pared in summer, when the needles
and shoots possess their aromatic and
medicinal qualities in the highest de-
gree. The vapor of alcohol is applied
to the tobacco in order to carry off the
nicotine, and then the tobacco is boiled
in the extract Finally, the cigars made
from the tobacco thus treated are
wrapped in tin foil, so that the proper
ties aforesaid may be preserved.
A thoughtful individual has devised
a preparation guaranteed to destroy
the appetite for tobacco in 80 days. 1t
is composed of gum resin, beeswax,
white wax, poplar bark, Virginia snake
root and cayenne pepper. Another
substitute warranted to allay the crav-
ing is a mixture of spikenard, red
clover, hops, slippery elm bark. penny
royal, wild cherry bark, hyssop, gin
sing and tarred rope. All of these in
gradients are to be dried, powdered
and mixed in certain proportions A
patent has been granted for a plug to-
bacco, consisting of gentian root, prick
ly ash bark, sassafras bark and extract
of licorice.
Another patent is a method by which
the smoker is enabled to acquire a mild
jag with each cigar he consumes. The
manufacturer prepares a mixture con-
sisting of one gallon of rum, one gall
Ion of alcohol. quarter of a pound of
oil of apple, half pound of tonka
beam half a pound of valerian root and
a quarter of a pint of laudanum. This
is to be put in a stone jug and kept
tightly corl1ed for a month. IT will
then be ready for use. While the
cigars are being packed in boxes the
end to be lighted of each one is dipped
in the liquor. 1t is expected that no.
body who gets used to cigars prepared
i'm this way will be satisfied with any
others thereafter.
Such a liquor is known in the trade
as a sauce" All tobaccos are treated
with sauces before being made up into
their commercial forms BY this
means they are favored in various
ways. so as to adapt them TO the tastes
of consumers. The tastes of consumers
vary in different localities. and 10 make
his goods to suit is the business of the
manufacturer Each manufacturer has
his own secret receipts. which are /
handed down from father to son.
Tastes differ. even among people of
various occupations. Miners, for in
stance, want a very strong tobacco, /
with a scent and flavor which another /
class would not relish. Outdoor work 1
men in general like a stronger tobacco /
for smoking and chewing than indoor I
folks.
All tobaccos. in fact, are doctored. 4
Sometimes IL is done in an illegitimate 1
way. for the purpose of deception. Or /
dinarily, however IL is honest and even
necessary. One object of IL Is TO make
the tobacco keep better: without such ]
treatment IL would become like so I
much dry leaves, the aromatic proper /
ties passing off Nitre is added to
smoking tobacco in order to make IL
burn well. The leaves intended for
chewing are STEPPED in licorice or other .
gum. in order that the plug shall have
the requisite consistency and sweet /
ness. Mucilaginous substances in small .
quantities are added TO cigarette to- .
bacco so that the particles may hold
together and not fall out OF the paper
wrapper. Some pipe tobaccos are /
heavily charged with perfumes by
treating them with the essential oils of 1
rose. verbena. chronicle. bergamOt, 4
cassia. musk and catechu.
Ii is not true that cigarettes are com /
monty charged with opium and other .
injurious drugs. However. they are .
favored with essences Of various plants .
such as vanilla. stramonium. coffee.
Valerian and tea. Occasionally a few
tea leaves are mixed with the tobacco.
These fiavors are matters OF fancy, and .
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