The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-02-19
A Pipe Smoking Contest

Bruges. a quaint old town OF Belgium,
offers many charms to the tourist. but
there are features in the life OF the stsid
burghers of that town that ordinarily no
outsider is permitted 10 see. Social lie
in Bruges Is well developed and every
body is a member OF some club or society.
One morning while there. says the cor
respondent OF a German weekly. Il re-
ceived from friend an invitation 10 be
present al prize smoking 20 take place
IN the rooms OF the BrugeS Smoking Club
that evening a; g Smoking for prizes
that must be quite interesting. ! thought,
and arriving az the club in time. I asked
the president OF the club for information
as 10 the rules Of the contest. of course
he IS the victor who smokes up the great
est quantity OF tobacco within a given
timer / said An astonished look on the
part OF the polite chairman taught me
that certainly was wrong Not quite So
he explained. Please come over 20 yon-
der table. Two members OF the commit
tee are busy there weighing equal quanSi-
ties OF tobacco and stuff II into pipes Win
small bowls, but with stems a foot long
third one watches the work 81 the two
others with the greatest attention: he
Is the umpire. Now, see. every one OF
these pipes IS filed with two and a half
grammes OF tobacco. and when the word
10 light the pipes is given all the members
competing try 10 smoke the longest time
possible without extinguishing their pipes
Last year one Of our members beat the
worlds record OF slow smoking by several
minutes He took l hour and 81 minutes
TO finish his pipe"
What" I CALCULATED. an hour and a
half to smoke one pipe? Where does the
pleasure come in The pleasure. sir.
should be looked for in the slow con-
sumption of the tobacco. and our club
was created for the purpose TO educate
its members to be sensible smokers. Our
annual prize smoking was instituted 10
observe the progress in that direction. and
the six prizes we offer always attract
sufficient number Of competitors 20 make
the contest interesting and instructive
but kindly excuse me for a moment, FOR
l must open the session
Sure enough. about thirty members had
answered the roll call for competition. the
pipes were distributed and the chairman
rang his bell Two minutes before light
mgr he announces. one minute, Half a
minutel Light were his sharp COM
mands, following each other In short sue
cession. Thirty matches struck With al
most automatic regularity and with a
skill and artfulness not entirely ineligible
10 me they all lit their pipes. some at
the edge. others in the center, but All
anxious to keep the burning spot as small
as possible Utter silence reigned for
each word costs several centgrammes Of
tobacco.
''Soundless. and. what Is more curious.
almost smOkeless the tournament con-
tinues for about . minutes. Suddenly the
chairmans bell Is heard again: the first
pipe is OUT General derision is the re-
ward Of the unfortunate. From now on
the bell is heard again and again IN al
ways shorter intervals The umpire's
work becomes more serious; he walks up
and down between the contestants. and
whenever the little pun Of white smoke
is not seen he asks for some smoke.
please"
Finally the contest has narrowed down
to two competitors big stout man and
a thin, little gray-haired man. Every
body is cow wrought up; all group about
the twain who happened to sit alongside
since the beginning. and words Of encOur-
agement for the one or the other are
heard Suddenly the stout fellow knocks
the ashes out Of his pipe-he gives up
the contest II is now 81 minutes after the
start: two minutes more and the winner
also finishes his pipe. three minutes short
of last years record. Now the prizes are
distributed the pipes are reit. and in the
animated conversation that follows they
passed a quarter Of an hour at the most"