The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-07-23
CHARACTER IN SMOKING.
Fanciful Theories About Habits of To-
bacco Users


bacco Users.
A man may possess a most secretive
nature, he may have a face as destitute
of meaning as a stone wall and man
ner Of speech absolutely non-commital;
but watch him over his cigarette; note
his manner of holding it between his
lips or his fingers; see how he puffs the
smoke out of his mouth, what he does
with the stump or throws 1t away half
finished, and, sure as fate, you will
read his character like book. Ciga-
rette, l said, for a cigarette, and a CT
gar in lesser degree, are much, bett er
character revealers than a pipe. A
man sticks a pipe into the side of his
mouth and puffs away, and there's en-
end of 1t. You discover next to nothing
unless, indeed, he happens to puff very
of a nervous, irritable temper. From
the filling of pipe, to be sure, many
luminous little hints may be gathered
You see a man stuff his bowl quickly
and lavishly, letting loose threads of to-
bacco dangle over the brim while he
applies the match; If he be not good
natured, generous to a fault, careless,
indolent, quick to make friends, quick
to forget them. ] shall be much aston
ished. One notices men very often
taking their cigars from an upper
waistcoat pocket into which they have
been stuffed. Too poor to buy them
selves cigar case? Not a bit of 1t, but
too untidy to keep one or too lazy to ar
range their cigars into one. And the
same men almost invariably bite the
tips off their cigars. instead Of using a
penknife or a cigar clipper-a shocking
habit that not merely fills the mouth
with tobacco grit, but disarranges the
outer leaf, often spelling an otherwise
excellent smoke.
The cigar once happily prepared for
observe how your man holds
it between his teeth. But stay! The
operation of lighting has also its inter-
est The tobacco epicure grips his ci
gar not merely with his teeth when APP
plying the match, but with the finger
and thumb of his left hand also, and
between every third puff draws the
weed from his mouth and examines the
glowing end, in order to make sure that
1t has been ignited equally all round.
The majority of men hold their ci-
CARS with the front teeth and puff the
smoke out on either side Of 1t. A large
hold them in the corner of the
so that If you happen to be
behind them on a dark night
you catch sight Of the glowing end pro-
ruding just below the ear Others,
again-and these, as a rule, are per-
sons of vivacious temperament-seldo
keep their cigars for two consecutive
between their lips, They
AXE a few puffs, and then the cigar is
given rest between finger and thumb
A man of determined character, ener-
yetic pugnacious, impatient often be-
rays himself by giving his cigar an
upward tilt while consuming it-a ia
rorite method with the Yankee, to
whom the above epithets are disticttly
applicable The contemplative, dreamy
Individual will let it droop toward his
hin; while level headed persons-and
they form the vast majority
hold theirs horizontally. Naturally
nsolent people frequently omit to re-
move the cigar from their mouths when
speaking to you. while others of a sui
en-, brooding disposition chew the end
INTO horrible pulp. And is there any
hing more eloquent of etinginess than
he habit, largely INDUCED in by Ger
mans, of sticking the stump Of a cigar |
n the small blade of a penknife and |
it until the glow almost |
ouches the lips? Royal Magazine.