The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-06-20
THE CIGARETTE.
ITS POPULARITY EXPLAINED BY A DIS
TINGUIsHED MEDICAL AUTHORITY.

| TINGUISHED MEDICAL AUTHORITY.
Whatever may he the explanation
, as to why smoking in the form of ciga-
rettes has become so enormously pop
ular during the past decade, there can
be no denying that popularity from
the fact that it had led to a very sharp
industrial war. Millions of public
money has been invested in cigarette
making companies. Cigarettes are
the subject of advertisement in the
daily papers Oh an enormous scale
utterly Incompatible with that on
which tobacco and cigars are adver-
tised.
The reason is not far to seek; the
cigarette is cheap; and, more than that,
it is convenient form of ''smoke" The
good cigar is not cheap, it is compare
lively bulky, and it takes some time
to finish. The pipe must be kept
clean, it requires to be filled, and a
pouch must be carried to contain the
tobacco. The cigarette is ready to
smoke, scores can be carried in the
pocket, and one can be smoked in a
snatchcd quarter Of an hour The
cigarette is, therefore, popular mainly
because of its convenience.
That being so, it is imporsant to
consider whether cigarette smoking is
more injurious from the point of view
of health than is the smoking of a
cigar or a pipe. To begin with, a
much milder tobacco can be smoked
in the cigarettes than in the pipe, and
so far this fact is in favor Of the cigar
cite. The unusually mild tobacco in
the cigarette is ''hot" in the pipe. The
cigarette is practically IN direct con-
tract with the air from the lighted end
to the mouthpiece, and thus the smoke
is invariably cool, while the products
of combustion are calculated to he
complete. The pipe, on the other nand
is more like retort in which to some
extent destructive distilliation with
the formation of acrid oils is set up.
One very strong objection to the
cigarette, however,, is that the area of
combustion is very close to the nose
and mouth, and thus air is constantly
and invariably inhaled containing
smoke from the lighted end, which is
usually of very pugent type, infinite
ly more pungent than is the smoke
drawn through the cigarette.
Much of the mischief from cigarette
smoking arises from the fact, the Gig
arctic being persistently held in the
mouth until burning the lips is threa-
tened If the smoke from the burn
ing tip of the cigarette he purposcly
inhaled for time sense of stupor sets
in while the smoke drawn through the
cigarette may be breathed, in the same
way with comparative impunity. The
same result is obtained with the cigar,
but in still more emphatic way. The
use of the cigarette or cigar holder is,
therefore, calculated to obviate two
sources of mischief-the inhalation Of
the l".wr,fnl pungent smoke from the
lighted end and the introduction of
tobacco juice and oils into the mouth.
A long and cleanly kept pipe filled
with mild tobacco preserves the smoker
against both contingencies.
When, however, the cigarette is
nationally smoked, and not to excess,
it is probably the mildest form OF
smoking, and this fact, coupled with
it's convenience and the cheapnoss, $
sufficient reason for its immense
popularity. And it is interesting to
note that the tobacco war arose, not
on account of the pipe or the cigar,
but because of the c,garette.-From
the Lancet.