Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-21
CHANGES IN SMOKING.
Effort to Popularize the Pipe a Fail
ure.


while there had been no change in the
tobacco leaf itself within the past decade
there has been some modification in the
articles used for smoking" remarked a to-
acconist this morning.
For instance. all efforts to popularize
the pipe in cities in the United States to a
degree approaching English and continental
taste have met with failure. In cities, the
man with the pipe is justly and universally
regarded as private and public nuisance.
He is frowned upon by men and women
alike, from the landlady of a lodging house
to the occupants of the rear seats on an
open street car.
Outside Of men whose manual in or out
door occupa tons make a pipe acceptable
to them and force its tolerance upon others
with whom they come in contact, 1t is the
exception that a man is seen upon the
streets of Washington and in other cities in
good clothes with pipe in mis- mouth, I'M
less he be a student, or one whose affecta-
ton of English customs is obvious from
his make up. AS a class of wage earners
whose incomes admit of cigars but who
affect the pipe while at work, especially at
their desks, newspaper men take the lead.
In college towns. a pipe is as essential to
the standing and equipment of a student as
Is his class pin or the colors of his alma
mater. 1t is sight which causes an OBJ
serving man much quiet amusement to
stroll along the streets of New Haven
which lie close to Yale. and look at the coll
lege youth with his inseparable pipe and
consciously important bearing He has a
pipe, and is a man.
In short. except in the country and in
the smaller towns and villages, the great
mass of American smokers are against the
pipe in public. though many smokers have
their pipes at home. The American woman,
too, has set her dainty foot firmly against
the pipe, whether at home or on the street
and women who raise no objection to the
cigar are unswervingly against the pipe.
Since the smoke from a pipe, whether
blown back from the smokers lips into
ones face in an open street car, the smoker
of a railroad train or elsewhere, Is often
nauseatingly offensive and frequently abso-
lutey 7ntolerable, 1t is not regretted that
such national aversion to this form of the
use of the weed exists. Another reason why
pipes are not popular in cities is that the
average American has plenty of spending
money and he INDUCES his taste for cigars
according to his income, where in Europe
men in similar walks of life save their
spare cash and smoke pipes.
again, in Europe nearly every smoker
has his meerschaum which Is his especial
pride. In the United States this class of
pipe is not nearly so extensively smoked as
in years gone by, and you will notice that
the briarwood pipe Is almost exclusively
displayed in the shops of tobacconists The
American is always in too much of a hurry
to give proper time and attention to the
smoking and the colOring of the meer-
SCHduTl pipe WHICH ne breaks as easily
the European keeps his intact, and the
wooden. corncob or clay pipe holds almost
complete supremacy.
THE cigar holder too, has passed as
compared with a decade or so ago and Ii
is the exception that one is used. The best
flavor of the cigar, it would appear from
what men tell me, is not obtained unless
the roll of the leaf itself lies next to the
tongue and the lips There was a time
when the cigarette holder was frequently
seen, but it is rarity in the present year
of grace
Another habit among men of what may
be called the better class. for the sake of
a designation. which has fallen into dsuse
Is the chewing of tobacco. especially in
cities, where, apparently by a common con-
sent of long standing, it is agreed that men
who aspire to fulfill to the utmost the title
of gentleman have cut this habit out en-
tirely. This Is especially true of men in
professional and business life who are
brought in close contact with women and
other men who look upon tobacco chewing
as an unjustifia BILE pra ctice.''