Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-06-10
PIPE, cIeARET OR G
From the New Yol

FROM the New 1Ofk NOTlu.
The question as to which of n three
forms of smoking, the pipe-the cigar
ct or the cigar-introduces the great
est proportion of nicotine into the
smokers system has just been an
swered by the London Lancet in favor
of the pipe. That is the pipe is given
first place as the least harmful form of
tobacco smoking then the cigarette and
lastly the cigar.
At one time ii was freely asserted
that the tobacco which contained the
highest amount of nicotine necessarily
tended TO be the most injurious no mat
ter in what form it was smoked, but
the Lancet points out that ii is the
form of smoking instead of h guam
tity Of nicotine tNlt plays the most
important part.
There was a theory that not in all
three cases was the original nicotine
in the tobacco conveyed as such to the
mouth; sometimes ii was destroyed by
effective combustion, while at other
times pyridine was responsible for toxic
effects. According 70 this theory,
which was all on the right track, the
cigaret was least harmful, because
the tobacco along the hin paper
wrapper was exposed freely to the air,
and as a consequence the tobacco was
well burnt and all nicotine was de-
stroyed.
Against this it was held that in such
a case one poison disappeared only for
another one to be elaborated, and car
bon monoxide was found In marked
quantity as a poisonous constituent OF
cigaret smoke. AS a matter of fact,
carbon monoxide is invariably found in
all tobacco smoke. and that circum-
stance should be sufficient to warn all
smokers against inhaling ii persist
emily.
Theories as to what happens in the
combustion of tobacco in the various
ways it is smoked next took into ac-
count the extent to which condensation
products were formed and retained in
the tobacco. The most effective con-
denser of course is the pipe, n there
can be little doubt hat owing to the
length of the stem q comparatively
small portion Of these condensation
products reaches the mouth. In the
cigar, on the contrary, the condensing
process has a tendency to travel
throughout the cigar; at all events, as
the cigar gets shorter the condensed
product area gradually reaches the
mouth and eventually the products are
conveyed there by the heat of the
burning end.
1t has been said by connoisseurs that
no cigar is worth smoking after one
half Of it has been consumed, which
seems to be a practical realization Of
theoretical considerations very suitable
for application by millionaires. Again,
a cigar that has been partially smoked
and then allowed to go out is decid-
eddy unpleasant when re-lit, owing
doubtless to the spread of condensation
products to the mouth end.
In the case Of the pipe, the burning
area is always in the same place; it
never comes nearer the mouth. and
therefore the probability is that the
condensation products do not reach the
mouth in, at any rate, appreciable
quantities. In the cigaret the con-
d~ensation products eventually reach
the mouth, but there Is in this case less
chance OF condensation products form
ing since the combustion Is unham-
pered, the tobacco being freely in con-
tact with the air. The amount Of nico-
tine reaching the mouth does not nee
essarily depend on the amount in the
tobacco, but on the form in which it is
smoked. In drawing this conclusion
regard must of course be had to the
quantity of tobacco smoked. but If the
conclusion is correct, the pipe would
come first as the least harmful form of
tobacco smoking, then the cigaret,
and lastly the cigar.