East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1919-09-19

cigar has in it as much nicotine as
strong" one. The poison turks De-
hind the flavor, not within 1t. says
our authority.
"Nicotin, which exhibits toxiciy
of high degree, is volatile why the
tobacco which contains it does not
cause greater evidences CT pronounc-
ed poisoning than are observed in the
ordinary smoker has been mystery.
The traditional explanation has oeeh
that nicotin is destroyed in the process
of smoking, and that the combustion
products, real or conjectured, are 1ar
less toxiv in their character than ls
the tobacco alkaloid itself. ihere
can no longer be any doubt however,
that the nicotin is by no means COM
pletely burned up in smoking Tor
there is valid evidence that more than
one-third of the volatile poison can be
recovered in the smoke.
"Various schemes have been en-
ployed or recommended to eliminate
the nicotin menace of tobacco WITH
out making it necessary to give up lts
use. Among these are the production
of so-called nicotin-free cigars. They
have never attained any recognition IN
this country. although serious at
tennis have been made to introduce
them in some of the European coun-
tries. one product has represented
the result of extracting the tobacco TO
remove the alkaloid. As other valu-
ed aromatic properties of the plant
are thereby likewise removed, such
detoxicated tobacco has never attained
popularity. Another method has con-
sisted in fixing the alkaloid by
treatment which forms the insoluaole
nicotine tannate. Tobacco treated IN
this way may, on ordinary chemical
ANALYSIS show a low content of nico-
tin: but this does not prove that the
nicotin may not be liberated into the
yapors in some degree when the to-
bacco is smoked. Experiment shows,
in fact, that it actually is. Another
procedure has been to introduce iron
chloride near the butt-end of the cl-
gar with the object of making 1t re-
tain some or all of the volatile nico'
tin that passes through this portion
as the smoke proceeds into the mouth
of the smoker. Here. too. critical in
vestigation has revealed the failure
to prevent the exit of nicotin, at least
been offered for sale to date. s-ssa.
storm van Leuwen, of Utrecht. has
another surprise for the uil-
suspecting smoker. He has made an
of. the actual nicotin
content of cigar-smoke collected un-
der conditions comparable to those
that prevail in the actual performance
of smoking in which some of the pro
- or
into the air without absorption and
only a part is collected in the mouth
to the observations made
by the Dutch pharmacologist, not only
were some of the current harmless
cigars obtainable in Hol-
land quite as rich as were ordinary
cigars in their yield of nicotine, bun
it was also brought out that no cor
relation between the supposed 'stren-
9Th of cigars and the toxcity of their
yapors could be established The
common distinction between mild and
strong cigars was found to be no in
dex of the content of nicotin that
passes into the smoke; nor could the
color or even the nicotin content of the
leaf be depended on to foretell the
outcome of the actual smoke test.
"If this be correct, it follows that
the current designation of tobacco as
mild or otherwise probably depends in
large measure on factors of flavor or
aroma as well as on assumed ply
sioloEic effects that it may bring
about What constituents are respon-
sible has not been determined. The
feature for emphasis here is the seem
ingly we'll suhstantiated assertion that
cigars are not always what they
seem--so far as nicotin is eoncerned'