Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1885 — Tobacco. [ARTICLE]

Tobacco.

Cigars not known until about 1815. Previous to that time pipes were used exclusively. Chewing has been in vogue to a limited extent for some time, while snuffing dates back almost as far as smoking. The first package sent to Catherine de Medici was in fine powder. She found that smelling it in the box affected her similarly to smoking, which led her to fill one of her smelling bottles with the dust. Her courtiers adopted the habit of snuffing small portions of it up their nostrils, and as the precious stuff became more plentful the snuffing habit became more general, until at last a man or woman was not considered in proper form unless they snuffed. The custom became so common in England that a snuff-box was no longer a sign of rank. Then it was the law prohibiting the culture of the plant, except for medicine, was passed. About the same time a heavy tariff was placed on the imported article, thereby practically placing it beyond the reach ol the common herd and giving royalty a complete monopoly. Since it first began to be used as a luxury there have been conflicting opinions in regard to its effects. The Eoman Church once forbade its use, and the Church of England declaimed against it. The Wesleys opposed it hotly, and at one time it was considered so unclean as to unfit men for membership in the Methodist Church. Baptist and Presbyterian ministers preached against it, and societies were organized to oppose the spread of the habit, but all to no purpose. Parents disowned and disinherited their children because they used it, and husbands divorced their wives on account of their having contracted the habit of smoking. It is singular that when women get into the habit of smoking a pipe they prefer a strong one. There are few men who have nerve to smoke a pipe such as a woman likes when she has become a confirmed smoker. When they first begin puffing cigars they prefer them very mild; but it is not long until they want them black and strong and lots of them.— Pittsburgh Dispatch.