MONARCHS AND THEIR PIPES.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 51, 19 May 1910, Page 3

MONARCHS AND THEIR PIPES.

During the last few days in which the Sultan of Turkey was shut up, in the Yildiz Kiosk he is said to have smoked over thirty cigarettes every hour to "cool his nerves.” For years Abdul Hamid has smoked dozens of strong cigarettes every day, and it can he said without fear of contradiction that he has been the most ardent, devotee of the fragrant weed that was ever seated upon a throne. King Edward likes cigars, cigarettes, and a pipe. He, however, has no liking for American-made cigarettes, his favourites being mild Tur-

kish ones. In his young days His Majesty smoked cigarettes and nothing else, but now he is more fond of a good cigar than "tobacco wrapped in paper.” His everyday cigar is said to be specially made for him in Cuba, of the finest tobacco. A MATCH FOR THE KING. Once when the King was miles out on the Yankee prairie, during his American and Canadian travels, he produced a cigar, and his companions followed his example. "A match please,” said His Royal Highness. A match ! There was but one match between the whole party. The position was tragic, for the wind was tearing over the prairie. In order to decide who should attempt to keep the solitary match alight in the wind lots were drawn with blades of grass. The dire responsibility fell upon the King. He lay on the ground, and his companions gathered round him with outstretched coats as shelter. The match was lighted, so were all the cigars. Never before or since has the King felt so nervous as when he struck that match in the vast American prairie miles away from any town or village.

kaiser william's half-crown ; PIPE.

The German Emperor smokes cigars and cigarettes out of doors, but when in the privacy of his study he puffs at a small wooden pipe of the type favoured by the average smoker and costing about, half a crown. The Kaiser consumes various kinds of tobacco, sometimes a mixture, and his cigars, which come from Cuba, cost about two shillings each. The King of Spain keeps strictly to the cigarette. This is rolled in paper ungummed, and required very careful smoking to keep whole. Alfonso's cigarette is about os peculiar as the cigar which tlio Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria used to ttrnoke. The latter was fitted with a straw tube, arvd had to be. hekl in ?. candle tiarco for » minute or two before it could be made to draw. The Czar of Russia and the Prince of Wit!e& favour tho pip» when fc private, bet thsir smoking implements ars of little value. A «ma.'.l pipe of the "bulldog” tyjvj is affected by both of them, and the tobacco they consume is of the -common, inexpensive kind. WHAT CELEBRITIES SMOKED. Bismarck was an ardent devotee of the weed, and it was his boast that he consumed over 100,000 cigars in fifty years. Thomas Alva Edison probably holds the record for the number of cigars smoked daily by one man, for he has confessed that, while ten cigars are his normal allowance, be consumes double that number when deeply absorbed in work. Edwin Booth, the tragedian, often smoked twenty-five cigars a day, and his dresser used to stand in the wings with a lighted cigar in his hand ready for the great actor when he made his exit. Dr. Norman Macleod, a famous Scottish preacher, used to keep a box of cigars in his vestry, and after service would regale himself with a “ puff,” much to the horror of his elders. Tennyson's love for his pipe was proverbial. It was the great poet’s boon-companion, and an Irish clay was his favourite. Baskets of clay pipes ready for use were stacked round the walls of his study, and as many as 200 were to be found lying loose on tho floor. Bird’s-eye was Tennyson’s favourite tobacco.