IS IT A MENACE?

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 122, 21 May 1909, Page 6

IS IT A MENACE?

- THE SEDUCTIVE CIGARETTE. IWOKDS TO THOSE ADDICTED TO THE HABIT. ' MEDICAL OPINIONS. (N.Z. Times.) Are you a cigarette-smoker? Do you confess a weakness for, the little paper-covered roll of fragrant lealshreds? Man or woman, boy or girl, are you?—do you? If you are, if you do you will, of course, have been very much interested in the cable message in The Times indicating that the Premier of Victoria (bold man) simply has no time at all for*the common, everyday "fag." He even threatens legislation to restrict- its burning, and, declares that the habit of smoking it is becoming a menace to the community and doing more harm than opium-smoking; which is a big thing to say. . , ~ V ii Even if you overlooked the cable message a 'Times reporter did not. He saw- it, and was interested—for he smokes cigarettes, too, when he_can afford it—at length feeling moved to call on a number of medical friends and cross-examine them on the subject. The fact that most doctors smoke cigarettes did not escape attention, but then everybody knows that doctors will always give free and frank' expression1 to their opinions, even on subjects on which they might he supposed to be prejudiced. • PLAIN TO ALL EYES.

'fl think it must be a matter of 'icommon observation that the habit of cigarette-smoking is; on the'increase, while' there is no doubt at all that it is leading to qtfite a number "of minor ailments, such $ls chronic sore throats and things of that, kind," was the first opinion secured. From what the reporter was told it would appear that lots of the people who go about coughing, and wondering why they cannot get rid of the cough, have only the habit to thank for it. Then men who smoke cigarettes extensively, say, thirty or so a day, are very liable,to get dyspepsia and various nervous and heart ailments frorn^ which the smoker who is content. with a mere half-dozen is free. As several doctors said, in smoking, as in everything else, the same rule holds good, r and that rule is.: Excess brings bad results and moderation means no harm. Most of the doctors were agreed that a few cigarettes a day, are quit© harmless, provided the materials of which they are made are jgood. In some cases, of course, rubbish is used, and then there is likely to be trouble. For instance, the paper covering of the "fag" may have been prepared in such a way that to smoke it has very injurious effects indeed, dry sore throats and parched tongues being among the symptoms. J ; A HINT ON INHALING. ', A trick into' which the cigarettesmoke>, especially he of the confirmed variety1, is extremely likely to fall is that known as inhaling. According to the doctors, the mere consumption of a cigarette in the ordinary way is nothing, but : 4vhen it conies to swallowing the smoke.and then expelling what is left through the nostrils a yery>graye. risk is run. All the impurities in the smoke from possible bad tobacco and probable injuriously treated paper have excellent chances of settling in the lungs or along the nasal passages, with' results only too well known to those addicted to the habit. • Huskiness, catarrh of the throat; and so on, are among the symptoms of a complaint which can _ only be cured in one way, and that is by removing the cause. This inhaling and its effects, in fact, are the chief things to be guarded against by the cigarettesmoker. ..,.-' ./. ;.■ "':.'" ' '■'.'■": WATCH THE INSIDE. Then' the tobacco of which the cigarette is made deserves careful watching. In some brands mere rubbish is used, in others the tobacco is so treated that it is- positively poisonous and its use should be. absolutely avoided. One particular .brand' mentioned to 'the reporter was said to contain distinct traces of opium."l often used to wonder," said the doctor, ' f'how it was that boys are so very fond of that particular brand, but now I have found out' that.it contains opium. Perhaps it 'is because the tobacco is grown alongside poppies, but whatever"the cause traces of the drug are present." "The real Turkish cigarette should be absolutely barred," declared anothor medico, ''because there as no doubt at all that there is opmnvm the tobacco of which it is composed, lhat, I suppose, is what gives it such a distinctive flavour1." . Nitre, apparently, is also an ingredient in some makes. The effect of its being drawn into the mouth in the form of smoke is said to bo very bad. It would seem that the presence oi nicotine in cigarette smoke is mostly

jimaginary, for one authority declared that there is practically none of it there. The yellowish-brown stain upon the lips and fingers of the inveterate" smoker of„ cigarettes,, therefore, is not nicotine but merely tar. IT SHOULD BE STOPPED. Though the general consensus of opinion was that the moderate use of cigarettes is not at all harmful, one doctor was found who, unhesitatingly declared that anything which would prevent their being smoked should be encouraged. "Of course," he explained, "you will have to begin at the beginning and prevent boy_s from becoming smokers. Very few men learn to like cigarettes, but among boys the habJLt is easily picked up. I would say that nobody under the age of eighteen should be allowed to smoke at all." As far as could be gathered the use of cigarettes by men has not increased very markedly of late years. Most smokers are said to be fairly moderate, though the doctors spoke of cases coming under their observation where forty or even fifty cigarettes are smo,ked in a day. They are practically at it alt the time, ' lighting one cigarette from the butt of another and going oh in a string. A Lanibton Quay tobacconist consulted on this point said that during the last three years the increase in the cigarette habit had ,/been very small, though during ten , years, past the numbers sold had probably; increased by 200 per.cent. The cigarette, in Fact,-had become the prevailing smoke, and now one saw that artisians, navvies, drivers and others had f &i|en under its spell in • hunr dreds. Once on a time such men would have smoked nothing less ttian 4 a pipe, but now two-thirds^ of them were for ever sucking at a. cigarette. WHAT ABOUT WOMEN? On the question of whether women are taking to the cigarette in increase ing numbers,1 rather diverse views were expressed. One doctor saidiraiey are, another didn't think such was the case. "lam sure women are coining to smoke more,' said the former (a doctor who would bar the cigarette altogether if he could) —adding that the habit was beginning to be the frequent cause of sore throats'among his women patients! , This, he considered, was due to the modern girl, who begins to smoke mainly out of bravado,and then goes on because she likes it. He found traces of the habit mostly among young women, though he was not prepared to say they did not keep it up as they grew older. He had come across quite a number of,comparative girls with "smoker's throat," though -of course i^h^y didn't like to confess to the real cause. ■

The tobacconist's opinion on this jpoirit was interesting also. "Women are smoking a lot more than they used to," he declared, "though sometimes is is rather hard to tell whether they are buying cigarettes for thpmselves or for someone else. Some, however, make no bones about it at all and set themselves up as regular--judges, and freely stating their preference for one or another brand. Certain makes which a man would hardly smoke are extensively pui'chased, so that even when the purchaser is of the\ male sex

we can be pretty sure that the smoker will be a woman. One of our women customers smokes about a pound of Old Judge cigarette tobacco a month, making her cigarettes herself." On the other hand a doctor contended that not more than two or three women in a- thousand are victims of. the habit. Apart from the demimondaine, he was sure that the women of New Zealand are as free from the influence of the cigarette as are those of England.