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SMOKE AND THE MAN.

Tobacco AS An index tg CHARACTER. It is a truism that a man largely proclaims his character in his hab»ts, and in nothing is this dictum more clearly exemplified than in the habit of smoking. Smoking provides us with a thousand opportunities for expressing, qr hinting at, OUr individual traits, virtues, and frailties. We smoko as we live, or as we desire to live. Indolence, extravagance frugality, ponuriousness, stolidity, nervous tension, and innumerable other attributes can be revealed to an observant looker-on by Simply smoking a pipe, a cigar, or a cigarette. Choice of tobacco, methods of smoking, pipe cleaning, and lighting, the treatment of cigar ash, and the use of cigarette ends are all straws that point which way the wind of disposition blows. | I It is, of course, difficult and at best always a thankless task to set up arbitrary definitions, but if one mult generalise it is fairly safe to assert that as a rule pipe-smokers differ largely from the votaries of tho cigarette in method and persistence. There are, however, exceptions, and at the present moment two of the most brilliant men of oUr day combine an inveterate habit of pipesmoking with extreme VOLATILE NERVOUSNESS AND It is noteworthy in judging charac- | ter by smoke that both these men employ a com'mon method. They light their pipes every other second. An entire box of matches is used i regularly to finish one full pipe of 1 tobacco, and thei studies of both men who are personally unknown to one another, are literally strewn from I end to end with burnt and wasted match sticks. I Smoking with these men is simply a nervous habit 1 . They do not trouble to keep their pipes alight, 1 but whenever they pause in thought or speech— they strike a match. Two puffs at the pipe and the tobacco is out again. If it remained burning, I and there was no occasiqn to strike 1 a match when the next halt in their j thoughts or speech occurred, these 1 two smokers would experience the utmost 1 mental discomfiture, j Some cigarette smokers are of a 1 wasteful and ' extravagant nature, : and fling their cigarettes away t when, i they are consumed to the extent of ! a third of their length. These people I alsq arc generally EXCITABLE CREATURES. I They must bo constantly doing : something, taking out or shutting up j their pocket cases, fumbling for matches, lighting a cigarette, or j throwing one away. Fanciful and freak smokers are often indolent. The man who can squat for hours in a chair blowing smoke rings, emitting the smoke from his nose, or inhaling the smoke for an extraordinary duration of time, has generally a lack of vital energy and purpose. He answers naturally to the type qf individual described in certain theatrical circles as “Bar-Performers," i.e., persons who are not clever or persevering in their profession, but 1 whose self-appointed missiqn in life ; is to perform tricks in saloon bars, ; refreshment rooms, and railway 1 waiting-rooms for the diversion qf I their companions, ! Cigar smokers have frequently been ! characterised as men of expensive 1 tastes, This, of course, is a very ob--1 vious conclusion, but is very hard to ■ establish. Many CIGAR SMOKERS

show themselves to be persons of taste and discrimination. You can generally tell by facial expression ; whether they are genuine cigar lovers There is a stockbroker among the acquaintances of the present writer who looks absolutely a poet when he is enjoying the full bouquet of a certain' brand of most excellent cigars, j His whole being becomes sublimated, his mood mellqvvs, and his thoughts assume an imaginative colour. That this man’s being is capablo of sublimation under these circumstances elearly shows that somewhere hidden beneath his hard business acumen and commercial capacities is a strain, an inherent strain, of poetic thought and feeling. But one could never have discovered this save through the agency of these wonderj ful cigars. j A person who smokes a cigar with , the label-brand on is always A VULGARIAN ; i a person who displays two inches of \ ash adhering to a cigar is generally ! ostentatious ; a person who selects a i cigar because it is sprinkled with j light spots is an ignoramus who cred- ! its any popular report ; and a person who chews up the end of a cigar or a cigarette is mqre often than not of an irascible or peevish nature, j Smoking is also a great test of natural courtesy in any individual. One can trace selfishness, bqorishness, self-assertiveness, timidity, or good temper in a smoker's demeanour in any mixed company. Jadging upon I the example of Mr. Kipling, it has been asserted that the man who knocks his pipe ashes out behind the parlour couch is usually A GENIUS. But this is a somewhat empty assertion, and, at any rate, it comprises J a belief that is in no wise shared by housewives and landladies. , | As a concluding rule for diagnosing i character by tobacco habits it may be accepted that the best men smoks quietly and without ostentation, offer you a good cigar without a preparatory oration on its cost and merits, and smoke their pipes and cigars out to the end. When a man is concerned because his friends are not smoking . with him he is a person to be cultivated .—“Tribune."

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NORAG19080727.2.39

Bibliographic details

Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 49, 27 July 1908, Page 7

Word Count
903

SMOKE AND THE MAN. Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 49, 27 July 1908, Page 7

SMOKE AND THE MAN. Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 49, 27 July 1908, Page 7