FASHIONS IN SMOKING

Taranaki Daily News, 13 June 1932, Page 11

FASHIONS IN SMOKING

DISCUSSION IN ENGLAND.

TASTES IN TOBACCO.

The remark of an English judge recently that ho had often smoked “twist,” and always smoked an ounce of tobacco a day, has stimulated conversation in the smoking world of London, especially as regards individual preferences. Many elements go to determine fluctuations of taste in smoking, including the august decrees of tho fair sex.

“Strong tobaccos, such as twist and pigtail and nailrod,” said tho manager of an old and famous firm, “are usually in demand when clients are going north for tho autumn shooting. We .make a special brand for this purpose; but it is smoked only by gillies and seamen, as a rule.

“There is no doubt that tho modern demand for milder flavours and packet tobaccos has been influenced by the women. The fact that we live in towns and houses, and have to consider our neighboui's has also something to do with it. We have a woman client, famous for her learning, who smokes pipes, and men’s tobaccos, but this is exceptional, and the pipes that women smoko aro hardly tho real thing according to men’s ideas.

“Tho chief change in recent years has been tfie way in which the cigarette has supervened. We used to specialise in a few choice brands long before the war, but it was the war that established its vogue. The cigar sustained a blow by tho 50 per cent, ad valorem duty of years ago, and has never quite recovered.

“The use of snuff is steadily increasin'’' for various reasons. One is that many physicians recommend it as a preventive of colds. In the Midlands and the North it has never died away, as it looked like doing in London years ago. We still use some of the old recipes of over a century ago, but the tendency is toward the weaker makes. “Women aro taking to it more than (hey used, and perhaps it is that they admire the elegant gestures of the fashionable snuff taker as they see him in the older comedies."