"Nicotiana."

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13397, 21 September 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

"Nicotiana."

The amount of money spent upon, the dried weed called ■•' tobacco •is almost incredible Roughly speaking, there are 10,000,000 smokers in Britain, and each of them smokes about 81b. of tobacco iii tits year. At an average cost of Bs. a pound this- makes S3 4s. a head, and to this must be added another half-crown apiece yearly 'for pipes and other smokers' requisites. The reuult is that our national tobacco bill is only a fraction less than our national wheat bill. »

The annual burning of 40,000 tons of tobacco between -tha lips of Brit-K'li smokers entails an enormous loss: Tobacco ash amounts to about one-fifth of the total weight of tobacco, and- this ash is one of the finest fertilising agents imaginable. Yet it is all loss. Eight thousand tons of tobacco ash, rich in magnesium and sodium salts and containing 5 per cent, of phosphoric acid is Icut to the isoil. Tli& cigarette has ' almost . ousted . the cigar in England, and is encroaching upon the pips trade. Soma faint idea 'of the enormous number of • cigarettes consumed in Britain may be gathered from the fact: that the factory inspectors for Bristol calculate that 5,i56 miles -of machine-made cigarettes are turned out weekly in the area under-their -jurisdiction. Cigarettes are mainly of two varieties, Virginian and Turkish. All smokers are aware how different is the taste ■ of thes:two. tobaccos. ' <

The mildness of strength of tobacco varies with its burning qualities. Strong tobacco is such as burns slowly, causing distillation of ■ the nicotine which it contains in an unaltered "state. Mild tobaccos are those which burn .well, and :ro in burning consume or decompose the nicotine.

While in England tobacco manufacture is so well looked after that adulteration is rare, yet there is probably no other product in common use which is so vigorously adulterated'' as is tobacco. American and other foreign tobaccos are extensively doctored. Saltpetre is - added to make the weed burn well; gum and glycerine to bind loose, tobaccos.

For flavourings a large--number of scented plants are used. Among these valerin, orange and lemon leaves, thyme, anise, sassafras, geranium, mint, cinnamon, tea, and coffee. To giv's sweetness to chewing tobacco, liquorice, honeyj and maple sugar are largely employed. You will often hear people 'talk of cigarettes adulterated with opium. Such thingra hardly exist. The cost would- be prohibitory. It may be taken that very few deleterious drugs are employed by tobacdo manufacturers.

Thecs. is much misconception with regard to the amount and danger of nicotine contained in tobacco. In bright Virginia leaf there is rarely more than 1 per cent., and most of even this small quantity is destroyed in the process of combustion. According to an 'expert, the poisonous products are principally tar oils. It is to these that a foul pipe owes its unpleasant odtour,, and the pyridine which the oils coiitain is probably responsible for • the headache and other evils which follow upon excessive smoking.' Speaking of cigars, it is an odd fact that nearly all cigar-makers are ambidextrous. Consequently some cigars are righthanded and some left. A smoker e holding hio> cigar in his right hand sometimes twists it so as to loceen the wrapper. If hj? 'remembered that cigars, like boots and gloves, are -rights and lefts, he would! not suffer from this annoying experience. Soma wines will not stand a sea voyage. The same holds good with .chojce cigars. :In.the .trade they apeak of e«cli cigars as being "sea-sick." When landed they se-3m to : have lost their fine flavour. After a few weeks rest, they regain their delicacy. We in New Zealand depend upon other countries, not only for tobacco, but for other important smokers' requisites. Ciga.iette papers nearly all come from France, the largest factory being •.'near Nantes. Briar, from which pipes are made, is the root of a heather which grows/ on the Tuscan Alps, in Corsica, and in Algeria, and meerschaum is the product of mines in Asia Minor. ■ ■-