WHAT KINGS SMOKE.

Waipa Post, Volume VII, Issue 321, 9 June 1914, Page 6

WHAT KINGS SMOKE.

King George has the distinction of 1 being the only European Sovereign who smokes a pipe. All the others are ardent devotees of the cigar or tho cigarette.

Tho Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary, at the venerable ago of eighty-three, is reputed to be tho heaviest Royal smoker, his favorite being a cigar so cheap and so common that it is smoked by almost every peasant in the- country. It is a long black cigar, tapering at both ends and traversed by a straw. The Emperor's brand, however, is an exceptionally powerful one, possessing a "bite," which would make it extremely objectionable to most men. Despite this fact the aged ruler is able to smoke more than twenty a day without feeling any ill effects.

Turkish cigarettes, exquisitely flavored and scented, are the passion of tho Czar of Russia, who scarcely ever smokes anything else. His cigarettes are made from specially-matured tobacco exclusively grown for him in Turkey. Each cigarette, by the time it reaches the Czar, costs almost a penny, and the Russian ruler gets rid of as many as forty or fifty a day. All told, the Czar spends something between £l5O and £2OO a year on tobacco.

Another lover of the fragrant cigarette is King Alfonso of Spain, who, however, is more cosmopolitan in his tastes. Ho smokes all kinds—Turkish, Egyptian, Russian, Algerian, and ordinary Virginian, the Litter in moderation. He thoroughly enjoys an expensive cheroot or cigar now and then. Most of his cigarettes are specially made for him by a London tobacco merchant, and his annual outlay in this direction never falls below £l2O. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany takes a a keen delight in smoking huge Havana cigars almost Tin. long, of which he scarcely ever fails to smoke less than ten a day. He pays about ten pounds a hundred for these, so that to satisfy his craving for tho "soothing weed," he has annually to foot a bill amounting to something over £2OO. This is a very modest estimate, because tho German Emperor does not limit his "smokes" to cigars alone, being inordinately fond of both cheroots and cigarettes.

Perhaps the late King Edward possessed the most peculiar ideas about smoking of any Sovereign. His cigars ivere unapproachable for their length rind thickness, being exactly 8 5-Bin. long and IJm. in girth. These prodigious cigars wore expressly made for His Majesty in Havana, and cost ss. each. It took over 75 minutes' good smoking to reduce one of them to the despised stump, but King Edward, nevertheless, managed to consume a fair number a day.