A RACE OF PRETENDERS.
“I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir; but yet, Heaven forbid,
sir, but a knave should have some countenance at his friends’ request.
An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is
not.”——_King Henry IV., part 2._
It is the misfortune of kingdoms to be subject to rebellions, and of
monarchs to behold the advent of pretenders, as it is the fate of gold
to be imitated in baser metals, and bank notes to be forged. A rule is
supposed to be strengthened by an exception, and tried gold to shine in
greater splendour beside its counterfeit—
“Than that which hath no foil to set it off.”
So, tobacco, in the midst of all its success and prosperity, has been
envied and imitated by duller pretenders to the virtue it boasts, from
among the meaner denizens of the vegetable world. Of course these
pretenders have been unsuccessful; for had they been successful, they
had no longer been branded with the baser name, but had risen to the
rank of benefactors and patriots. Such is the custom of the world.
The following are the substances which are stated to be used for the
adulteration of tobacco, principally in the form of “cut” and “roll.”
Dr. Hassell divides them—
First, into vegetable substances, as the leaves of the dock, rhubarb,
coltsfoot, cabbage, potato, chicory, endive, elm, and oak; malt
cummings, that is the roots of germinating malt; peat, which consists
chiefly of decayed moss; seaweed, roasted chicory root, wheat, oatmeal,
bran, catechu or terra japonica, oakum, and logwood dye.
Secondly, into saccharine substances, as cane-sugar, treacle, honey,
liquorice, and beetroot dregs.
Thirdly, into salts and earths, as nitre, common salt, sal ammoniac, or
hydrochlorate of ammonia, nitrate of ammonia, carbonate of ammonia, the
alkalies, as potash, soda, and lime; sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of
soda or glauber salts, yellow ochre, umber, fuller’s earth, Venetian
red, sand, and sulphate of iron.
And the experience of the excise, as may be gathered from the evidence
of Mr. Phillips before the committee of adulteration, harmonizes with
the above list. “With regard to tobacco,” he says, “we have found in
_cut_ tobacco, sugar, liquorice, gum catechu, saltpetre, and various
nitrates; yellow ochre, Epsom salts, glauber salts, green copperas, red
sandstone, wheat, oatmeal, malt cummings, chicory, and the following
leaves—coltsfoot, rhubarb, chicory, endive, oak, elm; and in _fancy_
tobacco, I once found lavender, and a wort called mugwort. It is a
fragrant herb, suggestive rather of the nutmeg. In _roll_ tobacco we
have found rhubarb leaves, endive and dock leaves, sugar, liquorice,
and a dye made of logwood and sulphate of iron.”
Let consumers of tobacco console themselves, however, in the face of
this formidable list, by the assurance of the eminent experimenter
on articles of food, &c., before named, that “not one of the forty
samples of manufactured cut tobacco which he examined was adulterated
with any foreign leaf, or with any insoluble or organic extraneous
substance of any description other than with sugar, or some other
saccharine matter, which was present in several instances.”
Leaving adulterations to take care of themselves, we find that an
article, of very ancient use, is still occasionally smoked instead of
the Virginian weed. The plant referred to is _coltsfoot_ (_Tussilago
farfar_, Linn.), a very common weed on chalky and gravelly soils.
Pliny refers to it, and directs that the foliage should be burned,
and the smoke arising from it drawn into the mouth through a reed and
swallowed. These leaves have long been smoked for chest complaints, and
are said to form the chief ingredient in British herb tobacco.
The leaves of milfoil or yarrow (_Achillœa millefolium_), another plant
equally common with the last, have been recommended to smokers in lieu
of tobacco, and occasionally used for that purpose. Added to beer, they
render it heady or more intoxicating.
Leaves of rhubarb are occasionally smoked by those who are too poor
to furnish themselves with a regular supply of tobacco, and those who
have used them state, that, although devoid of strength, they are not
a bad substitute when tobacco is not to be obtained. For the same
purpose they are collected and used in Thibet, and on the slopes of the
Himalayas.
The leaves of a plant common in marshes and boggy soils in Europe and
North America, called Bogbean (_Menyanthes trifoliata_, Linn.) are used
in the north of Europe when hops are scarce, to give a bitter flavour
to beer, and have been recommended and adopted as a tobacco substitute.
An agricultural labourer near Blois, pretends that the leaves of the
beet make an excellent tobacco.
Undescribed plants called Akil and Trouna, are used by the Arabs of
Algeria to render their tobacco milder.
In some parts of Europe, the leaves of the common garden sage has
served the same purpose; whilst in some parts of Switzerland, the
leaves of mountain tobacco (_Arnica montana_, Linn.) are collected for
use as tobacco, or dried and powdered to be used as snuff. This is no
doubt a virulent plant, and has the reputation of being a powerful
acrid narcotic.
The tobacco substitutes in North America are more numerous than we
should have expected to have found in the native land of the true
tobacco. A decoction of the holly-leaves (_Ilex vomitoria_, Linn.) are
drunk by the native Creek Indians, under the name of “black drink,” at
the opening of their councils, on account of its peculiar properties.
This shrub is also called Cossena by the Indians, and the leaves are
used for smoking as a substitute for tobacco. “Often,” says one of the
early settlers, “I have smoked a pipe of cossena with their majesties
Toma Chaci and Senoaki his queen, at their mud-palace, about three
miles from Savanacke.”
The Virginian or Stag’s Horn Sumach,[18] which is met with almost over
the whole of the United States, supplies leaves which are dried and
used by some of the native tribes as tobacco.
The Indians of the Mississippi and Missouri use the leaves of another
Sumach (_Rhus copallina_) and Indian tobacco (_Lobelia inflata_, Linn.)
is supposed to be indebted for its name to the fact that it was one of
the plants smoked by the Indians instead of the genuine “weed.” Under
the name of “tombeki,” the leaf of a species of _Lobelia_ is smoked in
parts of Asia. It is smoked in a narghilè, and is exceedingly narcotic,
so much so, that it is usually steeped in water to weaken it before
being used; and it is always smoked whilst damp.
Not many years since, a patent was taken out at Washington for
fabricating tobacco from maize-husks, steeped in a solution of cayenne.
It was stated to be equal in flavour to true tobacco, and without any
of the deleterious properties which have been attributed to that plant.
The Miliceti Indians, New Brunswick, scrape the bark from the young
twigs of the birch, and when dry, mix it with their tobacco for
smoking. They are very partial to the admixture, the odour of which, it
is affirmed, is much more agreeable than that of pure tobacco.
Mr. Mölhausen smoked willow-leaves among the Rocky Mountains; and the
use of these leaves for the same purpose is mentioned in “Hiawatha.”
The Bearberry (_Arctostaphylus uva ursi_) common in many parts of North
America, is found in the valley of the Oregon, where the leaves are
collected by the Chenook Indians, who mix them with their tobacco.
The Crees also use them for the same purpose, and with them it is
called Tchakashè-pukh. The Chepewyans, who name it Kleh, and the
Eskimos north of Churchill (by whom it is termed Attung-ā-wi-at) turn
it to a like account. From the custom of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s
officers carrying it in bags for the same use, the voyagers gave it the
appellation of Sac-a-commis.
Latterly a writer in a West Indian paper, called attention to a novel
application of the berries of the Pimento (_Eugenia pimento_), known
commercially by that name or as Allspice. “I have been,” he says,
“a smoker for the past twenty years, and have consumed many pounds
of honey-dew within that period; but it was only a short time ago
that I discovered that Pimento forms by far a more agreeable article
for smoking; and any person who knows nothing of the fragrance of a
Pimento walk when in full bloom, may form some idea of it by a pipe
charged and lighted with the dried berry, simply crushed in coarse
bits. Every lady has a dislike to the smell of tobacco. While she may
be driven by its fumes and smell from the drawing-room, the Pimento
would, on the contrary, invite her presence. By way of experiment on
the taste of other smokers, I may mention that I had the other day two
men (great lovers of tobacco) employed in my garden. ‘Joseph,’ I said,
‘where is your pipe to-day?’ ‘Out of tobacco, massa,’ was his reply.
‘Well, here is some very costly; give me your opinion of it when you
have tried it.’ To prevent deception, I charged his pipe myself, and
directed him to light it. He did so, and up ascended a graceful curl of
smoke. Joseph was not a little pleased, and thanking me for this costly
tobacco, said it was ‘first-rate,’ and desired I should inform him what
per pound it could have cost. I told him it grew pretty near his hut,
and on opening my pouch, and disclosing to him that this ‘first-rate
tobacco’ was nothing more than dried pimento, you may imagine his
surprise. ‘A man is neber too old to larn,’ he exclaimed, and soon
imparted the good news to his fellow-labourer.” With all due deference
to the opinion of both Joseph and his master, we have experimented on
this wonderful pretender, and hold the opinion that it is unworthy
of their joint encomiums. A friend who has also tested it, thinks
it, however, very pleasant, and a fair substitute. It would appear,
therefore, that there is something to be said on both sides.
Cascarilla bark, the produce of the _Croton eleuteria_ in the Bahamas,
was first used to mix with tobacco, on account of the pleasing odour
which it diffuses in burning. It is supposed also to possess narcotic
properties, when used in this way. In South America, Humboldt states
that the leaves of _Polygonum hispida_ are used as a tobacco substitute.
The African contributions to our list are also rather extensive,
especially from the neighbourhood of the Cape. The leaves of a certain
plant (_Tarchonanthus camphoratus_, Linn.) possessing a camphorated
odour, are chewed by the Mahometans, and smoked by the Hottentots
and Bushmen instead of tobacco, and, like the “_Dagga_,” exhibit
slight narcotic symptoms. This may be owing to the camphor which they
contain. The common camphor, in quantities a little beyond a medium
dose, will produce indistinctness of ideas, incoherence of language,
an indescribable uneasiness, shedding of tears, a sensation of fear
and dread; then the body feels lighter than usual—an idea exists that
flying will not only be easy, but a source of pleasure.
The Wild Dagga (_Leonotis leonurus_, _R. Br._) grows wild on the sandy
Cape flats. It has a peculiar scent, and a nauseous taste, and seems
to produce narcotic effects if incautiously used. The Hottentots are
particularly fond of it, and smoke it as tobacco. In the eastern
districts of the Cape, an allied species (_Leonotis ovata_) has a
similar reputation, and is used for a like purpose.
In the Mauritius the leaves of the _Culen_ (_Psoralea glandulosa_) are
dried and smoked, while on the western coast of South America they are
used in decoction as a beverage, instead of tea.
In Asia, tobacco substitutes have but one or two representatives.
One of these has been already alluded to, another consists of the
long leaves of a species of _Tupistra_, called “Purphiok,” which are
gathered in Sikkim, chopped up, and mixed with tobacco for the hookah.
The leaves of the water-lily are dried, and used in China to mix with
tobacco for smoking, to render it milder.
Cigars of stramonium, henbane, and belladonna, may be purchased at
the same rate as those made of genuine tobacco, in chemists’ and
herbalists’ shops—never having tried them, we have no experience of
their flavour.
The majority of the substitutes for tobacco are, after all, very poor
pretenders—capable, perhaps, of raising a smoke, but possessed of
neither aromatic nor stimulating properties; and those which contain
any active properties at all, are of a character so dangerous, as to
make their extensive use extremely hazardous. In the former class, we
may rank coltsfoot, sage, milfoil, rhubarb, and bogbean; and in the
latter, stramonium, henbane, bella-donna, arnica, and lobelia. Those
who have been long accustomed to the use of tobacco, seldom, except in
times of scarcity or deprivation of that plant, resort to the use of
any other. This is the case at home. In the Cape Colony, the united
testimony of travellers proves that the Kaffirs are ready to make _any_
sacrifices for tobacco, and prefer it to any of their own indigenous
substitutes.
When the tobacco has been found to be too strong, incipient smokers
have been known to counteract its effects, and lessen its power, by
mixing therewith the flowers of chamomile, which once enjoyed great
reputation as a useful medicine. Others, in the absence of tobacco,
have resorted to brown paper or tow, which, being smoked through an
old or foul pipe, is said to carry with its smoke some of the tobacco
flavour, and to be infinitely better than no smoke at all. Juveniles
will sometimes, with a piece of cane, or a strip of clematis, imitate
their elders, and, in imagination, enjoy the luxury of an Havannah
cigar.
A curious anecdote of a Buckinghamshire parson occurs in “Lilly’s
History of his Life and Times,” to which we have before referred. “In
this year, also, William Breedon, parson or vicar of Thornton in Bucks,
was living, a profound divine, but absolutely the most polite parson
for nativities in that age, strictly adhering to Ptolemy, which he
well understood; he had a hand in composing Sir Christopher Heydon’s
‘Defence of Judicial Astrology,’ being at that time his chaplain; he
was so given over to tobacco and drink, that when he had no tobacco
(and I suppose too much drink) he would cut the bell-ropes and _smoke_
them.”
Having unmasked the “race of pretenders,” and shown the titles upon
which they seek to establish their claims, with Charles Lamb we now bid
farewell to Tobacco.
“For I must, (nor let it grieve thee,
Friendliest of plants, that I must) leave thee;
For thy sake, Tobacco, I
Would do anything but die;
And but seek to extend my days
Long enough to sing thy praise.
But as she, who once hath been
A king’s consort, is a queen
Ever after, nor will bate
Any tittle of her state,
Though a widow, or divorced,
So I, from thy converse forced,
The old name and style retain,
A right Katherine of Spain;
And a seat, too, ’mongst the joys
Of the blest Tobacco boys;
Where, though I, by sour physician,
Am debarred the full fruition
Of thy favours, I may catch
Some collateral sweets, and snatch
Sidelong odours, that give life,
Like glances from a neighbour’s wife;
And still live in the by-places,
And the suburbs of thy graces;
And in thy borders take delight,
An unconquered Canaanite.”
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