Mark Twain on Pipe Smoking

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Winslow

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Interview with Mark Twain 1892;

FLIRTING WITH THE LADY NICOTINE.
MR. HATTON appears to be in doubt whether Mark Twain smokes three hundred cigars a year-or a month. There is a slight difference both to tobacconist and consumer. I have been told that his annual, allowance is three thousand cigars. But it must not be thought that his devotion to tobacco stops at this trivial quantity. The cigars merely represent his dessert in the way of smoking. The solid repast of nicotine is taken by means of a corn-cob pipe. The bowl of this pipe is made from the hollowed-out cob of an ear of Indian corn. It is a very light pipe, and it colours brown as you use it, and ultimately black, so they call it in America "The Missouri Meerschaum." I was much impressed by the ingenuity with which Mark Twain fills his corn-cob pipe. The humorist is an inspired Idler. He is a lazy man, and likes to do things with the least trouble to himself. He smokes a granulated tobacco which he keeps in a long check bag made of silk and rubber. When he has finished smoking, he knocks the residue from the bowl of the pipe, takes out the stem, places it in his vest pocket, like a pencil or a stylographic pen, and throws the bowl into the bag containing the granulated tobacco. When he wishes to smoke again (this is usually five minutes later) he fishes out the bowl, which is now filled with tobacco, inserts the stern, and strikes a light. Noticing that his pipe was very-aged and black, and knowing that he was about to enter a country where corn-cob pipes are not, I asked him if he had brought a supply of pipes with him.

"Oh, no," he answered, "I never smoke a new corn-cob pipe. A new pipe irritates the throat. No corn-cob pipe is fit for anything until it has been used at least a fortnight."

"How do you manage then?" I asked. "Do you follow the example of the man with the tight boots;--wear them a couple of weeks before they can be put on?"

"No," said Mark Twain, "I always hire a cheap man--a man who doesn't amount to much, anyhow--who would be as well--or better--dead, and let him break in the pipe for me. I get him to smoke the pipe for a couple of weeks, then put in a new stem, and continue operations as long as the pipe holds together."

Mark Twain brought into France with him a huge package of boxes of cigars and tobacco which he took, personal charge of when he placed it on the deck while he lit a fresh cigar he put his foot on this package so as to be sure of its safety. He didn't appear to care what became of the rest of his luggage as long as the tobacco was safe.

"Going to smuggle that in?" I asked.

"No, sir. I'm the only man on board this steamer who has any tobacco. I will say to the Customs officer, 'Tax me what you like, but don't meddle with the tobacco.' They don't know what tobacco is in France."

Winslow :sunny:
 
Very amusing and entertaining. I guess most of us would like to learn more about Sam Clemens and tobacco. Live and learn: Just 119 years ago, France - of all places - was not known for tobacco consumption. Maybe Twain's experience in this regard was limited or he was being facetious, as I remember seeing many photographs and paintings of people (including Baudelaire and Rimbaud) smoking cigars or pipes.
 
babysinister":18belbqh said:
Very amusing and entertaining. I guess most of us would like to learn more about Sam Clemens and tobacco. Live and learn: Just 119 years ago, France - of all places - was not known for tobacco consumption. Maybe Twain's experience in this regard was limited or he was being facetious, as I remember seeing many photographs and paintings of people (including Baudelaire and Rimbaud) smoking cigars or pipes.
Or maybe he got his hands on some Gauloises. I smoked some of that stuff in Paris rolled up in a paper. It's horrible.
 
Dubbya":gqh4picd said:
babysinister":gqh4picd said:
Very amusing and entertaining. I guess most of us would like to learn more about Sam Clemens and tobacco. Live and learn: Just 119 years ago, France - of all places - was not known for tobacco consumption. Maybe Twain's experience in this regard was limited or he was being facetious, as I remember seeing many photographs and paintings of people (including Baudelaire and Rimbaud) smoking cigars or pipes.
Or maybe he got his hands on some Gauloises. I smoked some of that stuff in Paris rolled up in a paper. It's horrible.
Poor man, did you smoke one of those throat-killing stinkbombs? You didn't try Gitanes and went directly to Gauloises? They're not processed like American-style cigs, which they call blond tobacco in Spain. I wonder why there are or have been (reputedly) so many cig smokers in France - unless they smoke only American-style. The French pipe tobacco in the 19th century was called caporal (shag - but not in the British sense of the word). It was probably no better. Yet France at that time was busy making St. Claude pipes, right?
 
babysinister":fztkxiee said:
Dubbya":fztkxiee said:
babysinister":fztkxiee said:
Very amusing and entertaining. I guess most of us would like to learn more about Sam Clemens and tobacco. Live and learn: Just 119 years ago, France - of all places - was not known for tobacco consumption. Maybe Twain's experience in this regard was limited or he was being facetious, as I remember seeing many photographs and paintings of people (including Baudelaire and Rimbaud) smoking cigars or pipes.
Or maybe he got his hands on some Gauloises. I smoked some of that stuff in Paris rolled up in a paper. It's horrible.
Poor man, did you smoke one of those throat-killing stinkbombs? You didn't try Gitanes and went directly to Gauloises? They're not processed like American-style cigs, which they call blond tobacco in Spain. I wonder why there are or have been (reputedly) so many cig smokers in France - unless they smoke only American-style. The French pipe tobacco in the 19th century was called caporal (shag - but not in the British sense of the word). It was probably no better. Yet France at that time was busy making St. Claude pipes, right?
At the time I smoked Pall Mall reds. I smoked them until they burned my mustache. That's a huge amount of nicotine and I finished the Gauloises and had to sit down. I should have known better when it stuck to my fingers while I was rolling it. And yes, gentlemen, that stuff is both potent and nasty.
 
Dubbya":py50rydp said:
babysinister":py50rydp said:
Dubbya":py50rydp said:
babysinister":py50rydp said:
Very amusing and entertaining. I guess most of us would like to learn more about Sam Clemens and tobacco. Live and learn: Just 119 years ago, France - of all places - was not known for tobacco consumption. Maybe Twain's experience in this regard was limited or he was being facetious, as I remember seeing many photographs and paintings of people (including Baudelaire and Rimbaud) smoking cigars or pipes.
Or maybe he got his hands on some Gauloises. I smoked some of that stuff in Paris rolled up in a paper. It's horrible.
Poor man, did you smoke one of those throat-killing stinkbombs? You didn't try Gitanes and went directly to Gauloises? They're not processed like American-style cigs, which they call blond tobacco in Spain. I wonder why there are or have been (reputedly) so many cig smokers in France - unless they smoke only American-style. The French pipe tobacco in the 19th century was called caporal (shag - but not in the British sense of the word). It was probably no better. Yet France at that time was busy making St. Claude pipes, right?
At the time I smoked Pall Mall reds. I smoked them until they burned my mustache. That's a huge amount of nicotine and I finished the Gauloises and had to sit down. I should have known better when it stuck to my fingers while I was rolling it. And yes, gentlemen, that stuff is both potent and nasty.
Oh duude...!
 
babysinister":kre0vcr9 said:
Dubbya":kre0vcr9 said:
babysinister":kre0vcr9 said:
Dubbya":kre0vcr9 said:
babysinister":kre0vcr9 said:
Very amusing and entertaining. I guess most of us would like to learn more about Sam Clemens and tobacco. Live and learn: Just 119 years ago, France - of all places - was not known for tobacco consumption. Maybe Twain's experience in this regard was limited or he was being facetious, as I remember seeing many photographs and paintings of people (including Baudelaire and Rimbaud) smoking cigars or pipes.
Or maybe he got his hands on some Gauloises. I smoked some of that stuff in Paris rolled up in a paper. It's horrible.
Poor man, did you smoke one of those throat-killing stinkbombs? You didn't try Gitanes and went directly to Gauloises? They're not processed like American-style cigs, which they call blond tobacco in Spain. I wonder why there are or have been (reputedly) so many cig smokers in France - unless they smoke only American-style. The French pipe tobacco in the 19th century was called caporal (shag - but not in the British sense of the word). It was probably no better. Yet France at that time was busy making St. Claude pipes, right?
At the time I smoked Pall Mall reds. I smoked them until they burned my mustache. That's a huge amount of nicotine and I finished the Gauloises and had to sit down. I should have known better when it stuck to my fingers while I was rolling it. And yes, gentlemen, that stuff is both potent and nasty.
Oh duude...!
At least I have something in common with Mark Twain. We both despise French tobacco. :)
 
Dubbya":wvcwlngr said:
At least I have something in common with Mark Twain. We both despise French tobacco. :)
I suspect that you have that in common with MT and with quite a few others. Which leads me to wonder, is French pipe tobacco just as terrible? It would be a shame to think that they put something really bad in those old GBDs. Although I have a GBD, it was made in England. Probably a refugee, no doubt.
 
babysinister":ywodap5r said:
Dubbya":ywodap5r said:
At least I have something in common with Mark Twain. We both despise French tobacco. :)
I suspect that you have that in common with MT and with quite a few others. Which leads me to wonder, is French pipe tobacco just as terrible? It would be a shame to think that they put something really bad in those old GBDs. Although I have a GBD, it was made in England. Probably a refugee, no doubt.
It probably defected due to the horrible tobacco. :D
 
I've never tried Galouises, but I used to smoke Gitanes every now and then-not bad, but a bit rough. The all time nastiest cigs I've ever smoked were called Ducados. I purchased them in Spain, and was distressed to see that all of the tobacco was jet black. Imagine smoking pure, nasty latakia or low grade perique. Rough, rough, smokes.
 
Number 6":76wqpf5i said:
I've never tried Galouises, but I used to smoke Gitanes every now and then-not bad, but a bit rough. The all time nastiest cigs I've ever smoked were called Ducados. I purchased them in Spain, and was distressed to see that all of the tobacco was jet black. Imagine smoking pure, nasty latakia or low grade perique. Rough, rough, smokes.
France and Spain were for a long time accustomed to "dark tobacco" - which IIRC is what it was called in Spain. American cigs were said to be made of "blond" tobacco. I think I read somewhere that the latter was originally a blend developed by RJ Reynolds to expand the cigarette market in the U.S. And the rest is history, as they say, although I can't validate that particular piece of information. Maybe someone else here can chime in with the right version. But I remember that as a child (in the fifties) I used to see Cuban cigarettes sold in Havana that were of Spanish-style manufacture. I remember two names (although I didin't smoke them, I somehow remember the commercial jingles): Competidora Gaditana and Partagas El Cuno. El Cuno is written with a squiggle line over the n, which makes it dangerously close to a favorite cussword of Tony Montana. But with the "u" it just means an impress seal. Even then, these dark tobaccos were a dying breed, as more smokers preferred blond tobacco if they could afford those cigs.
 
Number 6":buwjp94g said:
I've never tried Galouises, but I used to smoke Gitanes every now and then-not bad, but a bit rough. The all time nastiest cigs I've ever smoked were called Ducados. I purchased them in Spain, and was distressed to see that all of the tobacco was jet black. Imagine smoking pure, nasty latakia or low grade perique. Rough, rough, smokes.
I had some Ducados in Madrid once. I smoked them until I could find a Camel vending machine.

Galouises is like stale, tar coated latakia with a hint of over dried burley. The reason that the French love it is a matter of national pride. The ad campaigns that I've seen read something like nationalist propaganda flyers of the revolution.
 

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