‘““How”™ and ‘‘when”’ are provocative questions, but 
the remarkable characteristic of chimo is the persistence 
of'a primitive method of preparation and form over gener- 
ations of use by individuals identified with modern civili- 
zation who are neither primitive nor Indian. 
‘True, chimo has altered in actual use. It is used for 
personal pleasure, not ceremonially—unless one man’s 
offering his chimo to another can be considered a rem- 
nant of interpersonal ceremony. For every campesino 
who buys a /ajote wrapped in leaf, there are others who 
buy it intrademarked sticks. It is sold in modern shops 
as well as in markets or by the chimoeros themselves. 
According to Valero (pers. comm.), whose interest in 
folklore may color his opinion, the younger people make 
little use of chimo, partly because of the availability of 
cigarettes and partly because anything ‘‘native’’ is 
scorned, whereas anything introduced is ‘‘smart’’. He 
adds, nevertheless, that there are still many rural people, 
young and old—including some cultivated people of both 
sexes—who use chimo in Venezuela. 
Chimo and its counterpart, tobacco concentrate, are 
known to have been employed at least for about 500 
years. Dupouy (27), writing in the early 1950's, states 
that the use of chimo has spread widely from the lands 
of Venezuela’s Timoto-Cuicas, the area of its apparent 
origin. 
Chim6 could be disappearing gradually in the general 
population to persist in specialized groups alone, much as 
the use of snuff and chewing tobacco has waned. What- 
ever the case, this unusual form of tobacco has had one 
of the longest and most interesting histories in human 
utilization of Micotiana Tabacum. 
[ 40 ] 
