THE EARLIEST SMOKING KNOWN 129 



the dead leaf and causes chemical changes, just as the 

 yeast organism grows in " wort " and changes it to 

 " beer." It is said that the flavour and aroma of 

 special tobaccos is due to special kinds of ferment, 

 and that by introducing the Havannah ferment or 

 micro-organism to tobacco-leaves grown away from 

 Cuba, you can give them much of the character of 

 Havannah tobacco ! A very valuable kind of tobacco 

 is the Roumelian, from which the best Turkish cigar- 

 ettes are made. It has a very delicate flavour, and 

 very small quantities of an aromatic kind prepared 

 from a distinct variety of tobacco plant grown near 

 Ephesus and on the Black Sea (probably a cultivated 

 variety of Nicotiana rustica) are judiciously blended 

 with it. This blending, and the use of the very finest 

 qualities of tobacco-leaf, are essential points in the 

 production of the best Turkish cigarettes. The so- 

 called " Egyptian " cigarettes are made from less valuable 

 Turkish tobacco, with the addition of an excess of the 

 aromatic kind. It is a mistake to suppose that opium 

 or other matters are used to adulterate tobacco. The 

 only proceeding of the kind which occurs is the mixing 

 of inferior, cheap, and coarse-flavoured tobaccos with 

 better kinds. Water and also starch are used fraudu- 

 lently to increase the weight of leaf-tobacco. But 

 skilful " blending " is a legitimate and most important 

 feature in the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes, and 

 smoking mixtures. 



The first " smoking " of tobacco seen by Europeans 

 was that of the Caribs or Indians of San Domingo. 

 They used a very curious sort of tubular pipe, shaped 

 like the letter Y. The diverging arms were placed one 

 up each nostril, and the end of the stem held in the 

 smoke of burning tobacco-leaves, which was thus 

 " sniffed up " into the nose. The North American 

 Indians, on the other hand, had pipes very similar to 

 those still in use. The natives of Soutn America 



