NELSON] MODE OF PREPARING TOBACCO PAC 
TOBACCO AND SMOKING 
METHODS OF USING TOBACCO 
Tobacco was first introduced among the Alaskan Eskimo from Asia, 
by way of Bering strait, by their Siberian neighbors, and by the same 
route came the pipes with cylindrical bowls and wide rims, similar to 
those used in eastern Asia. 
Tobacco is used in different forms by both sexes; the women usually 
chew it or take it in the form of snuff, but rarely smoke it; the men 
use it in all these ways. The tobacco now used by these people is 
obtained from the traders, and is usually in the form of the natural leaf, 
tied in small bunches called “hands.” 
For chewing, the tobacco is cut into shreds on small boards which 
are usually merely plain tablets from a few inches to a foot or more 
in diameter, but they 
are sometimes orna- 
mented with an incised 
pattern. When the 
tobacco has been cut 
sufficiently fine it is 
mixed with ashes ob- 
tained from tree fun- 
gus and kneaded and 
rolled into rounded 
pellets or quids, often 
being chewed a little 
by the women in order 
to incorporate the 
ashes more thorough- 
ly. The tree fungus 
from which the ashes 
are made forms a regular article of trade with the Tinné of the inte- 
rior, who bring it to the coast every summer and sell it to the Eskimo. 
Figure 93 represents a specimen of this tree fungus, which was obtained 
at St Michael from a trading party of the Yukon Tinné. Figure 115 
illustrates one of the tobacco boards. 
It is common when traveling among these people to see the women 
engaged in cutting up tobacco, kneading it with ashes, or chewing it 
into quids in order to supply their husbands or other male relatives 
with a stock for use on the ensuing day. From four to eight of the 
pellets are prepared at one time; these are packed in little boxes ready 
for use. 
The men do not usually chew the quids, but hold them in the cheek, 
and rarely expectorate the juice. After holding a quid in his mouth 
for some time, if the chewer wishes to rest, eat, or drink, he takes it 
out, and after rolling it into a little ball, places it behind his right ear, 
where it remains until again needed. 
RS Ne 
Fig. 93—Fungus used for making ashes to mix with tobacco. 
