88 The Soverane Herbe 



regarded. Smoking was the especial vice of rakes 

 and spendthrifts, the special property of Bohemians 

 and the lower classes. One of Rawdon Crawley's 

 vices was that of smoking; Pendennis's degeneracy was 

 first exhibited in the smoking of a cigar, and his de- 

 cadence finally sealed when he appeared with a pipe. 

 Was not, too, Bob Allen's affection for an old clay 

 and strong tobacco one of that lively gentleman's 

 most objectionable features ? 



Until the middle of the last century there were 

 fewer smokers than snuffers. Snuff-taking was as 

 common as smoking was rare when Victoria ascended 

 the throne, though the introduction of the cigar early 

 in the century had rehabilitated smoking with beaux 

 and military men by the substitution of the neat 

 cigar for the cumbersome clay pipe which had 

 hitherto enjoyed a monopoly. A writer in 1839 

 stated that until twenty-five years before cigars had 

 been little known and could be obtained only from 

 the West Indian captains of Liverpool and Bristol 

 ships. The reduction of the duty on cigars in 1829 

 from 1 8s. to 9s. a pound contributed greatly to the 

 renascence of smoking by placing on the market at 

 a moderate price the elegant cigar. In two years 

 the importation of cigars increased from 8,0CK) to 

 66,000 pounds. 



When Queen Victoria ascended the throne, in 1837, 

 though smoking was then on the increase, the tide 

 having turned, it was considered a very ' fast ' and 

 vicious thing to smoke a cigar in the streets. A man 

 who walked out in the daytime with a pipe in his 

 mouth was regarded as having gone irretrievably to 



