96 The Soverane Herbe 



public have come under my notice. One day in the 

 Strand a woman, young and pretty, was seen walk- 

 ing and quietly smoking a cigarette, and on another 

 occasion in Richmond Park a woman was enjoying 

 a fairly large cigar with her male companion. These 

 are only isolated cases, but they excited little or no 

 comment, and it seems an indication of a change of 

 sentiment and public opinion on the subject of women 

 smoking.' 



The strongest objection entertained by man to 

 feminine smoking is its affectation, the mere puffing 

 at a cigarette for effect. To honest, true smoking he 

 is lenient, but detests the trifling and playing with 

 cigarettes. When woman ceases to be self-conscious 

 in smoking, her practice of the habit will have lost its 

 great objection, and — dare we add ? — its popularity. 



There are several causes which have contributed to 

 the revival of smoking in the last half-century and its 

 establishment in popular favour. First and foremost 

 is the better equipment offered to the smoker. The 

 rough clays and delicate meerschaums, which were 

 the only pipes obtainable until forty years ago, were 

 cumbersome and inconvenient. The neat briar, the 

 use of the cigar and the introduction of the cigarette, 

 have combined to make smoking more convenient, 

 neater, and elegant. The invention of lucifer matches 

 led to smoking in the open air. The milder and 

 lighter qualities of tobacco placed on the market 

 created as well as met a demand. Manufacturers 

 now cater for the more refined taste of the upper and 

 middle classes, as well as for artisans and the lower 

 classes, who until fifty years ago formed the bulk of 



