3IO The Soverane Herbe 



get it pure — ^that is to say, it is nearly always 

 scented or treated in some way so as to give it an 

 artificial flavour. Cigars are beyond the purse of any 

 but the rich, and as for cigarettes, the filth sold as 

 such is beyond description. A pure tobacco society 

 would be an admirable institution, and as for traders 

 saying "Customers like scented tobacco," the customer 

 seldom gets the chance of smoking anything else. 

 The truth is that, as in the case of highly-scented 

 tea or soap, it is cheaper to " fake " inferior qualities 

 of stuff than to supply the real thing. To be un- 

 sophisticated, an article must be of good quality ; 

 but the craze for cheapness is ruining everything, and 

 when people buy cigarettes at is. iid. a hundred, it 

 is not to be wondered at that they get — well, an in- 

 ferior article.' 



