Tobacco Documents Online

'iltc;r The ' Harrn; eed Out Pleasui~~~ MONG THE SCIENTIFIC STRIDES which we shall not applaud is the development by the Atomic Energy Commission of a tobacco which grows on a tomato plant and ; contains no nicotine. Cancer or no, we have : gone about far enough toward making tobacco taste like anything but tobacco. If the day arrives when filters remove 98 per cent of the tomato taste from cigarettes, it's time to quit. Tobacco, let's face it, was never intended as a health food. It contains a drug, nicotine, which makes a good smoke relaxing, and which makes the smoking habit, like any drug habit, hard to break. Take away the nicotine and the strong tobacco flavor and the result is not tobacco. Of course, you might well be better off without tobacco. Life without smoking would undoubtedly be more healthful, less eicpensive and far simpler. So would life withr out whisky, women, or rich, desserts. And who'd want it? REPUBLICAN DISPATCH White Plains, New York JT111y 13, 196o ,:%d Tl~l 1uokc Is No Joke Blazin.~ rBot~;~ of PiPeSmo~ers ~ Makes for a Red Hot Debate By HUGH A. 3ITJLLIGAJI NEW YORK IXr - Now that they have eradicated bubonic plague,, dance marathons and' the mos- quitoes in the Jersey meadows;, it's high time some high minded crusader took out~ after pipe smok- S Foa centuries these peripatetic chimneys have gong unpunished while carelessly stewing hot ashes on the hearthstone of humanity. The forgotten hero who dumped a bucket of water on Sir Walter Raleigh't initial- attempt to intro- duce pipe smoking to Europe de- serves better of history. He failedi but he had the right idea. Mortal mam seldom looks more ridiculous than when sucking onn a noisome btazmg bowli or grop- ing ferverishly in an oil silk sackk for the fuel to feed a ludicrous habit~ that he cannot kick. By com- parison, the cigarette smoker is an urbane sophisticate and the ci- gar smoker a paragon of dignity. An IinteUectual:' Yet it' is • the pipe smok2r, rath- er than the man with the cigar- ette or cigar, who Irequently is taken for an inteFlectuali - a clas- sic case of mistaking conflagra- tion for cerebration.. Behind the blue swirl of pipe smoke, there is seldom intellectual fire. • The smug chap pursing his lips on a pipe stem may give the im-!, pression of mulling over same'I problem in nuclear fission or pon- de.ring some sticky poinG in Aris. totlean logic. Actually, all his phy- sical and mental coiltortfion5 are concentrated on keeping the ab• surd boiler. beneath- his nose go- ing full blast. •The fires within have been banked too long. His thoughts at • their deepest concern, such.• titanic issues as whether to tamp do(vn the tobac- co tighter or fluff it up looser, .and whether to rgach Into his poc- ket for a cotton reatning rod to serape out' his nicotine sewer in public. The fact that' the average pipe smoker esa-lftep his connsel in a heated' discussion doesn't mean that he is any more prudent, tol- erant or wordly wise than the rest too busy playing stoker to his fa- cial furnace to hear or care about what is being discussed. , People in all walks of life, from tweedy college professors to seedy skidrow deadbeats, have be.en hid- ing behind a haze of hypocrisy for ,years;, with nothing more on,tbeir minds than whether to puff hard or puff easy. An impatient world invariably mistakes their reticence for sagacity. . , I But not everyone is fooled. Clubs Shun Smoker Night club operators have learn- ed long ago never to seat a pipe smoker at a ringside table. He will not only criticize the food, carp at the floorshow and censure the decor, but nine times out~ of 10 leave a tip that would make Silas Marner wince. And' only lately, airlines, bus- lines and a number of movie houses have put.the damper on the pip2 smoker,,.more out of concern for the peace and mind of the oth- er customers than for their fire in- surance premiums. !}Iousewives and hostesses, how- ever, have been f.:r mre lenient. They foolishly expose their best damask drapereis to the noxious fumes emanating from this walk- ing smokestcck and• even suffer him to break an assortment of chinmeyswecp's tools at the ta- ble. These include various pick- ing, patting; scraping, reaming and scouring devices, along with sev- eral standby pipes, pouches and stems. The pipe cmoker's ministrations at this point in the evening are jltst a cut above polishing a brass spittoon in publir and only a shade less revolting than his habit of rubbing thn bowl against his nose to lubriate the wood with his skin oils. Old King Cole may have been a merry old sou% but' life must have been miserable for his fiddlers tYtree. 1003543441