Preparing Tobacco For Going To Sea

[aquadoc]

Cosmic, I am far from an expert but you have to remember that just because they did something, it was not necessarily efficient or even smart. There was a very low level of education for those before the mast. As far as this particular method, I have no idea. But they did make ropes and try to press tobacco.

 

[derekflint]

I didn't care for the video, but liked the music.......I did a jig !!

 

[paulfg]

dont know if I am allowed to link to other forums ,if not Admin please remove

http://pipesmokerunlimited.com/showthread.php?10205-A-Navy-Prick&highlight=prick

 

[jpmcwjr]

Hmmm. A prick made by seamen!
OK, I admit it must have been a real thing, but calling it a prick??

 

[pipeman7]

It's really unfortunate how mr Lower Case was treated. Him and the art guy were the contributors

 

[mso489]

Based on my duty on a wooden warship -- no, guys it wasn't a square rigger, it was an anti-magnetic minesweeper, but the nearest thing to the wooden ships of old commissioned by the Navy in the 1950's and still in service in 1970 -- I am sorry to report that the only tobacco consumption aboard that vessel was cigarettes, which I never smoked except as a young child on rare occasions. I enjoyed an occasional cigar onshore at the time, but no cigarettes and never a pipe. As far as I know, there were no sailors or officers who smoked pipes aboard. There were several crewmen who were rumored to enjoy other recreational "things," not smoked, including the senior gunner's mate, but no pipes at all. He was a former PBR crewman (patrol boat river) similar I think to some duty Forums member brad did. But no pipes on the wooden ship, at last report.

 

[jaytex1969]

Given dialects and word of mouth progression (ever play that game where you whisper a message down the line and see how messed up it is at the end), it's not a far stretch from "perique" to "prick", nor from "carrotte" to "carrot".

 

[pipeman7]

Given dialects and word of mouth progression (ever play that game where you whisper a message down the line and see how messed up it is at the end), it's not a far stretch from "perique" to "prick", nor from "carrotte" to "carrot".

Yea but carrotte is just french carrot. Perique they aren't sure of the etymology or why the indians called it that I think, but one suggestion was prick

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Perique is slang for prick in French, or at least that's what I keep getting told. We didn't cover profanity in any of my four years of French classes. Funny, I never took Spanish, but I know way more profanity in Spanish. Thanks Cheech and Chong.

 

[saltedplug]

If I remember Tambolaka could be purchased wrapped in twine as was the method in the video, very dry, and I made the mistake of not steaming it prior to cutting it with a butcher knife, it coming apart in shards and ricocheting off the walls.

 

[pipeman7]

I've never been able to find any good sources that perique is a reference to prick. everywhere seems to claim it was called perique because pierre chanet was a prick but is perique really slang for prick? the other claim is it was called perique because of the appearance of the carrotte but all tobacco not just perique was packaged like that. It does sound french but i wonder if it comes the french pronunciation an indian word for the actual process of making perique. if there was any other kid of reference to perique as prick unrelated to tobacco then that would prove its true. Obviously perique does sound like the way french pronounce prick in english so of course it could be

 

[pipeman7]

everything i can find says perique was his nickname so maybe thats true. does anyone have any sources for info on the choctaw and perique other than that the widely quoted info they packed it in hollow logs and covered it up with a rock?

 

[mso489]

aldecaker, referencing your post, in the 1970's, "rope yarn Sunday," a time set aside to fold and mend clothes, was still defined in the Bluejacket's Manual, a sort of primer for sailors, but it was described as usually being done on Wednesday, the Sunday aspect just being a way of saying time off. It never happened on my ship. Laundry was done by a crewman for everyone in a common washer dryer. Mending was your own problem; fortunately, I was handy at doing buttons and small tears, and also fortunately, no one noticed nor asked me to do theirs. Haircuts were done by a senior cook. The laundry man also operated the soda and candy concession ("gedunk") out of the skullery (dish washing area) between meals. On a small ship, everyone and everything did double duty. Some of the worst coffee I've ever ingested, but free and available 24 hours. I think it was cut with chicory.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Pipeman7, Mark Ryan tells the joke of an Indian whose wife hates the smell of tobacco in the teepee, so he has to go smoke outside. He hides his tobacco under a rock, and forgets where he put it, till months later he returns to find his tobacco fermented. Other than this speculation, there is no references to Native Americans making perique, nor it's origins. It was grown and developed in a very obscure patch of dirt along the rive in St James Parrish. But, as to particulars to its origins,.. sadly much of the Native American, or PreColumbian, tobacco rituals or lore about tobacco was recorded more like fairy tales by the white men. We can't rely on records, and the Native Americans we obliterated in these areas, so... the answer is no. I've read stacks of books on tobacco, but nothing seems remotely reliable.

 

[aldecaker]

MSO, that's in my Dad's copy of the Manual from 1957, as well. I wish it went into more detail than it does, though. Interesting stuff, those old customs and terms.

 

[mso489]

aldecaker, thanks! For some reason, I had a Bluejacket's Manual in high school, about 1963. Ref. the youTube, heat, steam, aging, and pressure have always been the basics in processing tobacco. The most rudimentary pressure is two planks and two or three C-clamps, but the old sailors probably didn't have the clamps to spare. They could do wonders with line (rope), fancy stuff with splicing, monkeys' fists, very intricate and artful. My favorite knot is the clove hitch for instant tying on a boat line on a pier upright. My version is too clunky, but my dad did these instantly. It was like a magic trick, and effectively tighter as the boat tugged on it.

 

[brightleaf]

Here's a short description of Navy Cut tobacco