I've been reading a history of tobacco and came across this report regarding an auction in June 1843 for the pipes, cigars, and tobaccos of the recently deceased Duke of Sussex.
The auction lasted three days. When it was all said and done, the auctioneers had moved:
220 pipes (none of which were briars, as this was before the invention of the briar pipe)
480 pounds of pipe tobacco (and all of this was various straight leaf; there were no "mixtures" or "blends" at this point in history)
More than 50,000 cigars
The one detail missing from the report was the age of the Duke when he died. But I'm guessing no matter how old he was, there was no way he would have ever smoked his way though that cellar during his lifetime. (In cigars alone, it is recorded that there were enough for the Duke to have smoked 15 a day for 10 years.)
The auction lasted three days. When it was all said and done, the auctioneers had moved:
220 pipes (none of which were briars, as this was before the invention of the briar pipe)
480 pounds of pipe tobacco (and all of this was various straight leaf; there were no "mixtures" or "blends" at this point in history)
More than 50,000 cigars
The one detail missing from the report was the age of the Duke when he died. But I'm guessing no matter how old he was, there was no way he would have ever smoked his way though that cellar during his lifetime. (In cigars alone, it is recorded that there were enough for the Duke to have smoked 15 a day for 10 years.)
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