On page 28 of A.J. Jacobs “The Year of Living Constitutionally” he writes, “ Historians say the Founding Fathers smoked pipes nonstop …”
Did the Founding Fathers Smoke Pipes?
- Thread starter jerry
- Start date
And, there you go. Asked and answered!
I would certainly think the ones who raised tobacco would smoke. The others?I would suggest checking the published historians citations. I don't think anyone here can answer unless they were there. We'd mostly likely be citing the same "historical" authors.
I like the image of smoking pipes nonstopAnd, there you go. Asked and answered!
I would suggest checking the published historians citations. I don't think anyone here can answer unless they were there. We'd mostly likely be citing the same "historical" authors.
Not in the photos I’ve seen of them at the Constitutional Convention.
"Photos of them ......". That's hilarious. Yes, they indulged in the noxious weed!!
Some did and some didn't. For example, Thomas Jefferson did not smoke a pipe, but John Adams did.
There was an email at the time warning the Founding Fathers that to be seen smoking was to risk being put in stocks.
They did supposedly drink beer throughout the day, though. They thought it was healthy for you.
It might also be of intrest that they, like myself, did not favor Bud Light.
Some historians say they drank either Miller or Coors.
It might also be of intrest that they, like myself, did not favor Bud Light.
Some historians say they drank either Miller or Coors.
Yeah, that's right, except the delegation from Wisconsin drank Pabst.
"It's draft brewed Pabst beer
Wherever you go.."
The Colorado folks had to use the Transcontinental Railway to get their Coors delivered.
"It's draft brewed Pabst beer
Wherever you go.."
The Colorado folks had to use the Transcontinental Railway to get their Coors delivered.
I’m interested in what they were smoking, nonstop or not, in those pipes. Some kind of heirloom air cured, but would it have been like our burley? Or piled longer like cigar tobacco?
After reading the Constitution I think they are got around the table and rolled up a fat one!
The pen they signed the Declaration of Independence with was known as the Golden Spike.
They drank a lot of rum.
"During the colonial era, rum was the preferred alcoholic drink of American colonists. By one estimate, colonists consumed 3.7 gallons annually per head by the time of the American Revolution."
So they well of their faces on the hard stuff! Good old Captain Bacardi to the rescue!
It's hard to say with any certainty who specifically smoked a pipe, since pipes weren't especially prevalent in America at the time. Iain Gately claims that every president until John Tyler was a tobacco user of one kind or another, but their methods varied. Members of high society usually preferred snuff, while members of lower classes mostly chewed.
Because tobacco was America's primary cash crop, Ben Franklin made a public push for Americans to consume as much of it as possible. An appetite suppressant, tobacco use was generally regarded as a helpful universal practice. Plus, the more tobacco Americans smoked, snuffed, or chewed, the more limited the product and therefore the higher it could be sold for.
The unfortunate thing about this particular topic is that tobacco use was so widespread (estimated 75+% population), nobody thought to comment on it unless someone seemed to go at it harder than everybody else.
Because tobacco was America's primary cash crop, Ben Franklin made a public push for Americans to consume as much of it as possible. An appetite suppressant, tobacco use was generally regarded as a helpful universal practice. Plus, the more tobacco Americans smoked, snuffed, or chewed, the more limited the product and therefore the higher it could be sold for.
The unfortunate thing about this particular topic is that tobacco use was so widespread (estimated 75+% population), nobody thought to comment on it unless someone seemed to go at it harder than everybody else.
I know Washington order a large quantity of Lavender scented snuff. I assume he used it but it was part of his written down expenses.
p.s. the pipe tobacco named after them is a favorite aromatic.
Very likely. From what Gately's book deduced, snuff was a prized military possession from the rise of the English empire until the Vietnam War.