In Praise of Tobacco

[Scottmi]

Do you know/have any quotes or sayings in praise of the restorative leaf?
Share them!

Here is Calverley's Ode to Tobacco.. (such it is)

Cambridge - Calverley's Ode to Tobacco

CALVERLEY'S
ODE TO TOBACCO
(written at cambridge in 1862)
A TRIBUTE TO THIS FIRM​

thou, who, when fears attack,
bidst them avaunt, and black
care, at the horseman's back
perching, unseatest;
sweet when the morn is gray,
sweet when they've cleared away
lunch; and at close of day
possibly sweetest:

i have a liking old
for thee, though manifold
stories, i know, are told.
not to thy credit:
how one (or two at most)
drops make a cat a ghost—
useless except to roast—
doctors have said it:

how they who use fusees
all grow by slow degrees
brainless as chimpanzees,
meagre as lizards;
go mad, and beat their wives;
plunge (after shocking lives)
razors and carving-knives
into their gizzards.

confound such knavish tricks!
yet know i five or six
smokers who freely mix
still with their neighbours;
jones – (who, i'm glad to say,
asked leave of mrs. j. ——)
daily absorbs a clay
after his labours.

cats may have had their goose
cooked by tobacco-juice;
still why deny its use
thoughtfully taken?
we're not as tabbies are:
smith, take a fresh cigar!
jones, the tobacco-jar!
HERE'S TO THEE, BACON!

 

[Scottmi]

ok, here's another, from the flyleaf of Robin Crole's book "Pipe - The Art and Lore of a Great Tradition"

"Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent." - Robert Burton, 1621

 

[kcghost]

I believe there are many of these.

 

[Scottmi]

i did find one similar from a couple years ago, but less than i thought... happy to see thread links posted here to resurface former wisdom.

 

[warren]

"Nicotine good! No nicotine? Bad!" - Warren, 2022

 

[Scottmi]

"Nicotine good! No nicotine? Bad!" - Warren, 2022

"The wisdom of experience cannot be denied."

 

[bullet08]

"That shit's good."

 

[Scottmi]

ok, here's another, from the flyleaf of Robin Crole's book "Pipe - The Art and Lore of a Great Tradition"

"Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent." - Robert Burton, 1621

i am astonished and impressed that someone said "Superexcellent" as early as 1621!

 

[PipeIT]

Wow, trying to understand/grasp the meaning here of a lot of this.

Maybe one of you English Scholars can give us a simpler Layman breakdown of this?

 

[vosBghos]

Not exactly in praise , maybe more of a caution…

” As concerns tobacco, there are many superstitions. And the chiefest is this - that there is a standard governing the matter, whereas there is nothing of the kind. Each man’s own preference is the only standard for him, the only one which he can accept, the only one which can command him.”

Mark Twain
”Concerning Tobacco“ ( 1893)

 

[K.E. Powell]

I find my favorite quotes on tobacco are from puritan scolds who launch jeremiads about it. Part of the reason is that, unfortunately, to paraphrase Kingsley Amis, most works about tobacco are pure doggerel. A few, such as Twain, can write about our favored leaf and be entertaining in doing so. But most cannot.

But a more important reason is that I find vindication in my choice of vice when I read some turgid diatribe from someone who somehow thinks they need to tell everyone smoking is bad for them, as if this were somehow secret knowledge in the year of our Lord twenty and tweny-two. Such people make me feel as if keeping a small, burning barrier between me and them to be a wise precaution.

 

[AcesAndEights]

“If you can’t send money, send tobacco.”
-George Washington

 

[Puffaluffaguss]

"You may take my Money, you may take my life, you may take my freedom, you may take my wife, but please for the love of God leave me my Pipe, my leaf, and my light.

I think I came up with this just now. But I feel it has been said before by somebody at some point in history. Lol

-Puffaluffaguss

 

[vosBghos]

I find my favorite quotes on tobacco are from puritan scolds who launch jeremiads about it. Part of the reason is that, unfortunately, to paraphrase Kingsley Amis, most works about tobacco are pure doggerel. A few, such as Twain, can write about our favored leaf and be entertaining in doing so. But most cannot.

But a more important reason is that I find vindication in my choice of vice when I read some turgid diatribe from someone who somehow thinks they need to tell everyone smoking is bad for them, as if this were somehow secret knowledge in the year of our Lord twenty and tweny-two. Such people make me feel as if keeping a small, burning barrier between me and them to be a wise precaution.

Just so, mate, also the insufferable feigned ” cough cough” when they walk past , always at safe distance from my scowl , and of course always the wind and smoke are blowing entirely in the opposite direction and they never had the slightest chance of actually inhaling my “ satanic” smoke. Patzers All , I say and good riddance…

 

[Searock Fan]

Just so, mate, also the insufferable feigned ” cough cough” when they walk past , always at safe distance from my scowl , and of course always the wind and smoke are blowing entirely in the opposite direction and they never had the slightest chance of actually inhaling my “ satanic” smoke. Patzers All , I say and good riddance…

Did you ever notice that if you're smoking your pipe... outdoors....and some non smokers are near you, the wind will always blow your smoke right at them. I've found this to be the case even if the wind has to do a one eighty to make it so.

 

[vosBghos]

Did you ever notice that if you're smoking your pipe... outdoors....and some non smokers are near you, the wind will always blow your smoke right at them. I've found this to be the case even if the wind has to do a one eighty to make it so.

The other week a woman came by me on a bench ( swan watching) and lucky for her I was smoking CapStan Blue and not Rustica and the wind took the smoke right into her nostrils and I apologized and she said I don’t mind , smells nice, this after several rough looks from others after as this is a “ smoke free community”. There are plenty of no fishing signs but no ‘no smoking ‘ signs. The audacity of people to actually evil eye a man for enjoying his contemplative pipe is beyond me. Just got my copy of “ In Search Of Pipe Dreams” and the first chapter/essay is all about the socially programmed crack down on tobacco and how if they outlawed it completely it would be like the days of prohibition. Very interesting highly recommended read, if you haven’t already…

 

[K.E. Powell]

Did you ever notice that if you're smoking your pipe... outdoors....and some non smokers are near you, the wind will always blow your smoke right at them. I've found this to be the case even if the wind has to do a one eighty to make it so.

I've mostly been lucky. Most people are courteous to me if they see me smoking my pipe, and I try my damnedest to be courteous to them. If anything, pipe smoking is so quaint, it seems to invite curiosity more than admonition, at least in my experience.

I know I am backpedaling slightly, but I do get why some non-smokers don't like smokers. I have many friends who are smokers, and they are are all polite and considerate; but I see so many others just spit wherever they like, flick butts carelessly, and crowd entryways when they are not supposed to. And yea, the tobacco industry can be, and has been, rather heinous. Still, there are a lot of people who, like you said, actively look for a reason to wax self-righteous, and smoking is as easy a target as any. I don't truck with such people, and their indignation is most welcome.

 

[Scottmi]

The other week a woman came by me on a bench ( swan watching) and lucky for her I was smoking CapStan Blue and not Rustica and the wind took the smoke right into her nostrils and I apologized and she said I don’t mind , smells nice, this after several rough looks from others after as this is a “ smoke free community”. There are plenty of no fishing signs but no ‘no smoking ‘ signs. The audacity of people to actually evil eye a man for enjoying his contemplative pipe is beyond me. Just got my copy of “ In Search Of Pipe Dreams” and the first chapter/essay is all about the socially programmed crack down on tobacco and how if they outlawed it completely it would be like the days of prohibition. Very interesting highly recommended read, if you haven’t already…

I learned when camping as a kid the old adage: "Smoke follows beauty!"

 

[Scottmi]

Perhaps y'all have seen this before, but a new find and real treat for me! An 1894 collection " The Smoker's Own Book of Poetry"

Pipe and Pouch.

www.gutenberg.org

 

[Scottmi]

Perhaps y'all have seen this before, but a new find and real treat for me! An 1894 collection " The Smoker's Own Book of Poetry"

Pipe and Pouch.

www.gutenberg.org

now this is what i'm talkn'bout!

EPITAPH
On a Young Lady who Desired that Tobacco Might be Planted Over her Grave.

Let no cold marble o'er my body rise—
But only earth above, and sunny skies.
Thus would I lowly lie in peaceful rest,
Nursing the Herb Divine from out my breast.
Green let it grow above this clay of mine,
Deriving strength from strength that I resign.
So in the days to come, when I'm beyond
This fickle life, will come my lovers fond,
And gazing on the plant, their grief restrain
In whispering, "Lo! dear Anna blooms again!"