FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch

Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

In 1627 the Palatinate's ambassador to the Netherlands, Johann Joachim von Rusdorff,
reported on a new fashion there: "I cannot help but devote a few words to criticizing that new,
astonishing fashion that came to our Europe some years ago from America, and which might be
called a fog-drinking bout which outdoes all other passions for indulgence in drink, old or new.
Dissolute persons have taken to imbibing and noisily drinking into their bodies the smoke of a
plant they call nicotiana or tobacco, with incredible avidity and an inextinguishable zeal." Of all
the pleasure goods that entered European civilization at the dawn of the modern age, tobacco is
undoubtedly the most bizarre. It brought along completely new methods of consumption. In this
respect coffee, tea, and chocolate were less revolutionary. The mere fact that they were drunk
placed them in a continuum with the semiluxury goods known to Europe up to that time. As
strange as their taste and their effects may have been, the form of their enjoyment was familiar.

For a long time there was simply no name for what you did with tobacco. Only in the course of
the seventeenth century did "smoking" become a commonly used term. Up to that time it was
compared with drinkingone spoke of "drinking smoke" and "drinking tobacco." Even in 1658
the Jesuit preacher and author Jakob Balde titled his satire against smoking "Die trockene
Trunkenheit""Dry Drunkenness."

The analogy with drinking was thus at first a conceptual aid for grasping an otherwise
bewildering novelty. Beyond that, however, the analogy was actually well grounded in the
pharmacological effect of tobacco. Its main element, nicotine (named for the French
ambassador to the Portuguese court, Jean Nicot, who brought tobacco to France around the
mid sixteenth century), is more closely comparable in effect to alcohol than to caffeine. Nicotine
does not stimulate the nervous system, but rather dulls it. Technically speaking, it is a nerve
toxin. If a habitual smoker were to take in all at once the amount of nicotine that he consumed
piecemeal in the course of one day, he would die from it. The,, comparison of tobacco with
alcohol is also apt because of the thoroughly unpleasant effect newcomers to it experience.
First attempts at smoking result in dizziness, queasiness or nausea, and sweating. As with
alcohol, only after one gets used to it does smoking become a pleasure.

If in the seventeenth century smoking was interpreted as dry drinking, there was more in this
than mere comparison of a strange form of pleasure to drinking. The quality of "dryness" makes
for an underground link with another new pleasure item coffee. As we have seen,
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century medicine described coffee as a dry substance whose main
property was to drain the body of its fluids. This concept was based upon the ancient medical
schema of the four humors and the temperaments.
INDIAN WITH TOBACCO PIPE NEXT TO A TOBACCO PLANT

1 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

(Colored copper engraving, probably from the sixteenth century.)

SMOKING SCENES FROM THE ERA OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR
This picture sequence appeared on numerous seventeenth-century
broadsides, while the accompanying text often changed. These same
illustrations of smoking might on one occasion serve as proof of its
salutary effects, on another the very opposite. The vomiting smokers
in picture H, for instance, are glossed as victims of tobacco, while
other commentaries describe this as an illustration of the effects of
tobacco abuse.

CARICATURE AGAINST EXCESSIVE "TOBACCO DRINKING" CA. 1630

Here it is no longer the thing itself but only its excesses that are
attacked. The three men seated at the table are obviously smoking
away contentedly; only the figure seated apart from themwith a
fool's cap and a gigantic pipedemonstrates the dire consequences of
excessive smoking: his vomit is made up of symbols of folly: asses'
and rabbits' heads, and grasshoppers.

2 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

FRONTISPIECE
TO
JAKOB
BALDE'S
"DRY
Smoking
as
aof
fatal,
unhealthy
pleasure
isempty
represented
in
amakes
way
that
prefigures
Hogarth's
later
depiction
ofmuch
the
hazards
of
gin
drinking
(see
p.
154).
Death,
decay,
and
destruction
dominate
the
picture.
windowpanes
are
cracked,
the
cupboard
door
dangles
on
its
hinge;
the
skeleton
in
the
foreground,
out
of
whose
eye
sockets
aThe
(biblical)
snake
rises
with
puffs
of
smoke,
only
too
obviously
illustrates
the
author's
idea
where
smoking
will
lead.
The
link
the
title
between
smoking
and
drinkingone
in DRUNKENNESS"
keeping
with
the
prevailing
attitude
of
the
dayis
illustrated
by
the
figure
vomiting
in
the
background.
We
see
here
how
sixteenth-century
representations
of
drunkenness
were
perpetuated.

THE
TALE
OF
SIR
WALTER
RALEIGH
"ON
FIRE"
It
isafterward,
said
that
a
servant
of
Raleigh's,
on
seeing
his
master
smoking
for
upAs
long
the
from
first
within.
time,
Flinging
concluded
in
1796shows
water
that
over
where
how
him,
bizarre
there's
he
"put
smoking
smoke
out"
there's
the
must
blaze.
have
fire,
and
appeared
anecdotehere
assumed
to
sixteenthhe
was
illustrated
burning
and
even
seventeenth-century
Europeans.
similarly.
drained
smoking,
removes
through
of
phlegmatic
again
en
conduces
greater
weakens
over
Medicine
the
Poudre,
so
in
breath,
constancy
many
off
tobacco
medical
moisture
The
the
or
to
one
of
moisture;
fluids
claims
rather
aerotic
similarities
against
the
wanton
sound
bodily
pipes
descriptions
and
seventeenth
and
of
that
"tobacco-drinking":
passions
soul.
itfaculty
viscous
tuberculosis
men,
fluid
is
makes
tobacco
is
extended
a
good
.in
certain
in
. bourgeois-progressive
and
.particular,
of
elements."
other
the
At
and
for
judgment,
"makes
tobacco.
the
steers
body
the
and
into
eighteenth
directions."
same
dropsy,
"This
excellent
lingering
the
thin
the
mucus.
the
The
A
aand
time,
verbal
French
brain
clearer,
and
lascivious
tobacco-drinking
antierotic
as
centuries
Thus
coughs,
lean;
medicament
by
and
can
formulations
treatise
virtue
more
we
be
the
and
faculty
effect
viewed
deduced
also
read
nerves
circumspect
of
this
from
this
.against
of
ascribed
in
smoke
.The
themselves.
.the
imagination,
1700,
same
a
drier
also
by
pamphlet
effects
the
wheezing
all
taken
removes
and
faculty
desiccating
Le
topersistent,
fact
coffee
ban
steadier.
of
Like
in
that
which
that
of
tobacco
usage
by
the
and
reason
also
coffee,
promotes
the
this
effect,
mucus
takes
thick,
This
shortness
du
body
turned
smoke
quite
and
tobacco
Tabac
ithold
and
aup
fluids.
negatively
the
productivity)
destruction
line
with
was
coffee,
depending
drawn
in
the
this
body
antierotic
between
effect
on
(i.e.,
the
of
of
desiccation
author's
desiccation
the
status
general
of
quo)
the
outlook,
mucus
in
body,
any
consciousness,
and
tampering
depletion
and
conservative
as
in
was
with
which
disagreement
viewed
the
opinion,
natural
saw
positively
true
which
balance
over
health
or
feared
coffee,
of
(i.e.,
the

SMOKING
AND
CONTEMPLATION
This
coupling
of
terms
isyou
found
in
all
the
literary
and
artistic
representations
of
smoking
not
fundamentally
hostile
to
tobacco.
As
Ostade's
village
inn
(facing
page)
or
the
by
Martin
Engelbrecht
(above)
and
Johann
Kupetzky
(next
smokers
always
appeared
relaxed,
meditative
contemporary
figures
seated
often
atof
writing
desks,
as
lost
in
wreaths
ofyour
pipe
smoke
as
were
in
their
own
thoughts.
The
text
accompanying
the
Engelbrecht
says:
"Tobacco,
when
1
smoke
you,
my
soars
to
apage),
state
/prop
wistfulness
and
reverence,
and
what
I am
Iportraits
contemplate.
/ofthey
Smoke,
an
untroubled
haze,
aas
gentle
breeze,
shade:
/ The
flesh's
stay:
a
pipe
clay.
/ good
Who
would
not
lift
amind
glass
praise
to
sing
/and
For
you
are
just
as
as
are
spiriting?"

3 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

similar
wakeful,
very
of
does
effect
motions
pleasure
smoking
movements.
abruptly
calming
Smoking
In
highly
intellectual
cordiality."
Although
this
terms
first
not
of
varied
effect
terms,
motoricity.
performed)
relaxes
smoking.
of
mentally
is
by
a
stimulate,
creates
modern
formed
motoricity,
work,
the
reference
is,
.nuances
it.tenor
seventeenth
.are
as
did
conditions
Already
aboth
alert,
Added
has
by
pleasant
In
nonetheless
medical
but
and
the
an
pharmacology,
to
of
adescription
been
rather
and,
feeling
psychology.
calm,
at
physical
extremely
to
act
of
the
writer
the
century
sense
at
said,
of
psychomotor
tends
placidity,
worst,
motor
of
smoking
pharmacological
note
feelings,
(Kurt
nicotine,
activity
of
rich
to
viewed
It
the
calm,
and
level
nervous,
dull.
is
Pohlisch)
and
contemplation,
the
great
the
in
sense
an
and
which,
Yet
tension;
athe
leisure
variable
nervously
combination
state
agreeable
differences
the
thus
other
effects
psychology,
are
describes
in
effect
of
and
itnot
precise
concurrence
the
factors
contentedness,
deflects
restless
of
concentration,
one
merely
factors
stimulation
of
coffee
of
as
tobacco
in
of
these
opposition
also
smoking
well.
all
irritation,
leisure
hand
as
of
and
its
contribute
of
a
motoricity
elements
Ifcomplexity:
with
was
purposeful
result
coffee
tobacco
fixes
satisfaction
in
creates
etc.
to
nervousness
the
which
described
coffee's
on
of
The
makes
to
midst
that
(the
nicotine,
in
acan
a
the
to
chemical
purpose.
and
astonishingly
"The
cheerful
leads
physical
[and]
perform
of
calming
caffeine,
aon
from
expressive
person
activity.
into
activity
smoking
to
easy
the
.basis
mood,
athe
. it.are
of
.is. .
appropriate
one
"There
recollected,
accustomed
impossible
hand,
caused
If
one
finds
thoughts
isby
compares
nothing
their
overmuch
to
decisions
this
to
reason
pondering
being
better
this
collected,
much
correctly
zeal
about
most
for
everything
are
the
contemplation
beneficial
the
and
dispelled.
over
same.
most
afterwards
with
some
well.
Thus
important
for
texts
One
students,
difficult
than
Often
we
from
remains
too,
are
tobacco
matters."
enough
matter;
the
although
told
in
seventeenth
that
calm
in
smoking,
one's
among
the
while
they
within
following
faculties
smoking
rarely
tobacco
for
oneself
and
here
occur,
eighteenth-century
eighteenth
are
they
smokers,
and
straying
divided,
weaknesses
can
centuries,
grow
thoughts
make
so
the
that
text:
other

SMOKING
knight's
turns
Frontispiece
intolance-bearing
the AND
decorative
fromDEGENERACY
a 1627
arm
footwear
turns
pamphlet
into
of aaagainst
cavalier;
cavalier's
smoking
the
hand
book
and
holding
turns
drinking.
pipe
into dice
and
Theand
goblet.
rider's
playing
spur-fitted
cards;leg
the

SIR
WALTER
RALEIGH'S
SMOKING
ARTICLES,
1617
refers
The
to
Latin
Raleigh's
inscription
imprisonment.
on
the
inside
of
the
case,
"my
companion
in
those
times
of
distress,"
are
and
Dutch
tobacco,
its
receive
Thus
grasp
adversity
closely
tobacco)
physician
for
all
upon
lest
clearly
authors
related.
the
that
would
especially
Beintema
spirits
a
and
in
As
sedentary
have
the
distinctly,
the
fade
seventeenth
difficult
it,
Dutch
von
smoking
and
way
Palma
well
matters,
falter,
physician
of
able
is
life
writes:
and
or
an
is
to
and
start
eighteenth
activity
wont
ponder
"One
must
to
to
work
which
who
bring
be
and
Bontekoe
centuries,
reawakened,
too
studies
judge."
"can
with
slowly,
it."
challenge
must
(the
smoking
At
in
about
proponent
which
so
needs
that
and
and
the
event
smoke
the
guard
same
mental
of
mind
Reason
coffee,
against
much
time
exertion
may
the
tea,
loses
all
suitable
Tobacco
qualities
goal
mental
civilization.
centuries.
head.
functioned
desirable
those
physical
action.
enjoyment,
Although
rest
both
functionless,
Coffee
The
labor.
of
for
work
cancel
calms,
for
were
The
the
positively,
since
Ithave
the
fact
mental,
alone
and
The
of
bodythat
rest
intellectually
used
each
that
coffee
prebourgeois
apparently
the
tobacco,
brain
of
indeed
was
itPipe
to
i.e.,
seventeenth
other.
arousing
the
is
stimulates.
achieve
is
developed,
pleasurable
sedentary,
body,
is,
the
dysfunctional
each
Yet
active,
been
reducing
part
man,
and
necessary
was
the
in
pushed
century
of
Normally
its
nourishing
their
opposite
cultivated,
in
activity.
the
changes
particular
its
hunting,
reorientation
effects
bodily
human
motoricity
into
tobacco
evil
one
In
is
nothing.
the
retirement.
that
and
energies
smoking,
or
true:
stand
way,
body
would
in
brain.
and
itcared
to
jousting.
they
was,
assisted
of
of
a
inThe
coffee
assume
minimumas
the
greatest
remarkable
that
Tobacco
the
complement
for
merely
old
human
mentally
in
had
In
had
this
instincts,
the
that
this
concern
formerly
served
functioned
reorientation.
been
seventeenth
organism
sense,
these
active
was
each
considered
pleasure
as
to
been
contradictory
necessary
smoking
other.
a
person
bourgeois
negatively,
to
to
support
one
released
the
and
Coffee
and
The
primacy
particularly
works
another.
eighteenth
is
and
for
an
common
calming
in
the
ersatz
off
the
The
Evolution
of
Smoking:
Pipe,
Cigar,
Cigarette
characterized
concentration,
modern
specific
the
changed.
If,
formsa
from
forms
European
the
seventeenth
succession
as
for
that
a
smoking.
times.
surrogate
holds
of
In
century
The
course
favored
the
activity
last
basic
to
only
three
smoking
that
the
functioncalming
as
present
calms,
centuries
aCornelius
basic
implementsby
relaxes,
day,
definition
European
smoking
and
and
of
concentrationhas
at
culture
which
has
smoking
the
been
same
itcontrast
has
is
achieved
universally
also
time
its
established
aids
function
remained,
have
but
nineteenth
At
In
the
the
beginning
seventeenth
century
of
the
the
and
cigarettestill
nineteenth
eighteenth
century
centuries
the
favorite
the
cigar
of
pipe
appeared,
the
was
three
the
today.
and
preferred
in
the
second
smoking
half
instrument.
of
the
acceleration.
produces
consume
Since
eating,
If
we
the
look
dressing,
this
an
sixteenth
for
increasing
Acceleration,
rising
some
traveling,
century
stream
concept
number
working,
of
of
everyone
course,
commodities
that
of
adequately
commodities
or
may
has
what
experienced
well
with
have
describes
be
correspondingly
at
you.
the
increasingly
phenomenon
the
this
speedup
evolution,
short
greater
of
intervals,
modern
everyday
what
rapidity
comes
and
times.
and
life,
people
to
be
frequency.
Industry
mind
itin
in
isof
simpler
pipe
tobacco
and
history
is
ready
shorter.
leaves,
of
to
tobacco
be
filling
smoked.
smoking
the
use
pipe,
the
A
small,
act
still
etc.
of
needs
self-contained
smoking
an
arsenal
accelerates
procedure
of
equipment
as
the
is
always
smoking
and
manipulations
necessary:
process
becomes
cutting
before

4 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

THE
GRACE
OF
CIGARS
From
the
moment
feather-light,
cigarettes
dominated
the
the
cigar
seemed
a
heavy
thing,
the
symbol
of
a
placid
conservatism.
At
the
start
of
the
nineteenth
century,
when
it"is
supplanted
the
pipe,
the
cigar
was
considered
graceful,
light,
even
feminine.
"The
pipe,"
we
read
in
agay
of
this
period,
a
ponderous
contraption
that
must
be
wielded
in
tranquility;
the
cigar
is
easy
to
handle
and
does
hinder
one's
movement;
the
pipe
smoker
is
dull
and
domestic,
smoker
and
lively
in
his
movements;
the
pipe
isGermany
to
the
cigar
as
aMarx
lady
indecidedly
crinoline
is
to
naked
beauty."
Finally,
in
the
of
1815
to
1848
cigars
came
to
serve
as
ascene,
sort
of
revolutionary
emblem:
Karl
smoked
them.
Only
later
would
they
become
anot
status
symbol
for
entrepreneurs.
Brecht's
cigar
smoking
thus
was
part
of
apaper-wrapped
nineteenth-century
tradition.
Our
illustrations
are:
lithograph
(1825)
after
atext
painting
by
Sharp
(facing
page),
and
French
fashion
plate
from
1831
(above).

ENGLISH
CARICATURE
OF
THE
CIGAR
FAD,
1827
operation
be
comparable
striking
With
cut
and
up
fell
advent
a
placed
to
spark
by
the
of
in
later
to
wayside.
the
single
invention
cigar
mouth,
The
instantaneous
at
an
the
of
product
event
the
beginning
wooden
that
came
gesture.
shortened
of
match,
fully
the
nineteenth
prepared
which
and
accelerated
reduced
for
century,
consumption,
the
this
the
laborious
elaborate
process,
needing
process
and
only
of
toa
further
finish
and
"smoke,"
smoke
embodied
smoker
Half
quick,
smoking
aartistically
with
in
century
cigar
smoker
as
the
a
in
the
concept
this
the
nineteenth
itthe
cigarette.
after
new
was
physical
feels
the
of
even
informal
velocity
the
in
time
the
century.
appearance
Like
as
brieferquite
utterly
twentieth
well
of
unit
the
a
as
mail
cigar,
of
different
the
of
century
coach
temporal
itera
anineteenth
is
came
substantial
from
called,
cigar,
is
is
from
ready
quite
that
and
the
is
that
as
of
pharmacological
acceleration
innovation.
for
different
different
of
consumption,
an
cigar.
automobile.
from
from
The
process
that
the
cigarette
calm
sense
yet
felt
time
The
the
advanced
and
by
ittime
the
was
cigarette
the
concentration
takes
cigar
required
word.
light,
still
to
short,
Awas
to
definite
deliberately
that
unimportant,
interesting
In
the
suggests
intention
twentieth
merely
flout
to
nostalgia,
an
convention,
not
century,
as
understanding
to
a
negative
conform
snob
cigar
go
appeal,
and
to
against
expression.
of
the
our
pipe
etc.
prevailing
the
smoking
Pipe
as
prevailing
are,
and
mode
enjoy
say,
cigar
rhythm
of
special
antique
smokers
smoking,
of
status.
life,
car
are
the
buffs;
with
cigarette.
They
an
important,
that
artificial
represent
is,
They
they
or
time
are
rather
a or
sense
anything
from
cigarette
leisure
almost
can
twentieth
because
Gleichen-Russwurm
peace,
extinguished
idle
The
hands,
best
the
standards
and
a
no
prevailing
half
be
the
else
that
century
sense
itpipe
concentration
felt
cigar
.as
hour
takes
be
.as
.when
soon
of
functions
offered."
of
was
to
mode
tranquility
five
calm,
in
smoke.
cigarette
as
the
still
1914,
to
the
of
no
traditional
smokers
seven
as
ubiquitous.
smoking.
thought
depth
The
the
and
was
minutes
cigarette
new
symbol
concentration
in
or
adisappeared
form
ittime
potent
the
They
reflection
sense
For
has
of
to
the
was
stimulated
can
smoking
a
be
symbol
of
hospitable
cultural
thoroughly
"a
time
even
to
of
symbol
serious
aplain
of
that
century
period
is
be
has
historian
the
still
quantified.
home
each
of
conversation.
caught
new
smoked
in
can,
modern
derived
use.
innovation
when
velocity
Alexander
in
fire.
Thus
is
fact,
The
from
life
time
meant
A
of
twentieth-century
always
at
casual
It
.describes
in
.cigars
modern
does
stimulates,
von
the
.the
smoking
which
to
start
give
distraction
be
not
that
life
brings
deduced
permit
of
all
took
embodies
but
precisely
the
the
no
is
that
for
style
Today
however,
retrospectively,
the
meerschaum.
important
even,
'mouthpiece.'
time
As
simplification,
end
filling
when
fast-paced,
of
brown
itthe
the
of
is
itelement
of
the
only
regarded
was
the
color
This
Simple
nineteenth
pipes
in
standard
and
tobacco,
abbreviation,
modern,
1914:
the
was
of
at
cigar,
the
and
in
meerschaum
most
all
form
"A
smoking
equipment
the
century
and
cigars
the
the
predilection,
as
and
tip
easier,
and
nervous
cigarette,
asimilar
made
existed."
quaint,
for
only
apparatus,
acceleration.
acquired
for
the
since
rarely
of
as
the
now
in
cigarette
nostalgic
cardboard
the
its
cigarette
smoker.
adorned
belonging
under
and
cigarette
own
One
many
tip,
prop.
development,
his
or
GleichenRusswurm
smokers
example
which
with
gold
appears
care.
to
athe
In
young
past
a
paper
was
crest
However,
probably
is
early
fashion,
in
the
man
made
passed
or
gradually
comparison
history
separate
emblem,
was
with
chiefly
had
was
through
proud
of
adopted
more
replaced
cultivated
mouthpiece
itof
the
out
with
constituted
of
specific
careful
cigarette,
of
it,
the
itamber
from
around
smoking
fine,
rolling
stages
or
an
apipe
and
tip.
smoker.
to
converted
today.
of
this
the
Americans.
cigarette
In
Cigarettes,
Europe
an
industrial
case
designed
the
Nowadays
which
cigarette
suffered
mass-produced
were
containera
cigarettes
a
case
bought
fate.
item
singly
are
time-consuming
smoked
It
to
had
or
his
in
only
long
own
straight
after
been
use,
packaging
process
the
and
from
an
Second
important
one
the
whereby
at
difficult
commercial
aas
World
kiosk,
item
to
War,
were
individual
for
reconstruct
package.
the
in
transferred
the
cigarette
wake

SMOKING
AND
WAR:
the
contributed
expansion
Just
world.
as the
The
ofmore
Thirty
the
lithograph
originally
specifically
Years'THE
by
War
Marcelin
Russiancigarette
toCIGARETTE
contributed
that ofdepicts
the cigar
to soldiers
thethroughout
throughout
spread
from
of Europe,
smoking,
Europe the
and,
and
Crimean
soon
the Napoleonic
after,
Warthe
ledrest
to
wars
the
of
the
Crimean
War.

5 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

MEN'S
SMOKING
PARTY
WITH
(Painting
by
Antony
Palamadesz,
called
Staevertz;
pp.
118-19.)
The
Social
and
Spatial
Expansion
of
Smoking
itsimplification
segment
had
The
previously
same
of
the
process
and
populationnamely,
been
acceleration
that
taboo,
led
from
not
of
smoking
only
the
women.
into
led
specific
to
also
cigarette
places
to
the
advance
and
and
settings
to
ato
of
more
smoking
but
and
also
more
into
specific
areas
drastic
where
them
coffeehouse
seventeenth
nineteenth
movement.
right
newspaper
have
especially
brilliant
and
Sands
who
on
Easy
where
latest
hold
Like
trousers,
search
was
their
to
opposed
!"
for
journalsall
coffee,
debates
don't
smoke
circles
the
smoking
cigar-smoking
incentury
article
Rebels
lawsit
even
force
emancipated
Berlin,
was
and
tobacco
of
was
this:
on
that
nineteenth
closed
disdain
men
from
to
their
in
smoking
like
demanded
"Women's
Germany's
all
ask
all,
city,
had
verges
into
George
the
status
wives
to
the
him
the
woman!
girls
long
1840s
women,
the
acquired
centuries
life
to
cigar;
are
emancipation
on
as
in
aged
kitchen
most
Sand
light
been
oftheir
the
much
clearly
to
a
AWOMAN
recently
women
hers.
gentleman.
take
nineteen
public
discerning
and
incredible!
new
apipe
arms!
the
with
symbol
as
shows
place,
Lola
woman
Charming
symbolic
the
coffeehouse
were
riding
an
takes
Inthe
or
right
Montez
any
of
elegant
city,
how
together
At
How
twenty
also
patriarchal
whips,
smoker
remarkable
this
case,
significance
towith
prospects,
unsympathetically
happy
not
wear
smoked
point
lady
speak
is
and
with
the
to
allowed
was
already
trousers.
hell
stopped
Berlin
many
society.
most
nurse
cigar
strides
confidently
the
quite
these!
with
for
object
startling
being
husbands
of
smoking,
the
their
smoke.
themmay
a
deliberately
The
Just
these
forward
How
gentleman
emancipation
patriarchal
babies
opened
of
forced
about
as
results.
caricature.
long
miniature
Between
reading
the
will
inaon
Germany,
Guizot,
before
humor
early
the
be
for
inon
society
In
horseback!
public.
when
women,
devil
the
of
the
George
the
English
Inthey
of
the
Thiers,
street
the
take
this
they
must
The
put

ROLE-SWAPPING: CARICATURE OF WOMAN SMOKER, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

TOBACCO
MANIAfrom 1842.)
(French
caricature

6 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

LADIES'
in Caricature
cigaretteEMANCIPATION
advertising
by Grandville.
half Compare
a century the
later.
role smoking women play here with the one they have

LOLA
MONTEZ
WITH
CIGARETTE
For
feminist
adventuresses
like
George
Sand
and
Lola
Montez,
cigarette
smoking
was
an
important
symbol
for
the
image
they
wanted
to
project.
After
they
met
Paris
in
the
1830s,
George
Sand
adopted
Lola
Montez's
habit
of
dressing
in
black,
and
Montez,
Sand's
habit
of
smoking.
This
photograph
was
taken
around
1850
in
the
United
States,
where
Montez
ended
her
days.
the
as
cigar-smoking
were
movement,
and
delicate
love,
Viennese
vanishing
they
was
emancipation
form
frivolity,
practically
smoked
at
white
of
writer
in
the
but
cigarettes
delicate
sin,
cigarette
women
end
in
a
at
cigarettes.
the
movement
general
symbol
the
of
rings
poetry
the
contributed
turn
are
paper.
nineteenth
of
public
regarded
and
of
How
femininitynot,
of
that
the
"The
cloudlets,
pleasure,"
tenacious
awareness,
century,
women
toin
as
century
this,
eccentric
is
who
of
according
Paul
traditional
the
course;
and
most
belongs
smoked
perfume
von
and
clearly
obviously
Schonthan;
their
to
unfeminine.
opinion
with
began
the
of
in
lightness,
champagne,
associative
the
connection
in
is
to
view
boudoir."
cigarette
".
even
be
.Cigarettes,
.socially
their
of
its
with
effusiveness
aromatic,
today
games
advertising.
slenderness,
feminist
the
acceptedas
on
pipefirst
ofitthe
fleeting
chance
emancipation
successes
or
of
other
The
the
athe
haze,
shape
and
long
hand,
period
separate
mouthpiece
1930s
this
Meanwhile,
self-portrayal
into
between
mouthpiece,
an
or
the
almost
the
1890
cigarette
in
unusually
terms
theatrical
and
which
1930.
of
discarded
had
long
cultural
act.
been
cigarette
Itcigarette
history
this
would
such
feminine
holder
be
and
aadmittedly,
significant
tempting
psychoanalysis,
turned
connotation
to
accessory
women's
interpret
much
as
cigarette
in
the
ainthe
typical
the
oral-erotic
smoking
way
smoking
expression
did
element
ritual.
in
the
of
The
of
theof
It

WOMEN
AND
CIGARETTES
Around
the
turn
of
the
twentieth
century,
the
cigarette
came
into
itsInown,
the
relation
of
women
to
smoking
underwent
an
aboutface.
nineteenth
century
the
woman
smoker
had
been
an(facing
object
of
caricature,
while
on
the
other
hand
thewhen
women's
emancipation
movement
used
smoking
as
a demonstrative
symbol;
now
the
cigarette
appeared
as from
a
distinctly
feminine
prop.
The
illustrations:
advertisement
sketch
1916
(above);
fashion
sketch,
1930
page).

7 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

ENGLISH
SMOKING
CLUB,
EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY
Before
the
cigarette
became
ubiquitous,
smoking
was
confined
to
certain
areas.
The
reasons
for
this
were
social
and
practical.
Smoking
was
an
exclusive
privilege
of
men
who
wanted
to
remain
among
and
the
accumulation
of
smoke
from
was
so
heavy
itthemselves,
had
to
be
confined
to
one
Both
reasons
collapsed
with
the
advent
of
the
cigarette.
This
picture
by
Robert
Dighton
of
a
club
for
punch
drinking
and
pipe
smoking
is
modeled
on
Hogarth's
Modern
Conversation.
Both
smoking
prerogative
nineteenth
study.
places,
essentially
this
of
assumed
between
the
who
revolutionary
democrat"
specifically
that
movement.
twist
capitalist
suffered
political
authorities,
no
in
in
movements
social
Smoking
this
longer
its
where
in
of
1815
entrepreneursan
aMidnight
a
symbolic
oppression.
(Corti).
period
justified
the
century
of
pipes
symbolic
In
They
of
felt
expansion
ideas,
cigar
applied,
the
men,
an
and
nineteenth
conversely,
hat
was
organized
of
and
explicit
the
list
One
contained
1848],
by
smoking,
instead
history
itcourse
every
not
character
of
cigar
remained
cigars
the
the
Once
fact
of
political
permitted
ban
century.
smoking
danger
smoker
official
that
rollers
regarded
are
of
contributing
the
resulted
the
since
on
aroom.
the
similar
too
the
room
first
confined
demands
smoking
streets,
then
actually
of
seen
anywhere
that
intimately
in
cigar
because
and
fire
itin
reserved
public
to
of
fashionable
as
was
a
to
on
in
most
that
should
squares,
its
to
strong
was
a
that
formed
the
cities
the
certain
sign
original
assumed
the
of
against
else.
which
related
radical
political
in
emerged
for
street
the
form
later
built
accumulation
of
effect
the
just
and
This
cigarette
spaces.
top
political
itpipes
meaning
smoking
to
smoking
have
to
was
union
had
militant
an
this
significance
parks
hat
for
held
be
ain
important
large
had
suspected
a
purpose,
Germany's
neatly
was
come
recalcitrance.
in
Middle-class
coincided
true
long
were
comparable
avant-garde
in
Germany.
then
for
of
extent
suspected
public
especially
to
smoke
time.
separated.
the
"liberated"
of
place,
assumed,
be
the
women's
smoking,
Vormarz
of
with
a
places
Originally
being
smoking
and
Thus
status
wooden
residences
"Just
to
particularly
of
afor
the
As
the
was
harboring
spatial
for
amay
became
itoutdoor
emancipation
or
as
symbol
[the
dangerous
was
long
fate
smoking,
workers'
room
this
houses.
the
more
someone
have
period
expansion.
of
chocolate
aas
was
exclusive
incurious
a
or
the
for
public
Prussia;
the
been
symbol
the
ithad
been
restrictions,
was
discussion
In
Prussia
awore
inubiquity
consideration.
most
here.)
except
the
other
ban
states
in
on
(The
places
smoking
in
most
Europe.
such
recent
inprohibition
as
public
Since
theaters,
tendencies
places
then
movie
smoking
was
to
restrict
houses,
repealed
has
smoking
not
or
in
meeting
been
1848,
do
subjected
many
not
rooms,
enter
years
where
to
into
spatial
after
the
safety
itWhen
demonstrates
ersatz
chemistry
The
act
as
which
well
to
of
absorbs
what
smoking
as
its
depth
motor
the
is
the
ainversion
increasing
function,
clear
culture
index
then
is
nervousness
permeated
of
this
the
state
penetration
by
of
of
civilized
nervousness.
civilization.
of
our
man,
culture
Ifof
smoking
affecting
by
smoking
is
the
defined
body's
as
an

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
SNUFF
MANIA
The
Frontispiece
Cravings
of
of
a
Johann
Sensual
Heinrich
Nose.
Cohausen's
book
of
1720
Satyrical
Thoughts
of
Pica
Nasi,
or
Snuff
in
the
Eighteenth
Century
there
became
princes,
Poudre
middle-class
passion
snuff
Smoking
during
was
from
of
lofty
atobacco,
a
major
was
period
the
1700.
women
lords,
undoubtedly
Mass.
cultural
in
"It
and
abbes,
who
which
ranks
The
the
phenomenon.
imitate
snuffbox
people
and
itposition
among
the
lost
even
most
them
ahe
all
the
degree
lies
monks.
take
popular
in
"Today
favorite
open
everything
snuff,"
of
Despite
its
before
and
one
occupations
importance.
read
frequent
takes
follow
them
papal
a
treatise
snuff
them
form
prohibition,
of
In
the
the
at
the
of
on
court
altar."
noblest
this
tobacco
eighteenth
Le
activity
as
bon
priests
well
ladies,
usage
consumption.
as
century
in
Spain
well.
in
and
du
the
the
Itsnuff
take
city;
is
Yet
the
en
had
French
symbol
all
middle
In
the
originated
class,
court
of
ancien
the
life.
did
European
in
regime
consumed
smoking
Spain
From
snuff
here
and
upper
remain
in
reached
it,
had
the
like
class.
much
form
the
chocolate
the
In
preferred
of
the
France,
peak
snuff.
same
of
Only
practice
shortly
its
sociocultural
the
cultural
in
French
England
before
of
the
prestige
language,
significance
bourgeoisie
the
and
Revolution,
Holland,
in
eighteenth-century
caught
and
as
bastions
chocolate.
eleven-twelfths
the
on
as
petty
aTabac
of
status
nobility.
It
the
also
of
ceremony;
self-display,
way
is
motions:
For
atobacco
description
to
the
offer
cultivated
the
such
and
style
in
of
athese
an
judging
pinch,
person
with
instruction
which
were
others.
of
the
one
taken
manual
Rococo
The
handled
very
proper
from
period
seriously
aand
around
snuffbox
way
taking
to
and
1750
take
became
snuff
taught
of
aon
pinch
became
how
like
to
means
of
dancing
offer
snuff,
an
of
snuff
and
self-presentation,
and
in
in
fencing.
fourteen
social
Here
the
1.
Pick
up
snuffbox
with
fingers
of
the
left
hand.
2.
Place
itprelates,
into
the
correct
in
the
hand.
3.
Tap
the
snuffbox
with
your
finger.
4.
Open
the
snuffbox.
5.
Offer
the
snuffbox
to
the
others
in
your
company.
6.
Take
back
the
snuffbox.
7.
Keep
the
snuffbox
open
all
the
while.
8.
Make
a
pile
of
the
tobacco
in
the
snuffbox
by
tapping
on
the
side
of
itimportant
with
aon
finger.
9.
Carefully
take
up
the
tobacco
in
the
right
hand.
10.
Hold
the
tobacco
for
aornamental
moment
between
the
fingers
before
bringing
itsister
up
to
the
nose.
11.
Bring
the
tobacco
up
to
the
nose.
12.
Take
in
the
snuff
evenly
with
both
nostrils,
without
making
aain
grimace.
13.
Sneeze,
cough,
expectorate.
14.
Close
the
snuffbox.
the
also
snuffbox
Heinrich
suits
for
among
gifts
was
Just
snuff
Rococo
ornamental
said
become
of
of
as
state
the
clothing
Briihl,
appropriate
to
the
most
have
period,
among
an
gesture
the
sword,
with
artistically
prized
had
director
the
royalty.
an
to
of
a
the
snuffbox
jeweled
every
value
equal
boxes
snuff
of
fashioned
A
taking
of
suit
number
snuffbox
were
objects
1.5
was
Meissen
million
valuable
was
a
wore.
decorative
of
walking
permanent
that
of
matching
an
the
porcelain
livres.
Among
the
important
for
eighteenth
stick,
king
article.
the
feature
snuffboxes.
the
works,
precious
of
and
expression
posthumous
Spain
The
the
century
of
Boswell
cultivated
Rococo
fan;
gave
stones
Besides
only
and
of
to
recorded
possessions
a
adorning
costume,
the
thus
now
person's
Rococo
their
were
did
use
over
them.
the
man
self-stylization
of
exchanged
as
of
Louis
aparticular
handkerchief
six
Count
level
had
containers
They
hundred
XIV
a
with
were
as
in

SNUFF
RITUAL:
THE
FULL-LENGTH
PORTRAIT
summed
as
the
snuffbox,
portrait
up
hislasted
of
entire
as
aeven
French
noted,
personality.
wasearly
aninintegral
Such
part
already
of Rococo
been
costume.
the
in
thea seventeenth
person
used
century,
it
Gainsborough
that
chevalier
the
snuffbox
from
(next
1688
page).
shows
turned
(above).
up
official
Inhad
the
portraits
eighteenth
like
that
century
of case
John
thisHow
Scrimgeour
attitude
wasby
so
prevalent
The
fashion
into
the
nineteenth
century
(p.
135).

8 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

THEthree
DRAMATIC
OF
SNUFF
TAKING:
THE
"PINCH"
The
previous
illustrations
gave
us
athe
sense
of
what
sort
of to the
gestural
code
evolved
for
snuff
taking
inearly
and
eighteenth
centuries.
In
the
following
two
(above
and
facing
page)
the
Rococo
shows
offACT
the
grace
offrom
its
snuff
rituals.
The
other
illustrations
present
actual
snuff
taking;
in
any
event,
these
actually
belong
period
after
Rococo
snuff
taking:
some
of
its seventeenth
features
are
clearly
caricatured
in
the
illustrations
the
nineteenth
century
138-39),
most
particularly
in
Grandville's
Variete
des
priseurs
(pp.
140-41).

9 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

10 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

SNUFFBOXES
IN
THEpage).
ROCOCO
Among
theornamented
most(facing
precious
objects
eighteenth
century
produced,
they
were
not
only bythe
jewelers,
but no
less often
by
galant
painters

11 / 12

FOUR: Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant

Written by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:00 -

THE
OF
SNUFFBOXES
IN
STERNE'S
SENTIMENTAL
JOURNEY
The
brief
scene
at
the
start
of
the
novel
in
which
the
narrator
exchanges
his
with
a
monk
stirred
Rococo
sentiment
much
in
the
way
Goethe's
Werther
did.
Many
illustrations
of
the
scene
appeared,
and
clubs
were
started
in
members
exchanged
snuffboxes.
This
swapping
became
symbol
of
fraternity.
ancien
century
consumption.
proximity
novel
treatment
define
Jacques's
three
plying
By
virtue
mainstays
is
Jacques
aEXCHANGE
regime
the
the
master:
to
master,
of
snuffbox
relationship
that
these
In
as
with
master-slave
symbol
Diderot's
asnuffbox
the
servant,
"what
his
associations
questions."
represented
cigar
life,
between
of
to
the
bourgeois
became
a
do
watch,
dialectic.
days
without
Jacques
master
exclusively
aon
of
and
snuffbox
rationalization
status
his
which
According
a
and
the
watch,
snuffbox.
symbol
he
Fatalist
the
servant,
became
passed
courtly
his
to
of
for
"He
snuffbox,
Diderot,
the
which
time,
as
industrial
taking
gentleman's
snuffbox
did
much
the
would
not
there
or
tobacco,
pocket
the
know,"
Jacques.
capitalists.
appears
are
later
mark
cult
three
watch.
says
checking
inspire
of
in
These
pure
aristocracy
In
possessions
Diderot
surprising
The
the
Hegel
luxury
were
eighteenth
theme
of
hour,
in
the
of
his
that
of
the
and
this
and
The
takes
as
whereby
duress
upon
same
Although
smoking,
itodors
phlegm-depleting
above-cited
does
this
a
principle
that
small
the
discharge
the
the
they
the
small
portion
nasal
whereby
gestures
eighteenth
discharge
French
projections
septum.
comes
into
effect
water
text
and
one's
mucus
century
that
from
It
watery
and
issues
jolts
nose,
social
was
1700
much
glands
regarded
itcome
fluid
[the
out
observed
itaan
meaning
irritates
described
of
from
mucous
that
like
ateenth-century
its
siphon."
are
neighboring
a
in
the
physiological
of
sponge,
smoking
snuffed
membrane]
distributed
snuff
mucous
taking
when
tobacco
was
vessels
membrane
effect
throughout
into
differed
squeezed
found
repeated
in
and
as
the
also
identical.
a
that
glands,
following
are
great
fills
contractions,
put
a
snuffed
hand.
deal
according
the
The
under
terms:
nasal
from
desiccating
tobacco.
Following
such
those
"If
cavity,
to
one
the
represented
sensible
Immoderate
so
nose
seemed
itof
particular
seventeenth
direct
says,
In
reason.
thinly
views
part
addition
as
access
"The
of
the
ideally
than
guarded
the
of
That
medical
century
direct
the
Use
a
to
century,
use
smoothly
to
the
direct
this
suited
is
the
eighteenth
of
nostrils,"
from
why
patha
science."
regarded
removal
the
Snuff");
nostrils
path
has
to
Diderot's
the
shaven
nose
this
to
anovel
air,
we
sort
century
partial
unimpeded
"they
of
the
the
Even
organ
and
read
that
mucus,
upper
of
brain.
Encyclopedia
nose
its
are
mouthto
historical
the
the
in
mucous
covered,
lip,
not
"There
eigh:
snuff
brain
nose
by
century
English
replacing
as
facial
and
brought
itself
and
membranes
the
an
is
devoted
in
of
no
organ
cultural
hair.
brain
essay
a
the
may
rationalism
the
part
manner,
on
mucous
is
be
of
mustache
an
of
another
justification.
ataking
"basest"
demand
said
the
extensive
1761
conception
vogue
with
membranes,
and
human
to
("Cautions
peculiar
branches
lie
and
for
sense
enlightenment.
the
almost
article
Snuff
clean-shavenness,
frame
"handlebar"
very
that
stimulatory
but
naturally
of
taking
like
greatest
to
Against
naked
more
rather
nerves:
the
no
nose,
demanded
delicately
The
of
there."
other
as
must
attention
effect.
and
the
in
organ,
in
The
have
these
organ
which
In
aon
smell.
indifference
seem
habitual
robbed
illnesses
argument
sense
eighteenth
personal
cover
industryless
the
effect
The
of
one
that
eighteenth
of
the
snuff
far-reaching
smell
of
hygiene
and
smell
together
century,
user
eighteenth-century
to
taking
their
an
one
was
body.
with
of
century's
and
expression
this
obvious
with
agitation
no
people
made
another.
import.
began
It
catastrophe;
sense.
its
must
the
stimulating
interest
gradually
logical
on
For
to
of
have
The
Olfactory
nose
civilized
consider
this
some
the
eighteenth
consequence
in
fact.
ultimately
hyperstimulation
became
the
new
effect,
the
man.
blindness
them
For
nose
to
contrary,
positive
people
members
snuff
The
century
aware
insensitive
an
as
of
unpleasant
opponents
the
due
tobacco
olfactory
snuff
of
itof
instrument
of
witnessed
may
that
to
of
the
the
snuff
courtly
to
day
bad
have
also
mucous
smell,
sensibility
of
odor.
taking
as
odors
that
snuff
managed
come
the
society,
of
an
and
At
reason
by
first
membranes
altogether
taking
was
resulting
first
as
than
today's
in
boom
however,
extreme
aby
one
to
they
also
relief.
based
an
numb
of
concepts
from
in
effort
tried
welcome
explains
the
through
the
In
cases
their
loss
the
deficient
hard
the
major
to
perfume
sense
escape
of
would
its
fully
side
to
the
of

12 / 12