I'm about to start working on a piece about a notorious fortune teller in mid-19th century New York - she was quite a character, and I'm looking forward to devoting some time to this.In the meantime, here's a startling little ad from Godey's Lady's Book, February 1893. It is for a cigarette, aimed at women, smoked to cure, among other things, asthma!
The high medicinal value of these cubeb cigarettes is recognized by the highest medical authorities, and can be smoked without any fear of nicotine and other poisons. Used by ladies as well as gentlemen. Sold by druggists or sent by mail on receipt of 25c.
Cubeb, also called Java or tailed pepper, is a plant whose berries and oil have been utilized as a traditional medicine in Tibet, India and China as well as by the medieval English alchemists. It was used in throat lozenges and other medicines in Victorian England, and was prized for its soothing and antiseptic qualities.It was used by several manufacturers in the 19th century to make medicinal cigarettes. According to Wikipedia, the Marshall's cigarettes were popular as late as the 1940s.
And the jaunty woman in the Marshall's ad doesn't actually look ill at all, does she?
From Library of Congress. The Dr. Perrin's ad is from Wikipedia (the Cubeb link above will takeyou to a larger version).
12 comments:
Congressman Steve Buyer would tell you that smoking lettuce, or cubeb, or anything else has the same health hazards. I guess if you were trying to quit it would be nice to smoke something without nicotine in it. All the fun of smoking, no addictive stimulants. Then later you stop altogether. There might actually be a market for these today.
I like how it's co-ed.
(Steve, eCigarettes do something like that. It's nicotine vapor, with none of the poisons manufacturers add to conventional cigarettes. And no danger of fire.)
Steve - I actually saw something just like what you're suggesting in a health food store - non-tobacco herbal (!) cigarettes...
P.L. - That IS nice, isn't it? Too bad they don't have a picture of a debonair guy with catarrh on the right side of the ad...
haha wow! That's so awful. I wonder how many people with asthma had asthma attacks after smoking one of these. =/
"Cubebs" makes me immediately think of "Trouble" from The Music Man. "Tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs, tryin' out Tailor Mades like cigarette fiends!"
Cristiane
Sandi - I was thinking that too!
Anonymous - I will have to go listen to that song, thank you!
I never heard of these. Some pretty outlandish claims. I guess that's what makes these so interesting! Seems like you could just inhale the fumes without lighting it on fire, like menthol. But I guess they smoke menthol, too. Interesting. :)
Max - I always like a good outlandish claim!
My grandmother, who lived in the late 1800's and early 1900's, had horrible asthma. Lucky me inherited it. My uncle, her son and a well known doctor in Boston, told me that the only treatment they had at the time for asthma was a cigarette with menthol. But, since it was a big no-no at that time for women to smoke, she had to pull the shades so the neighbors wouldn't see her.
Anna Rose - That is a fascinating story, thank you so much for sharing it!
My grandfather had asthma, too -- he was more or less a contemporary of Anna Rose's grandmother and lived in Indonesia. My mother always swore his doctor prescribed marijuana cigarettes for him, which is why she could recognize the smell. I frankly doubted the story -- not that my mother would lie, but I thought she was probably mistaken.
It was only much later that I encountered herbal cigarettes containing opium lettuce, which when smoked has the effect of relaxing the lungs. I started smoking these at blues night at the local bar ... and ended up giving the people around me a contact high. The smell was very similar to pot, and the smoke was relaxing. Which was the reason I smoked them in the first place, to counter-act the effect of the nicotine smoke. The danger, of course, was that I might have been arrested in error ...
I was also amused, btw, by the fact that the little table lights at that establishment had the exact shape and about the same size as opium lamps. I don't think the owner realized this.
Markin - I think I read poetry at a place like this, back in the 80s in Philadelphia.
Post a Comment