Did Mark Twain and General Grant inhale? (Film of Twain added.)

Bob Luken · July 2013

I was thinking about the old timers and wondered if it was common practice to inhale 50, 100 or 150 years ago or did they just puff on them like we do today?

pilgrimtex · July 2013

1, I'm not that old.
2, Was just an E4 and not supposed to know those things.
LOL

Cigary · July 2013

General Grant was said to have smoked up to 12 cigars a day...Yikes! Freud was said to have smoked upwards to 20 per day and both of these gentlemen acquired cancer from this vice...I can see why at that rate. Since Grant was always pictured with a cigar people use to send him boxes of the choicest of cigars in that time and he received around 10,000 of them...so many that he started to give them away but he kept the best of the best to enjoy for himself. While indulging their vice it was said that most men who smoked cigars during that time would inhale because the medical analysis of smoking cigars/cigarettes had not yet been documented as something to be afraid of and most men inhaled it as a matter of routine. I'd think because of this inhalation of that many per day probably caused their demise but Freud was like 82 or 83 when he died..so for smoking so many each day he probably beat all of the odds. Oh, it was the reason he coined the phrase of ...."Sometimes Gentlemen a cigar is just a cigar"....his colleagues would tease him about the cigars taking on a phallic symbolism as Sigmund was used to talking about the interplay of sex in peoples lives.

Amos Umwhat · July 2013

Cigary:
General Grant was said to have smoked up to 12 cigars a day...Yikes! Freud was said to have smoked upwards to 20 per day and both of these gentlemen acquired cancer from this vice...I can see why at that rate. Since Grant was always pictured with a cigar people use to send him boxes of the choicest of cigars in that time and he received around 10,000 of them...so many that he started to give them away but he kept the best of the best to enjoy for himself. While indulging their vice it was said that most men who smoked cigars during that time would inhale because the medical analysis of smoking cigars/cigarettes had not yet been documented as something to be afraid of and most men inhaled it as a matter of routine. I'd think because of this inhalation of that many per day probably caused their demise but Freud was like 82 or 83 when he died..so for smoking so many each day he probably beat all of the odds. Oh, it was the reason he coined the phrase of ...."Sometimes Gentlemen a cigar is just a cigar"....his colleagues would tease him about the cigars taking on a phallic symbolism as Sigmund was used to talking about the interplay of sex in peoples lives.

I think it's worth adding that Freud also used cocaine quite frequently. Mark Twain's autobiography contains some interesting cigar stories from him. One of his biographers has remarked that Twain admitted to smoking "about 20" cigars a day, then adds that his family insists it was probably more like 40, but, that may have just been how it seemed to them. He stated that he'd find a cigar he liked, "for about 4 - 6 cents each, if they cost more I start to get suspicious", then he'd "buy them by the barrel." I don't know what size barrel he meant. Could be quite a number.

Bob Luken · July 2013

I was reading up on Twain myself as I was pondering this question yesterday and I learned that he preferred cheap cigars and seemed to develop this preference as a youth when he started smoking whatever he could get his hands on.

kuzi16 · July 2013

Amos Umwhat:
then he'd "buy them by the barrel." I don't know what size barrel he meant. Could be quite a number.

a wheel or barrel is usually 50 cigars all bound together by one larger band.

Cigary · July 2013

Yep...some of the manufacturers will sell this type of thing to help market a cigar...I have a few of them lying around and they look pretty cool. It's fun to poke around in history as far as reading up on cigars as I was gifted a book about 20 years ago on this very subject and once you've read it it makes you appreciate that rolled up piece of tobacco like you never have. The history of the families that made this their life long passion is amazing and being able to produce something that others get a real joy from has got to be very rewarding. The Padron and Fuente families are obviously richer than most 3rd world countries but the tiime and passion they put into their business you just have to be impressed.

Toombes · July 2013

pilgrimtex:
1, I'm not that old.
2, Was just an E4 and not supposed to know those things.
LOL

+1!
Tex is still older than me and us E4's weren't told squat!

webmost · July 2013

You know what? When a guy admits to smoking 20 cigars a day (his family claimed it was more like forty) then how the heck could the room ever clear out enough so he and everyone in the house wasn't inhaling -- not to speak of the neighbors. Mark was a walking smoke stack. Of course he inhaled.

edit -- I see where cigary and I are both conning the same historical facts re Twain, Freud, and other historical cigar smokers. Got to wonder how many other gents of the time were equally smoky. This I can tell you: At its height, the FX Smith's Sons factories in McSherrystown PA cranked out 9 million sticks a year hand rolled -- and they were one of a couple dozen manufacturers in the same county.

Cigary · July 2013

webmost:
You know what? When a guy admits to smoking 20 cigars a day (his family claimed it was more like forty) then how the heck could the room ever clear out enough so he and everyone in the house wasn't inhaling -- not to speak of the neighbors. Mark was a walking smoke stack. Of course he inhaled.

edit -- I see where cigary and I are both conning the same historical facts re Twain, Freud, and other historical cigar smokers. Got to wonder how many other gents of the time were equally smoky. This I can tell you: At its height, the FX Smith's Sons factories in McSherrystown PA cranked out 9 million sticks a year hand rolled -- and they were one of a couple dozen manufacturers in the same county.

Stuff like this interests me and all of these famous fellows were cigar enthusiasts to the max! I smoke and have smoked a lot of cigars in the last 50 years but even with all of those that I have smoke wouldn't hold a candle to what these guys smoked in a few years. I've got to believe that the quality of what I smoke is head and tails above what they had...or maybe not.

CigarMan37 · August 2013

It's probably all a myth of how much they smoked anyway

Cigary · August 2013

That's what I thought until I did more research...there were plenty of people who documented that these guys smoked a lot of cigar and in some instances some said they had actually smoked more. If I smoke more than 2 my tongue feels like sandpaper.

Amos Umwhat · August 2013

Cigary:
That's what I thought until I did more research...there were plenty of people who documented that these guys smoked a lot of cigar and in some instances some said they had actually smoked more. If I smoke more than 2 my tongue feels like sandpaper.

yep, this is all pretty well documented by reporters, associates, friends and family.

Bob Luken · September 2013

I have found a youtube video of a 1909 film clip by Thomas Edison showing Twain walking and smoking. Although the quality of the image was poor, he seemed to only be puffing and not inhaling.

Bob Luken · September 2013

Here is a link to a better "digitally restored" version. (I had to create a link because they disabled the embed code for some reason on this particular youtube.)

Mark Twain | Edison Film | Digitally Restored

Did Mark Twain and General Grant inhale? (Film of Twain added.)

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