Inside the church of pipe smoking
I am a smoker. I can never be sure of the reaction I will get to those words nowadays, though I have hope that Spectator readers are more receptive than most. Anyway, in my case it’s somewhat of an understatement: I worship the goddess Nicotiana. Or, as J. M. Barrie put it: ‘My Lady Nicotine’. Compton Mackenzie had it, simply, as ‘Sublime Tobacco’. And for any vegetarians among you, there’s always Frank Zappa’s ‘my favourite vegetable’. I enjoy many forms of tobacco consumption, but having recently read Thomas Sydenham’s description of a tobacco smoke enema, I am convinced that not all methods are created equal. Cigars? Enjoyable, but exorbitantly expensive. Cigarettes?
