Last updated 19:46, Thursday, 28 August 2008

A SPOT of culture for you as you tuck into your toast and marmalade. A short poem by HW – whoever that was.

At eve so oft she gently meets my lips

And all my soul will rise in ecstasy.

The joys she gives all other joys eclipse

She is the light of all the hours to me.

She calms my thoughts when thought is all awry

When pain seems more than I can bear,

I long to some unworried land to fly

And she bestows her charms – and guides me there.

So fair is she, so delicate of form,

She must be near whenever I aspire

To higher things. Sometimes she is too warm,

But even then I can’t discard – my briar.

So there you have it. A poem, culled from the pages of a Workington Star from 1909, on the joys of pipe smoking. Even though I quit smoking some 15 years ago, these few lines take me back. I enjoyed smoking a pipe. There was nothing better than relaxing in an armchair, listening to soothing music on the wireless and puffing on one of my favourite pipes. Sheer bliss!

Can you remember when you last saw someone smoking a pipe? I can’t! One of the last refuges for a pipe smoker was his car, but it seems that this will soon be illegal.

And it most certainly isn’t the sort of thing you’d choose to do huddled in shop, or pub, doorways – along with all the other assorted fag smokers polluting the atmosphere. I swear I’ve been exposed to more passive smoking from these forlorn street smokers than I ever was before the ban.

When I wrote about the juvenile cigarette smoking problem of 1908, I wondered if the police of today were able to stop youngsters from smoking in the street, still a common sight. I recently chanced upon a comment in the Workington Star of 1909 on this very question. It seems that from April 1 of that year, it was forbidden for boys, and girls, under 16 to smoke cigarettes in public. It was also an offence for tobacconists, or any other retailer, to sell cigarettes to under-16s. Problem solved – you would think!

But, according to the paper’s commentator, whoever drafted the legislation had forgotten to mention either cigars or pipes in the new Act. So youngsters, who could have been done for smoking cigarettes in public, could, to quote, “smoke a big fat cigar under a policeman’s nose, and he can’t touch him”.

The writer wasn’t too bothered about underage smoking. It’s not that health professionals hadn’t pointed out that it was an unhealthy habit, but they weren’t listened too. Even in the Twenties smoking was being recommended as being of value to those suffering from asthma and various nervous disorders. And it wasn’t too long ago that when someone fell or had a minor accident, almost the first thing some kind passer-by would do was to light them a cigarette. How times change.

Our writer, back in 1909, didn’t “think there was much in the five-a-penny packet of fags to hurt anyone”. What did annoy him was that the young smokers spat a lot, about “three times to every whiff”.

And not only youngsters. He wanted to know why men smokers spat so much, something he regarded as being an exceedingly filthy habit.

It was – and still is. Walk round any town and you will see evidence that this anti-social behaviour has not died out.

I’ve often heard mention about the provision of spittoons in public houses and other buildings. But when did they die out? Can anyone remember where, and when, they ever encountered one of these? I think I came across one in a Workington pub some 40 years ago. Were they provided mainly for tobacco chewers? Question – does anyone still chew baccy nowadays?

I’ve still got a pipe or two in my house. I never did quite get around to throwing them in the bin. You know what they say about people who stop smoking. You can never be a non-smoker – merely an ex-smoker. So the pipes – and a few cigars – stay in the cupboard. Just in case!