[newspaper clipping]
Perique Strong as Poison.
IN many of the tobacconists shops perique
tobacco, chopped into granulate form, is
displayed for use by pipe smokers. This
is the same perique that has been grown by
Frenchmen and Spaniards in Louisiana since
before our Revolutionary War. It is a jet
black, intensele strong tobacco, famous for
its flavor and its ability to wreck the nerves.
It is grown and made in St. James parish,
Louisiana, and the crop only amounts to
about 100,000 pounds a year.
The makers follow the primitive processes
which were in use a hundred and fifty years
ago. The stems are taken from the leaves
and the latter put into a box, under a heavy
gradual pressure. This causes the juice to
run out, even through the wood of the boxes.
A gradual process of fermentation and cur-
ing takes place.
At the end of three months the tobacco is
rolled into carrots and wrapped in cloths,
tightly bound with ropes. It is left in that
way for a year before it is ready for mar-
ket.
The flavor of perique is considered de-
licious by all pipe smokers, but is too strong.
The tendency of smokers to continually tow-
ard lighter and lighter tobacco, and perique
is now used almost solely for mixing with
very mild tobaccos to flavor it.| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twenty-One: page two hundred and sixty-three |
| Description: | Newspaper clipping regarding a variety of tobacco called perique. |
| Subject: | Gunn, Thomas Butler; Tobacco |
| Coverage (City/State): | St. James Parish, Louisiana |
| Scan Date: | 2010-11-18 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twenty-One |
| Description: | Includes Gunn's descriptions of his experiences as a war correspondent for ""The New York Tribune"" at New Orleans, Louisiana, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; boarding house living; a visit to the Rawlings family; a fight with Mr. Blankman at his boarding house; his journey on the North Star with the Banks expedition; the re-occupation of Baton Rouge by Union forces; a visit to a sugar plantation in Louisiana; and Fanny Fern's daughter Grace Thomson's death. |
| Subject: | African Americans; Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Military; Publishers and publishing; Transportation; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; New Orleans, Louisiana; Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2010 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
