Tamarinds are the pods of a tree, growing in the East and West Indies, gathered when ripe, and preserved in sugar or molasses. They are acid, pleasant, healthful, and cooling. They come in bottles, stone jars and kegs.
NUTS.
Almonds are of two kinds, the sweet and bitter; the latter are only used for making extracts. Among the edible varieties are the Tarragona, Valencia, “Jordan,” a corruption of Jardin (garden), etc. There are hard, soft, and “paper shell” almonds, and almond meats freed from their shells. Filberts are cultivated hazel nuts and come mainly from Sicily. Pecans come from Texas. Walnuts from Italy, France, and Chili. Brazil Nuts grow along the Amazon in clusters on high trees. They are oily and rich. Peanuts come from Virginia, and Chestnuts from Italy and our own Northern States.
TOBACCO.
The active principle of tobacco is the alkaloid nicotine, but it cannot be said that the effects of tobacco are solely due to this substance, for some varieties, as the Syrian, etc., contains little or no nicotine, yet are considered strong. The quantity of nicotine varies much in tobacco, or from one-half of one per cent. to eight per cent. As a rule, the finer the quality and flavor, the less nicotine the tobacco contains.
There are many varieties of tobacco, as those of Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, etc., which are used mainly for chewing, while the Cuban, Turkish, Connecticut, Sumatra, etc., are considered better for cigars. All these tobaccos may vary again in species, as, for instance, there are the Orinoco, Cienfuegos, White Stem, One Sucker, Isabella, White Barley, Fiji Orinoco, Cubani, and many others. Havana or Cuban tobacco has long held the palm over all the world for making the most exquisitely flavored cigars. The aromatic principles on which its value depends can only be developed under a warm, moist climate.
Chewing Tobacco
Is used both in the “PLUG” form and as “FINE CUT,” and in some localities preference is given to the one, while little of the other is sold. The New England and some of the Western States take their chewing tobacco largely in plugs, while the Middle States take more kindly to the fine cut. Detroit has a national reputation for the manufacture of fine cut tobaccos, which are extensively sold in tin foil and paper packages, and in bulk, in pails, etc. There are many hundreds of brands of chewing tobacco, both plug and fine cut. Some are the natural leaf, while others are sweetened; so that the most diversified tastes may be satisfied.
Smoking Tobacco.
North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky are foremost among the States in the manufacture of the smoking tobaccos, which are almost infinite in variety and sold in all sorts of packages. Among them are the “Long” and “Short cut,” “Navy Clippings,” “Granulated,” “Nigger Head,” “Sweet Spun Roll,” “Golden Cavendish,” “Durham,” “Fruits and Flowers,” “Seal of North Carolina,” “Seal of Virginia,” and many others, besides imported varieties, as Persian, Latakia, Havana, etc. In addition to smoking tobaccos, many grocers keep a full assortment of PIPES, from the common clay up, through all kinds of briar and applewood pipes to the genuine meerschaum goods of every style and quality.