TOBACCO PREPARATION AND USE
When the tobacco is ripe, it is gathered, cut fine with a sliver of bamboo, and dried in the sun for a day or two. It is then frequently pounded into bamboo internodes and laid away in a cool, dry place, often in the rice granary, for fermentation. Before using the tobacco it is customary to set it out in the grass for a night or two. This causes a sweating and makes the tobacco fit for chewing.
This is the only form in which tobacco is prepared among the mountain Manóbos. The quantity of tobacco raised is insignificant, being a little more than is sufficient for their personal use. As they dispose of a great deal of it during harvest time, it not infrequently comes to pass that there is a dearth long before the next crop.
No harmful effects are attributed to the use of tobacco, though from childhood to the grave it is made use of by men, women, and children.
Only men and boys smoke. The pipe employed for this purpose is commonly a little cone made out of a piece of imported tin or of a piece of steel. The stem is a piece of small bamboo. One occasionally finds wooden pipes, but they have probably been acquired from Christianized Manóbos or from Bisáyas.
The first-mentioned pipe holds about one thimbleful of tobacco. It is usually lighted with a firebrand, unless it is used when the people are on the trail; at such a time the flint, steel, and tinder are called into requisition.
There are two forms of tobacco chewing: First, the bal-ut method. In this a mixture is made of minced tobacco, lime, the juice of a vine,11 and pot black. This combination, which in bulk may be the size of a large marble, is carried between the upper lip and the upper gums but resting upon the lower lip and projecting out of the mouth, thereby keeping the lips apart. It is made use of principally for its narcotic qualities, but at the same time it serves as an ornament and tends to blacken the teeth. It is carried in the mouth until its strength is exhausted. During meals it is placed behind the ear. When tobacco is scarce, the same quid receives several additions of lime, pot black, and vine juice, so that it may be used for a whole day. The women are more accustomed than the men to the use of this bal-ut, for the reason that the former do not smoke, and also because they usually have hidden away a less limited supply of tobacco than the men. The second method of using tobacco is known as the la-gút. This consists of chewing a little pinch of tobacco in combination with betel nut. Tobacco is seldom chewed alone.
11Maú-mau.