19Th-Century Pipe Blends: Adulteration and Recipe Books

19th-century pipe blends differ from the tobaccos known to today's smoker not only in cut and packaging but also in composition. A significant part of what is known about the contents of that era's commercial pipe tobaccos comes from trade manuals addressed not to the consumer but directly to the manufacturer. These volumes, while describing how leaf was to be flavored, scented, and colored, also document between the lines just how much the period struggled with poor-quality leaf.

The Adulteration Problem and the First Inspections

The mixing of foreign substances into tobacco was regarded throughout the 19th century in Britain as a serious tax and consumer issue. In 1842 the Excise established a small laboratory at its Broad Street headquarters in London to prevent adulteration in tobacco products; at the outset this work fell to almost a single official, George Phillips. The Analytical and Sanitary Commission that Thomas Wakley set up for The Lancet in 1851, with analyses carried out by Arthur Hill Hassall, examined a range of consumer goods from bread to sugar, pepper to coffee; tobacco was on that list too. Mounting public pressure produced the first adulteration act in 1860, a second in 1872, and the Sale of Food and Drugs Act in 1875. Over this same period the Excise laboratory's remit expanded from food to drink; in 1894 it merged with the customs laboratory to become the official Government Laboratory, and in 1897 it moved into a new building built for the purpose.