<<'Ship's' can still be found at specialist tobacconists, but
is not recommended for those of a weak constitution. The mere act
of lighting the pipe produces a concentrated blast of tar and
nicotine at the back of the throat, which makes breathing
extremely difficult. There is no taste as such, only a harsh,
rasping sensation, and the fumes and smell are 'acrid', just as
Watson describes them in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. A
marvellous line by the underrated Nigel Bruce, in one of his films
with Rathbone, sums it up very well: 'Fresh in here. Smells like a
pub after closing time.'
If Holmes' before breakfast pipe consisted, as Watson says in
"The Engineer's Thumb", of plugs and dottles from yesterday's
smokes, and if he had been smoking 'ship's' yesterday, then it is
not surprising that he sometimes left his breakfast – and other
meals – untouched. >>
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<<'Ship's' can still be found at specialist tobacconists, but is not recommended for those of a weak constitution. The mere act of lighting the pipe produces a concentrated blast of tar and nicotine at the back of the throat, which makes breathing extremely difficult. There is no taste as such, only a harsh, rasping sensation, and the fumes and smell are 'acrid', just as Watson describes them in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. A marvellous line by the underrated Nigel Bruce, in one of his films with Rathbone, sums it up very well: 'Fresh in here. Smells like a pub after closing time.'
If Holmes' before breakfast pipe consisted, as Watson says in "The Engineer's Thumb", of plugs and dottles from yesterday's smokes, and if he had been smoking 'ship's' yesterday, then it is not surprising that he sometimes left his breakfast – and other meals – untouched. >>
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