H
P Blavatsky
The
Legendary Smoker
In polite Western Society of the late 19th
century, it was very unusual for women of H P Blavatsky’s social status to smoke
and indeed any that did were careful not to do it in public. H P Blavatsky was
a notorious rebel in this area.
The attitude of contemparies
to HPB’s smoking is illustrated by the following
incident which took place in 1875. HPB was the guest of Hiram Corson, professor
of Anglo-Saxon and English Literature at Cornell University. HPB was invited to
stay with Corson and his wife after a period of correspondence between them in
which she warned him that she would embarrass her hosts by sneaking away every
fifteen minutes for a smoke.
Corson invited HPB for a carriage ride to
see the countryside but was worried that if she smoked in the carriage, this
would create a bad impression and harm his reputation. He therefore begged her
not to smoke. The journey began but after only a short distance HPB was
desperate for a cigarette and told him that she must have a smoke or she would
jump out of the carriage.
Corson was in a state of panic but HPB just
asked him “what if people see me smoke ?” “what’s the harm in that ?” and went
on to tell him that people would just think she was a gypsy. Corson found a
quiet spot and ordered his driver to stop the carriage. HPB got out and quickly
rolled a cigarette which she smoked in front of an amazed carriage driver.
Corson later wrote a letter to a friend in
which he told him that HPB smoked two hundred cigarettes a day. This was a
clearly exaggerated figure but gives some idea of the effect HPB’s smoking had on him.
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