Many visitors to Lancaster are surprised, even shocked, to learn the
Amish grow tobacco. They thought the Amish would not be producing, or
using, this product. Indeed, the whole issue of smoking and tobacco has
been called a "burning issue" in Amish communities in the United
States. Some people felt we should not even try to deal with it in our
publication because it was too "controversial." The purpose here
is not to argue for or against tobacco and smoking, but rather to look at
Amish opinions on the subject.
Tobacco, a labor intensive crop ideal for large families, has always
been part of the agricultural scene in Lancaster. While prices vary from
year to year, it tends to be an excellent cash crop. Nevertheless, smoking
is forbidden in many other Amish settlements in America.
Tobacco is labor intensive, and ideal for the large Amish family. In
March and April, Amish farmers use steam to sterilize the tobacco bed, and
then sow the tiny seeds. (Visitors to Lancaster often notice the
particularly large tobacco bed planted about a mile east of Intercourse.)
By late May the plants are large enough to begin transplanting into the
field. A unique device, pulled by horses or mules, is used. Making a
furrow as it goes along, the device has a large water tank, and a place
for two people to sit and drop plants into the ground. It should be noted
that the planting is staggered, so that all the tobacco does not mature at
once. This allows for harvesting the plants when they are at their prime.
The Amish family is commonly seen hoeing their tobacco during the month of
July. The cutting of tobacco takes place in August and September, to be
stripped later on in the winter months of December and January, when there
is not much farm work to be done.
According to John Hostetler, author of Amish Society, "The
Amish in Lancaster County started raising tobacco soon after the tobacco
industry was established there, probably about 1838. They, along with a
group in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland, are the only Amish in the nation
who grow tobacco." He goes on to say that…
"In those districts where it is permitted, there is no effort to
conceal smoking, except in the case of cigarettes, which are viewed are
‘worldly.’ Where forbidden, it is often done secretly. Older men
appear to have more ‘right’ to chew or smoke than young men. Pipe and
cigar smoking is the accepted practice. Modern lighters are used by some.
It was formerly common for older women to smoke a pipe."
Some of the arguments FOR tobacco include the fact that the Amish
forefathers used it, God created it, it is not mentioned in the
Scriptures, and non-smoking is often indicative of more liberal churches.
But the Amish have become more and more vocal in criticizing those who
smoke.
Back in 1969, Family Life Amish author Joseph Stoll wrote an
article titled "Tobacco: A Burning Issue." In it he states the
reasons for his opposition to raising and smoking tobacco. He notes that
long ago some people used tobacco because they believed it had a medicinal
value. But he quotes from a church discipline that states, "No one
shall use tobacco, because it is a bad habit whereby one wastes time and
money." This was written by Anabaptist forefathers of the Amish and
Mennonites in 1639!
Over the years, as more information regarding the effects of smoking
were made known, some of the Amish became unusually vocal in their
feelings on the matter. In the February 1976 issue of the Amish magazine Family
Life, a reader wrote, "It’s time to face the facts and realize
that using tobacco is a lust of the flesh, a harm to your health, and a
waster of your money. Why don’t we work together to get this evil out of
our churches."
Earlier, in 1969, Amish author Joseph Stoll wrote an article titled,
"Tobacco: A Burning Issue," in which he stated some of the
reasons he felt the Amish should not smoke. One of these was the expense
involved. He wonders whether some people spend more money on smoking than
they do on charity. The matter of possible addiction was also raised.
In Lancaster, cigars and pipes are the norm, with cigarettes deemed too
"worldly." This explains why they are popular among some
unbaptized Amish youth. Concerning this distinction, he writes, "If
cigarettes are more worldly than cigars, pipes and chewing, wouldn’t
these by comparison be more worldly than not using tobacco at all? If so,
not being worldly at all would be a nobler goal than merely to not be ‘too
worldly.’"
The author notes that smoking is now forbidden in some Amish
communities, and that sometimes people "may have been overly zealous
or were not as respectful as they should have been toward those who
disagreed with them. This is regretful, for men are seldom persuaded by
heated words."
To make his point, he tells the story of an Amish man who accepted a
ride by car into town. The driver was smoking and offered the Amishman a
cigarette. The Amishman refused saying, "I figure God didn’t intend
for man to smoke. If he had, he would have built him a chimney."
The driver stopped the car and said, "You can get out here. I
suppose if God had intended that man should ride, he would have put him on
wheels."
Stoll says that "there is a deep principle here—we must be
careful to base our faith on the Word of God and not on human
reasoning."
One local Amish farmer, apparently moved by the arguments raised
against tobacco in Family Life, wrote in to say, "We live on a
small farm in Lancaster County, and I’m sure you know the price of land
here. We have no dairy nor the money to put one in… To use it is not
only a bad habit, but it is bread and shoes. Even with the tobacco check,
we only broke even in our first year of farming. What can we do?"
In a later issue came this reply from a fellow Pennsylvania farmer,
"Instead of farming tobacco, I planted one-half acre of strawberries
in the spring. One year later that patch yielded about $1,600 worth of
berries. This was better than average, but, even so, strawberries do pay
well, and we can ask the blessing of the Lord upon it."
Indeed the number of Amish who raise tobacco has decreased. John
Hostetler, in his book Amish Society, writes that "in 1929,
85% of the Amish farmers in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, grew
tobacco. It is estimated that about one-third of the Amish farmers raise
tobacco today. A good crop will yield 2000 pounds per acre. When a new
silo is built, it frequently signifies a change from tobacco to milk
production."
And so even though some Amish farmers have switched to milk or tomatoes
to replace tobacco, it is still common to see Amish families working with
the planting, cultivating and harvesting of tobacco in the area’s
farmlands. And tobacco sheds, their side slats open to reveal the drying
leaves, remain familiar structures dotting our local Lancaster County
farms. It seems that, just as the issue of smoking in public places became
a dispute in the 1980’s for the modern American public, among the Amish
this controversy, like the tobacco shed, is not likely to go away any time
soon.
Amish Country News
Article by Brad Igou, (1992)
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