Smoking has gone from the height of chic to the depth of infamy in only a few decades. And yet, compared to other addictive drugs, tobacco is socially almost harmless. Its users do not become career criminals, loud-mouthed tearaways or menaces on the roads. They damage only themselves; their only anti-social behaviour is to spread the nasty smell of smoke.

And even that nasty smell, says Daedalus, is not central to the habit. It just so happens that free nicotine, the addictive agent in tobacco, reacts readily with oxygen. Tobacco itself contains nicotine in combination, largely as the stable citrate. Smoking is a way of freeing it on demand, and getting it into the smoker in seconds, before it has a chance to oxidize. Daedalus is therefore devising an oxygen-free vehicle for nicotine.

His brilliant idea is to combine it with another widely used drug, alcohol. Brewing, of course, exploits the conversion of sugars to alcohol. The reaction needs no oxygen; indeed, it gives off carbon dioxide which tends to keep air away. Many sources of plant sugar, from potatoes to barley to grapes to elderflowers, can be fermented to an alcoholic wine or beer. So DREADCO chemists are now inventing tobacco wine. Their crucial new technique is to conduct the process from the very beginning in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide. No oxygen can get in, even in the early stages. Once the product is bottled, of course, the oxygen problem is essentially solved. Tiny traces of the gas may slowly diffuse in through the cork; but as in conventional wines this will probably go to producing higher esters and aldehydes which enhance the flavour and bouquet.

Tobacco wine should be widely welcomed. Unlike the various distressing ‘improved cigarettes’ devised by the tobacco companies over the years, it will fill a well-understood niche in the market. It will probably not be very alcoholic. With a bottle or can of tobacco wine at their side, smokers will find it easy to give up their cigarettes. They will be able to enjoy their addiction without the tars and combustion-products which make smoking hazardous and unpopular. Indeed, they will be able to deny and sublimate their addiction in the manner perfected by innumerable alcoholics. They will develop an exaggerated, connoisseur's awareness and appreciation of infinitesimal subtleties of smell and flavour in the product.