The Use of Tobacco 101
There is an interesting statement about smoking by Moses Hagiz (b. 1671). Hagiz was an emissary from Jerusalem to collect funds, and so visited many Jewish communities. He finally settled in Amsterdam , where he compiled his work Leket ha-Kemach, which is composed chiefly of an epitome of the responsa literature. At the end of the volume, he speaks of the fact that many scholars have prohibited the use of tobacco on Yom Kippur , but he says the prohibition is not sound and that it is really permitted. Of course, he adds, those who are strict with themselves should remain strict. Naturally he refers not to pipes or cigarettes, which would require lighting, or to chewing tobacco, which might be swallowed; he refers to snuff. This statement is found on the last page of the original edition. The new edition is not yet complete and therefore does not contain this statement.
Another full discussion of the matter of smoking is given by Hayyim Mordecai Margolis(d. 1818), the author of the index commentary to the Shulhan Arukh, Shaarei Teshuvah. He has two lengthy discussions of the question, one to Orah Hayyim 210 and the other to Orah Hayyim 511. To Orah Hayyim 210, he mentions that no blessing is needed before the use of tobacco. He mentions the discussion of whether it is permitted to light a cigarette or pipe at the flame of a tallow candle, since tallow is prohibited food. By the way, Isaac Lampronti , in his discussion of this question, describes a scientific experiment he conducted to prove that the smoke of the prohibited tallow actually enters into the tobacco, and so such a lighting should not be permitted. To return to Shaarei Teshuvah, Margolis discusses the question frequently dealt with, whether tobacco may be smoked in the holidays. In Orah Hayyim 511, he discusses the relationship or a comparison of the use of tobacco with the use of incense. He tends to permit that use.
A more recent responsum is one by Abraham Sofer, the son of Moshe Sofer of Pressburg and his father’s successor. In his responsum(K'tav Sofer, 66) he discusses smoking on the holiday. He must have been a pipe smoker himself, because he describes precisely the question of extinguishing the fire in the pipe(which would be prohibited on the holidays if the pipe has a cover which is not perforated).
The above includes most of the important responsa on the various questions involved in smoking, namely, whether a blessing is needed; whether it may be lighted from a candle made of