Barnum treats tobacco as an artificial appetite deliberately cultivated against human nature. He argues that no creature except worms naturally love tobacco, yet people deliberately form the habit. Once formed, tobacco appetite becomes stronger than natural appetites and intensifies with continued indulgence. Barnum confesses to smoking ten to fifteen cigars daily until quitting fourteen years prior, demonstrating both the power of the habit and the possibility of breaking it. Tobacco undermines Health and Wealth simultaneously.