Close up performers will be delighted with this number, and it can be shown before quite a goodly sized audience too. In effect, the performer shows both hands empty and the left formed into a fist. From a bag of popular tobacco a quantity is poured into the fist and when the hand is opened, the tobacco has vanished. Reaching into space with his right hand, the performer makes a catching motion and proceeds to pour tobacco from it into the left hand from where it may be returned to the bag and all examined if thought necessary.

This illustrates how both gimmicks appear when in the bag and in nested order. Top right is the bottom of the bag cut out in circular form, leaving an opening for the nested tube gimmick. Bottom right is the gimmick tube which fits into the bag after the tobacco has been taken out. Then the bag is filled.

The principle upon which the effect is worked was admittedly suggested by DeMuth’s Saltrix, but the application, insofar as known, is original. The entire principle would be the same, but as will be readily understood, the Saltrix cannot be called an item of innocence. Taking a salt shaker from the pocket for a trick is not an innocent procedure and far from appearing impromptu. It is natural for tobacco being on one’s person and is most natural in this respect. The gimmick is a flesh colored tube of a size that the middle finger can be inserted slightly at the open end. This feke fits snugly in another tube which has been set in a bag of popular tobacco, after, of course, the bag has been treated by cutting a hole in it at the bottom.

Open a bag of Bull Durham or Duke’s Mixture and dump the tobacco out. Cut a circular hole in the center of the bag’s bottom. Now insert the gimmick tube into the bag and then repack the bag with tobacco.

The finger tube is closed at one end the same as the gimmick tube and is handled in the same manner as an oversized finger tip. In your coat pocket have a duplicate bag with a bit of tobacco gone. Start by bringing out the fake bag and show the left hand empty. The right hand then passes the bag to the left while it, in turn, is shown empty. Taking the bag back with the right hand, the tube is left in the left fist, and the right proceeds to pour the tobacco into the fist and into the tube. The right hand now drops the bag into the pocket and with a gesture of poking into the fist the few flakes that are on top of the left fist, the right middle finger steals the tube in the usual and well known move. The hands are now held high and far apart. The left is first shown empty and in the meantime the tube has been pulled off the finger, and into the closed right fist for the subsequent dumping of the tobacco back onto the left hand. The right hand drops to the pocket and bringing out the unprepared bag, lets the left dump tobacco into it and the bag may be laid on the table in case anyone thinks of looking at it.

Bag tobacco is the ideal type for this effect, because it is flakey and if not packed down too tightly into the tube will flow freely at the finish of the trick.