Duke’s Mixture Was a Tobacco Blend

Eric from Millbank, South Dakota, says his grandmother used the term duke’s mixture to denote “a hodgepodge,” such as ingredients in a stew. Duke’s mixture was originally the name of a cheap tobacco that was made from leftover odds and ends of tobacco leaves and produced by the Duke Tobacco Company of Durham, North Carolina. The term came to refer to any type of random mixture, and also applies to mixed-breed dogs. This is part of a complete episode.

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