Tobacco use in Congress just isn’t what it used to be. Gone are the days of smoke-filled committee rooms and chambers. But one practice of a bygone era persists: Members can still chew — and spit — tobacco in their respective legislative bodies.

When Charles Dickens wrote about the “handsomely carpeted” chambers of the House and Senate in 1842, he gave visitors this advice: Do not look at the floor, and if you drop anything, do not pick it up “with an ungloved hand on any account.”

So prevalent was chewing tobacco — and so bad was the aim — that the condition of the carpets, Dickens wrote, “do not admit of being described.”

Regulations restricting smoking in the Capitol have steadily reduced the number of places where members can light up. The only truly safe indoor spots to smoke now are members’ offices. And you better not reside next to Rep. Keith Ellison; the Minnesota Democrat once called the authorities on Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., for smoking a cigar. Still, regulations regarding the freedom to chew and spit have been left largely intact.

You could even say the Senate encourages the practice: There are still two spittoons on the Senate floor.