Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce Part 41

"Tobacco of the cla.s.ses _desechito_ and _libra_, of which the leaves are not perfect, is called _injuriado bueno_, while all the rest, of whatever quality, that is broken in such a manner as to be unfit for wrappers are called _injuriado malo_. Amongst the trade in place of the above names, the different qualities are simply designated by numbers."

Meyer, a German writer who resided several years in Cuba, gives another cla.s.sification, making ten cla.s.ses altogether, while Hazard mentions only four general cla.s.ses.

After the leaves are stripped from the stalk the process known as

a.s.sORTING

commences. a.s.sorting tobacco is doing up in hands the various qualities and keeping them separate. In the Connecticut valley the growers make usually but two kinds or qualities excepting only when the crop is poor when three qualities are made, viz: Wrappers, Seconds, and Fillers. The Wrappers are the largest and finest leaves on the plant and should be free from holes and sweat as well as green and white veins. The leaves selected for this quality come from the middle and even the top leaves of the plant. The Seconds are made up of leaves not good enough for Wrappers and too good for Fillers. Such leaves sometimes are worm-eaten and of various colors on the same leaf--one part dark and another light. The fillers are the poorest quality of leaves to be found on the plants, and consist of the "sand"

or ground leaves, one or two to each plant. Some of our largest growers in a.s.sorting the leaves keep each color by itself, an operation known as

SHADING.

This is a very delicate operation and requires a good eye for colors as well as a correct judgment in regard to the quality of the leaf.

This mode of a.s.sorting colors in stripping is similar to that of shading cigars, in which the utmost care is taken to keep the various colors and shades by themselves. In shading the wrappers only are so a.s.sorted, and may be "run into" two or three shades depending on the number of shades or colors of the leaf. The better way is to make only two qualities of the wrappers in shading--viz., light and dark cinnamon "selections." Shading tobacco does not imply that it is carried to its fullest extent in point of color as in shading cigars, but simply keeping those general colors by themselves like light and dark brown leaves. Cutting tobaccos before being used are subjected to a process known as

STEMMING.

Tatham gives the following account of the process of stemming in Virginia a century ago:--

"Stemming tobacco is the act of separating the largest stems or fibres from the web of the leaf with adroitness and facility, so that the plant may be nevertheless capable of package, and fit for a foreign market. It is practised in cases where the malady termed the fire, or other casual misfortune during the growth of the plant, may have rendered it doubtful in the opinion of the planter whether something or other which he may have observed during the growth of his crop, or in the unfavorable temperature of the seasons by which it hath been matured does not hazard too much in packing the web with a stem which threatens to decay. To avoid the same species of risk, stemming is also practised in cases where the season when it becomes necessary to finish packing for a market is too unfavorable to put up the plant in leaf in the usual method; or when the crop may be partially out of case. Besides the operation of stemming in the hands of the crop-master, there are instances where this partial process is repeated in the public warehouses; of which I shall treat under a subsequent head.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Stemming.]

"The operation of stemming is performed by taking the leaf in one hand, and the end of the stem in the other, in such a way as to cleave it with the grain; and there is an expertness to be acquired by practice, which renders it as easy as to separate the bark of a willow, although those unaccustomed to it find it difficult to stem a single plant.

When the web is thus separated from the stem, it is made up into bundles in the same way as in the leaf, and is laid in bulk for farther process. The stems have been generally thrown away, or burnt with refuse tobacco for the purpose of soap-ashes; but the introduction of snuff-mills has, within a few years back, found a more economical use for them."

As soon as the tobacco has been stripped it is ready for

PACKING.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Packing.]

It is necessary to pack the "hands" after stripping in order to keep it moist, or in nearly the same condition as when stripped. Select a cool place, not too dry or too damp, but one where if properly protected, the tobacco will remain moist. It should be packed loosely or compact, according as the hands are moist or dry. It may be packed in the center of the floor so that it may be examined from either side, or against the sides of the packing house, as may be thought best. Hand the tobacco to the packer, who presses the hands firmly with his knees and hands, laying the tobacco in two tiers and keeping the pile at about the same height until all is packed. If possible pack all together, that is, each kind by itself, as it is better to have the wrappers or fillers all together rather than in several places, as the moisture is retained better than when it is packed in small piles or heaps. Use in packing a plank or board, placing it against the front of the tier and bring the ends of the hands up against it. This will make the tobacco look much better and also render the process of packing firmer.

The tobacco may be packed any height or length desired, according to the quant.i.ty, but usually from three to four feet high will be found to be convenient while the length may be proportioned to the height or not. Tobacco may be packed by the cord or half cord so as to be able to judge of the quant.i.ty--good large wrappers averaging a ton to the cord. Seconds and Fillers will not contain as many pounds to the cord as wrappers. After the tobacco is packed, cover first with boards--planed ones are preferable,--or even shingles--and press firmly, especially if the tobacco is dry, then cover with blankets or any kind of covering, adding plank or pieces of timber if additional pressure is needed. It can now remain packed until sold or cased, and will hardly need to be examined unless packed while very damp or kept packed until warm weather.

Wailes says of planting by the early planters of tobacco in Mississippi:--

"The larger planters packed it in the usual way in hogsheads. Much of it, however, was put up in carrets, as they were called, resembling in size and form two small sugar-loafs united at the larger ends. The stemmed tobacco was laid smoothly together in that form coated with wrappers of the extended leaf, enveloped in a cloth, and then firmly compressed by a cord wrapped around the parcel, and which was suffered to remain until the carret acquired the necessary dryness and solidity, when together with the surrounding cloth, it was removed, and strips of lime-bark were bound around it at proper distances, in such a manner as to secure it from unwrapping and losing its proportions."

In Turkey, after the tobacco is made into bundles or hands, it is piled against the walls inside the dwelling rooms and a carefully graduated pressure put upon it until ready for baling. In Java, when the tobacco is ready to pack the leaf is examined, and if found quite brown, it is tightly pressed and packed up either in boxes or matting for exportation, or in the bark of the tree plantain, for immediate sale.

The next process on the tobacco plantation is that of

PRIZING, CASING, AND BALING.

The term prizing originated in Virginia, and as performed by the early planters, is thus described by an old writer on tobacco culture:--

"Prizing, in the sense in which it is to be taken here is, perhaps, a local word, which the Virginians may claim the credit of creating, or at least of adopting; it is at best technical, and must be defined to be the act of pressing or squeezing the article which is to be packed into any package, by means of certain levers, screws, or other mechanical powers; so that the size of the article may be reduced in stowage, and the air expressed so as to render it less pregnable by outward accident, or exterior injury, than it would be in its natural condition.

"The operation of prizing, however, requires the combination of judgment and experience; for the commodity may otherwise become bruised by the mechanic action, and this will have an effect similar to that of prizing in too high case, which signifies that degree of moisture which produces all the risks of fermentation, and subjects the plant to be shattered into rags. The ordinary apparatus for prizing consists of the prize beam, the platform, the blocks, and the cover. The prize beam is a lever formed of a young tree or sapling, of about ten inches diameter at the b.u.t.t or thicker end, and about twenty or twenty-five feet in length; but in crops where many hands are employed, and a sufficient force always near for the occasional a.s.sistance of managing a more weighty leverage, this beam is often made of a larger tree, hewn on two of its sides to about six inches thick, and of the natural width, averaging twelve or fourteen inches. The thick end of this beam is so squared as to form a tenon, which is fitted into a mortise that is dug through some growing tree, or other, of those which generally abound convenient to the tobacco house, something more than five feet above the platform. Close to the root of this tree, and immediately under the most powerful point of the lever, a platform or floor of plank is constructed for the hogshead to stand upon during the operation of prizing. This must be laid upon a solid foundation, levelled, upon hewn pieces of wood as sleepers; and so grooved and perforated that any wet or rain which may happen to fall upon the platform may run off without injuring the tobacco. Blocks of wood are prepared about two feet in length, and about three or four inches in diameter, with a few blocks of greater dimensions, for the purpose of raising the beam to a suitable purchase; and a movable roof constructed of clap-boards nailed upon pairs of light rafters, of sufficient size to shelter the platform and hogshead, is made ready to place astride of the beam, as a saddle is put upon a horse's back, in order to secure the tobacco from the weather while it is subjected to this tedious part of the process.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Prizing in olden times.]

"That part of the apparatus which is designed to manage and give power to the lever is variously constructed: in some instances two beams of timber about six feet long, and squared to four by six inches, are prepared; through these, by means of an auger hole, a sapling of hickory or other tough wood, is respectively pa.s.sed; and the root thereof being formed like the head of a pin to prevent its slipping through the hole, the sapling is bent like a bow, and the other end is pa.s.sed through the same piece of wood in a reversed direction, in which position it is wedged. These two bows are in this manner hung by the sapling loops upon the end of the prize beam or lever; and loose planks or slabs of about five or six feet long being laid upon these suspended pieces of timber, a kind of hanging floor or platform is constructed, upon which weights are designed to act as in a scale. A pile of large stones are then carted to the place, and a sufficient number of these are occasionally placed upon this hanging platform, until the lever has obtained precisely the power which the crop master wishes to give it by this regulating medium.

"The prizing or packing by the old planters must have been a tedious affair, and far different from the quick work made by the screw-press now owned by all well to-do planters. The size of the hogsheads containing the tobacco was regulated by law to the standard of four feet six inches in length, but the shape of the cask varied according to the fancy of the cooper, or roughness of his work. At this period (a century ago), the tobacco hogshead was made most generally of white oak; but Spanish oak, and red oak, were sometimes used, when the usual kind could not be so readily commanded.

Now the hogsheads are made of pine, but are nearly as rough as those made by the colonial growers.

"Tobacco, if well packed, and prized duly, will resist the water for a surprising length of time. An instance is recorded in strong proof of this, which occurred at Kingsland upon James river in Virginia, where tobacco, which had been carried off by the great land floods in 1771, was found in a large raft of drift wood in which it had lodged when the warehouses at Richmond were swept away by the overflowing of the freshets; an inundation which had happened about twenty years before this cask was found."

Tatham gives the following account of a similar instance:--

"On the sixth of October, 1782, I myself was one of a party who were shipwrecked upon the coast of New Jersey, in America, on board the brigantine Maria, Captain McAulay, from Richmond in Virginia, and laden with tobacco. Several hogsheads, which were saved from the wreck were brought round to Stillwill's landing upon Great Egg harbor; and amongst them some which had lost the headings of the cask, and the hoops and staves, were so much shattered by the beating of the surf, that it was not thought worth while to land them, and they were just tumbled out of the lighter upon the beach, and left to remain where the tide constantly flowed over them for several weeks, so that the outside was completely rotten, and they had the appearance of heaps of manure. In this very bad condition, I still persisted in trying to save what I supposed might remain entire in the interior of the lump, and at last prevailed so far over the ignorance and prejudice by which I had been ridiculed, as to effect an overhauling and repacking of this damaged commodity and to save a proportion thereof very far beyond what I myself had expected. Some of the heart of this was so highly improved, that I have seldom seen tobacco equal to it for chewing, or for immediate manufacture; and what was repacked was sold to a tobacconist in Water Street, Philadelphia, at a price so little reduced below the ordinary market, that the man very frankly told me, that if he could have had the whole drowned tobacco in a short time after it was saved from the wreck, he would have made no difference in the price but would rather have preferred it for immediate manufacture, as it would have spared him, some little labor in a part of the process."

Prizing tobacco applies to the packing of tobacco in hogsheads all such leaf being used for cutting purposes, cigar leaf being either cased or baled. In some sections about 800 pounds net is packed in one parcel, while in others 1000 pounds and sometimes even 1500 and 1800 pounds. "Seed leaf" tobacco in this country is all packed in cases instead of hogsheads, each case containing from 375 to 400 pounds net.

It is necessary that all kinds of tobacco should be pressed in some kind of package before it is ready to be manufactured. There are exceptions, however, as in the case of Latakia tobacco, which is simply hung in the peasant's huts through the winter to be fumigated and to acquire the peculiar flavor this tobacco has. Tobacco in good condition to case must be damp enough to bear the pressure in casing without breaking and crumbling, while it must not be too moist or it will rot in the case. The number of pounds to the case will vary according to the size of the leaf, as well as the condition of the tobacco.

When ready to case the "hands" are packed in the case, laying them in two tiers. The case being nearly full the contents are then subjected to a strong pressure until it is reduced to one half its bulk, then another layer is placed in the case and again pressed, and succeeded by as many as are required to fill the case. The tobacco should be packed evenly in layers with the ends of the leaves touching one another or even crossing, and the whole ma.s.s presenting a smooth and even appearance. The "wrappers" should be cased by themselves and "the seconds" and "fillers" together or separate at the option of the packer. The tobacco should be cased hard so that the ma.s.s will rise but little when the pressure is removed. As the fillers are usually dry they must be moistened before casing or subjected to a very strong pressure. After packing the cases should be turned on their sides, and the grower's name marked on each case, also the kind of tobacco, whether wrappers or fillers, together with the number of pounds and the weight of the case. This is necessary to ascertain the quality of leaf produced by each grower, as well as to protect the buyer against all fraud in packing and casing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tobacco press.]

The cases may be piled one upon another, but should be kept from the rays of the sun and in a dry room, so that the sweating of the leaf may be sufficient to fit it for use. It is necessary that the season during sweating should be warm, in order to secure a good sweat. It will commence to "warm up" sometime in April or May, and will be ready to sample or uncase about the first of September. After "going through a sweat," the leaf takes on a darker color, and loses the rank flavor which it had before. It is better to let the tobacco dry off before being used or taken from the case. "Baling" is packing tobacco in small bundles or packages containing from one hundred to two hundred pounds, and is the manner of putting up tobacco for export in Cuba, Paraguay, Algiers, Hungary, Mexico, Syria, the Philippines, China, Sumatra, j.a.pan, Java, Turkey, and in some other tobacco-growing countries. In Cuba after being formed into hands or "_gavillos_" and four of these tied together with strips of palm-leaf so as to const.i.tute a "_manoja_," fifty or eighty of them are packed together, making what is called a "_tercio_" or bale, the average weight of which is two hundred pounds. Hazard says of the number of pounds produced on the _vegas_:

"A _caballeria_ of thirty-three acres of ground produces about nine thousand pounds of tobacco, made up in about the following proportions: four hundred and fifty of _desecho_, or best; one thousand eight hundred pounds _desechito_, or seconds; two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds of _libra_, or thirds; and four thousand five hundred pounds of _injuriado_. From these figures, taking the bale at one hundred pounds, and the average price of the tobacco at twenty dollars per bale, (though this is a low estimate, for the crops of some of the vegas are sold as high, sometimes, as four hundred dollars per bale,) an approximate idea may be formed of the profit of a large plantation in a good year, when the crops are satisfactory."

In Mexico, after being baled, the tobacco is sent to the government factories, where it is not weighed until two months afterwards. The price is high, varying from twelve to twenty-eight dollars per crate; and is paid in ten monthly installments. In Persia, when the tobacco is fit for packing, the leaves are carefully spread on each other, and formed into cakes four or five feet round, and three to four inches thick, care being taken not to break or injure the leaves. Bags of strong cloth, thin and open at the sides, are provided, into which the cakes are pressed strongly down on each other. When the bags are filled they are placed in a separate drying house, and are turned every day. Water is then sprinkled on the cakes, if required, to prevent them from breaking. The leaf is valued for being thick, tough, of a uniform light yellow color, and of an agreeable aromatic smell.

In Turkey, the tobacco after remaining in the dwelling-room of the house a sufficient time, is ready for baling. The bales average in weight about forty _oques_ (110 English pounds). The covering of the bales is a sort of netting made by the peasants from goat's hair; it is elastic and of great strength. Vamberry says of packing tobacco in European Turkey:

"The tobacco is packed in small packets (_bog tche_), and only after it has lain for years in the warehouses of the tobacco merchants, is it honored by the connoisseurs of Stamboul with the t.i.tle of 'Aala Gobeck.' This sort of finely-cut tobacco resembling the finest silk, is held in equally high estimation in the palaces of the Grand Seignior, in the seraglio, and in the divan of the sublime Porte, where the privy council debate the most important affairs of the empire, under the soothing influence of its aromatic vapors."

In St. Domingo and the United States of Colombia, South America, the bales are called _Serous_, and in Holland and Germany, Packages.

Tobacco is sent to market in bales of various sizes and made of various materials. In Cuba, the tobacco is bound with palm leaves. In South America it is packed in ox hides. From the East it comes in camel's hair sacks or "netting made from goat's hair," while from Persia, tobacco is exported in sacks of strong cloth. Manilla tobacco is shipped in bales containing four hundred pounds net. It is covered first with ba.s.s and then with sacking, made of Indian gra.s.s tied around with ratan. Each bale contains a printed statement, of which the following is a copy:

PROVINCIA DE CAGAYAN,

PARTIDO DE CITa. _Cosecha de 186._

Clas de conteine 40 manos de tabaco aforado por la junta de aforo y enfardelado por el que subscribe. Tuguegarao de de 186.

_El Gobernadorcillo caudillo._ V.{o} B.{o} _Vicente Lasan_. El Interventor de aforo.

The tobacco plant while growing is easily affected by a wet season, while it is also liable to injury by the opposite extreme of heat or drought. If a drought occurs soon after the plants are transplanted, their growth and development is greatly hindered. When, however, the plants are nearly grown, a severe drought affects the plants but little, the large palm-like leaves forming a kind of canopy and keeping the earth moist and cool. During a wet season, and sometimes when the plants have been set in damp soil, they are affected by "brown rust," or, as it is called at the South.