Tobacco Leaves Part 2

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO

In Europe the princ.i.p.al tobacco producing countries are Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Italy and Turkey.

Germany has nearly 40,000 acres under tobacco cultivation in Rhenish Bavaria, Baden, Hesse, and Alsace-Lorraine. The annual production is about 50 to 70 million lbs.; and in addition nearly 3 times that much is imported. German home grown leaf is medium to large in size, of fair body, heavy and with coa.r.s.e veins. It is used for cigar filler and pipe, but is not suited for cigar wrappers. (See the chapter on cigars.)

French tobacco is raised from Virginia seed. It is dark, coa.r.s.e and heavy and is suitable for plug and snuff making only.

Russia is the largest European producer. Russian tobacco leaf is very large in size and like the French is coa.r.s.e, dark and heavy and is only fit for plug and snuff making. There is a lighter kind grown from Turkish seed in South Russia which is fit for cigarettes.

Italy has made several attempts to cultivate good tobacco, and several different types are produced. A dark heavy leaf is grown from Virginia seed, and a type from Kentucky seed is also produced. These types are suitable to the dark, heavy fertile soils of Middle and North Italy. In the lighter sandy soil of the south, the varieties grown are raised from Turkish seed and are similar in appearance and quality to the genuine Turkish tobacco.

Hungary is a heavy grower of tobacco and produces some of the best in Europe. There is a heavy dark type, of a rich brown color, medium sized leaf with small and thin veins, which is used in cigar manufacture. A small bright yellow leaf is also grown, poor in quality and aroma, which is used for pipe smoking and cigarettes.

The most important foreign tobacco as regards U. S. consumers is that known as Turkish. The leaves of the Turkish tobacco are small (about 8"

long), clear yellow in color, and have a special aroma, which renders them peculiarly suitable for the manufacturing of cigarettes. The princ.i.p.al producing centers are Macedonia, Albania, Syria, Palestine and Trebizond, that raised in Macedonia being per-haps the most celebrated. Just like the Cuban leaf, the very best grades of Turkish tobacco are not exported, but are kept for domestic consumption.

_Latakia_ tobacco is produced in the northern part of Syria. This tobacco has a very small nicotine content. It is produced by a special fabrication and is in very great demand as an ingredient of pipe smoking mixtures.

The District of Cavalla in the Province of Roumelia, is one of the most important tobacco centers in the Turkish Empire. There are about 75,000 acres under tobacco cultivation and the annual production is about 10,000,000 lbs. The American Tobacco Co. has a large establishment here through which it purchases its Turkish leaf, amounting to over 6 million lbs. yearly, for the manufacture of Turkish cigarettes, etc.

The total importation of Turkish leaf into the United States during 1913 was:

From Turkey in Europe 10,816,048 lbs.

From Turkey in Asia 18,955,295 lbs.

Greece and the Balkan States produce tobacco which partakes of the qualities of Hungarian and Turkish, the Grecian leaf being used a good deal as a subst.i.tute for genuine Turkish tobacco.

TOBACCO PRODUCED IN THE NEW WORLD OTHER THAN IN UNITED STATES

The government of Canada has given a lot of attention to experiments in connection with the growth of tobacco in the Dominion, but only with indifferent success. The leaf is raised princ.i.p.ally from Virginian seed, but is large and coa.r.s.e and is only fit for inferior plug and snuff making.

Cuban Tobacco. The tobacco raised in the Island of Cuba is the most celebrated in the world for cigar making. The leaf is of a rich, brown color; narrow and small in size, varying from 8 to 18 inches in length.

Its richness of flavor and the peculiar aroma are its chief characteristics. Cuba produces annually about 300,000 to 500,000 bales of tobacco varying in weight from 80 to 150 lbs. per bale, nearly one-half of which is exported to the United States alone.

The importation of Cuban leaf into the United States over a series of years is shown below:

_Cuban leaf imports into the U. S. (lbs.)_

1855-1860 == 7,014,485 } 1871-1875 == 8,985,465 } Average 1886-1890 == 15,532,075 } Yearly 1896-1900 == 10,811,173 } Imports.

1901-1905 == 24,048,837 } Year 1914 == 26,617,545 } The value in 1900 was $ 8,478,251 The value in 1905 was $13,348,000

The Province of _Pinar del Rio_ produces about 70 per cent of the entire Cuban crop. In this is the District of _Vuelto Abajo_ which is celebrated the world over for the very finest cigar tobacco. The District of Habana or Havana produces about 13 per cent and Santa Clara about 13 per cent.

The Cubans themselves favor the dark "Maduro" fully ripened leaves. At present a good deal of Cuban cigar leaf is grown under shade with the result that although when fully mature they are light in color, they are rich in flavor.

The value of the cigar leaf imported by the U. S. from Cuba averages at present about 14 or 15 million dollars annually.

Porto Rican leaf possesses many of the qualities of good Havana leaf, and like the latter is used in cigar manufacture. The annual production is about 120,000 bales. The U. S. imports from 4 to 5 million lbs. annually.

Further particulars regarding Cuban and Porto Rican leaf will be given in the chapters concerning cigars.

Mexico produces a tobacco, large as to leaf, dark in color, with heavy body and coa.r.s.e veins. The tobacco is very strong in flavor. The best grades approach the Cuban tobacco in quality and are imported and used as subst.i.tutes for it. The U. S. importation is small. The annual production is about 34 million lbs. The best quality is produced in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz, and only a small portion is exported, princ.i.p.ally to Cuba.

Brazilian tobacco leaf is brown in color, medium in size, and medium in body. It possesses fair qualities as a cigar tobacco, for which purpose it is generally used in South America, which is its princ.i.p.al market.

EAST INDIAN AND PHILIPPINE TOBACCO

The Dutch East Indies (Sumatra and the adjacent islands) produce yearly about 180 million lbs. of tobacco, all of which is used in the cigar business. Of this the United States takes about from 30,000 to 40,000 bales of Sumatran leaf, about 5-1/2 million lbs. About 2 lbs. of this leaf wraps 1,000 cigars.

The Philippine Islands produce from 50 to 100 million lbs., of tobacco annually. The crop for 1913 was 101,544,736 lbs. The imports into the United States are princ.i.p.ally as manufactured cigars by special arrangements which will be referred to later on in the chapter on cigars.

CHAPTER IV

PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO IN THE UNITED STATES

TOTAL PRODUCTION. AMOUNT PRODUCED BY THE DIFFERENT STATES. VARIETIES RAISED. DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT VARIETIES.

PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO LEAF IN THE UNITED STATES

The amount of tobacco leaf raised annually in the United States varies from 700 million lbs. to 1,000 million lbs. Thus, according to the Government Statistical Reports, the production in 1909 was 1,055,764,806 lbs., being an unusually high figure. The production in 1913 was 953,734,000 lbs. and in 1914, 1,034,679,000 lbs. The average crop may be taken as about 800 million lbs., about half of which is exported as leaf, and the other half manufactured in the U. S. into cigars, smoking and chewing tobaccos, etc., and consumed in the U. S. To produce this immense crop over one million acres of rich, fertile land is under culture, the actual government figures for 1913 being 1,216,000 acres, and for 1914, 1,224,000, and the value of the raw crop is from 80 to 100 million dollars, which works out to an average value of from 10 to 12 cents per lb. The cost of producing the best grades of cigar leaf in the Eastern States is from 8 to 10 cents per lb.; in Wisconsin from 5 to 10 cents. The price paid to the growers is from 5 to 15 cents, except for the highest grades (cigar wrapper leaf) for which special prices, up to 40 or 50 cents, may be paid. Smoking and chewing leaf of average grade fetches from 6 to 7 cents per lb.

From these figures it will be seen that the agricultural industry of tobacco growing is a most important one, and it is constantly increasing both in the quant.i.ty produced and in value. About 45 of the states in the Union are engaged in tobacco culture, the princ.i.p.al states and the quant.i.ties produced being as follows (for 1914):

Kentucky 364 million lbs.

North Carolina 172 " "

Virginia 114 " "

Tennessee 63 " "

Ohio 78 " "

Wisconsin 54 " "

Pennsylvania 48 " "

Connecticut 35 " "

South Carolina 36 " "

Maryland 17 " "

Indiana 12 " "

Ma.s.sachusetts 11 " "

Other states 30 " "

---- Total 1034 " "

Virginia was, until recently, the premier tobacco state. Tobacco was first raised in Virginia about 1619 when the quant.i.ty produced was about 20,000 lbs. By 1753 the records show that over 50 million lbs. were raised annually, all of which was exported. At this time and until about the period of the Civil War, Europe was dependant more than now on America for her tobacco supply, as at present a considerable part of her needs is supplied by her own production. Tobacco was not grown in Kentucky till about 1785 and a little later in Tennessee and Ohio. The cigar leaf industry of the New England States did not come into activity till about 1830. Cigar leaf was raised in Florida about the same time but was discontinued and was not resumed till fifty years later.

Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee have shown a declining annual production since the Civil War. Thus Virginia in 1860 produced nearly 30 per cent of the total U. S. crop, whereas at present it produces about 12 per cent only. The causes which have contributed to the decline in tobacco culture in the Southern States are the loss of slave labor as well as the loss of capital during the war; more particularly it is due to the impoverishing of the soil without adequate fertilization. Thus with superior fertilization and intensive methods, Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut give 1,750 lbs. to the acre, as against 870 and 580 lbs. for Kentucky and Tennessee. In Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut the cost for fertilizer _per farm_ is $227 as against $17 and $4 respectively in Tennessee and Kentucky. Moreover, the Northern farms are smaller than the Southern.

VARIETIES OF TOBACCO RAISED