Tobacco Leaves Part 10

It has been stated above that much of the Perique tobacco is a subst.i.tute for the genuine. This subst.i.tute is made by taking inferior leaf and submitting it to a similar process, i. e., pressure and oxidation repeatedly. The process is abridged but a black tobacco results particularly when certain darkening ingredients are added. The moral is if you want genuine Perique be sure where you get it, and don't grudge the price.

CHEWING TOBACCO

The particular qualities required in leaf for this purpose are toughness, sweetness of taste, and a richness in oils and gums. Suitable leaf having been selected the leaf is cut and moulded into small plugs or "chews"

which are put up in boxes for the market. Flavoring essences are of course plentifully used.

As well as plug, chewing tobacco may be of the variety known as _twist_, the leaves being spun and twisted in a continuous roll.

The plug consists of a wrapper and filler like the cigar, the brighter and better grades of leaf being used as wrappers. Burley leaf and the yellow leaf tobacco of Virginia, Kentucky and the Carolinas are princ.i.p.ally used.

The substances used for flavoring are liquorice, cane sugar, maple sugar, mola.s.ses, and rum, princ.i.p.ally. The plugs are packed in boxes of 72 lbs.

each, and also smaller boxes of 10 and 12 lbs. each.

The princ.i.p.al centers of the manufacture of pipe smoking and chewing tobacco are Missouri (St. Louis); North Carolina (Durham and Winston); Kentucky (Louisville); New Jersey (Jersey City); Virginia (Richmond) and Ohio (Cincinnati).

There are altogether about 400 establishments employing about 20,000 persons, and the value of the product is over 100 million dollars annually.

This cla.s.s of products is by its nature more suitable for concentration of manufacture than either cigars or cigarettes. Hence the small number of establishments.

Only about 10 million lbs. of manufactured tobacco is exported.

(_See references end of Chapter XV_)

CHAPTER XIV

CIGARETTES

STATISTICS. KINDS AND WHERE MADE. IMPORTED CIGARETTES. DOMESTIC CIGARETTES. CIGARETTE PAPERS.

CIGARETTES

A cigarette according to the meaning of the word is a small cigar. It consists of a roll of loose tobacco wrapped in a case of either paper or tobacco-leaf. In the latter case it is known as an all-tobacco cigarette.

Since the introduction of cigarette making machinery the output of cigarettes in the United States has grown enormously. This will be seen from the following figures which represent the output of cigarettes for the past 25 years:

Number of cigarettes Year manufactured in the United States.

1890 2,000,000,000 1895 3,500,000,000 1900 4,000,000,000 1905 6,500,000,000 1910 7,000,000,000

These figures taken from Government Reports are given in round numbers.

They include "little cigars" which form about 15% of the totals. About one-third is at present exported. In addition to the manufactured cigarettes there is, of course, the large amount of cigarettes made directly by the smoker himself.

There are only about 500 establishments in the whole U. S. engaged in cigarette manufacture and about ten of these manufacture four times as many as all the rest together. There would in fact be fewer factories except for the popularity of certain brands of hand-made cigarettes. 95% of the total output is made in 4 cities, i. e., New York, Durham, N. C.; Richmond, Va.; and New Orleans. New York City alone manufactures about 60% of the whole; Richmond about 16%; New Orleans about 10% and Durham the balance.

Every country manufactures its own peculiar brand of cigarettes. The best known and most popular kinds of cigarettes are those known as Virginian, Turkish, Havana, Porto Rican, Mexican, Russian and Philippine.

The Havana, Porto Rican, Mexican and Philippine cigarettes are usually of the all-tobacco kind--the others being paper wrapped. They are generally made from the cuttings and smaller leaves of cigar leaf tobacco.

Turkish cigarettes are celebrated all the world over. The name is however mostly a misnomer, for nearly all the so-called Turkish cigarettes proper are made in Egypt, Greece, etc., and not in Turkey. In Egypt, however, the best Turkish cigarettes are made from tobacco grown in Turkey (in Europe) which is imported, as no tobacco is grown in Egypt. The peculiar flavor of Egyptian Turkish cigarettes is due to special methods known only to the makers there.

The crop of Turkish tobacco, particularly of the better kinds suitable for cigarettes, is small and less than half of it is exported. The supply of genuine Turkish cigarette tobacco is, therefore, strictly limited and does not find its way into ordinary channels. Much of so-called "Turkish"

tobacco comes from China, and other parts of Asia. From Turkey, in Europe, the United States annually imports at present about ten million lbs., the actual government figures for 1913 being 10,816,048 lbs. valued at about 5-1/2 million dollars.

From Turkey in Asia the imports in 1912 were 11,233,546 lbs., and in 1913, 18,955,295, this latter being valued at nearly 5 million dollars. It does not follow that all this latter is Turkish. It was probably in large part collected from distant points and s.h.i.+pped from ports in Asia Minor. The imports of Turkish tobacco during 1914 are considerably reduced on account of the war.

One American company which does an immense business in the cigarette line maintains at Cavallo a large establishment for the direct purchase and treatment of its own Turkish leaf. This plant handles about 6 million lbs. of leaf annually. The American smoker of home-made Turkish cigarettes has the advantage of knowing that his leaf is genuine and bought economically.

The most valued kind of Turkish tobacco is that grown in the Caza of Yenidji on the Vardar River region in Roumelia.

The Latakia tobacco grown in the hilly part of Northern Syria is also celebrated as a cigarette tobacco. This tobacco has a low nicotine percentage (less than one per cent) and its peculiar aroma is due to its exposure for nearly 6 months to the smoke of the tree known as Quercus Ilex. Very choice parcels of these tobaccos fetch in the open market from $3 to $5 per lb.; lower grades are bought from 25c per lb. and up.

The best known grades of cigarettes made from genuine Turkish leaf are the _La Ferme_ of Leipzig and St. Petersburg; the _Nestor_ and _Melachrino_ of Egypt; the _Monopol_ of New York; and the _Dubec_ of Richmond. In the Turkish hand-made cigarette there is no flavoring of any kind. In Europe the Turkish cigarettes are usually made by Greeks who are special adepts at this work.

The paper wrappers are imported from France or Austria. The native cigarette makers as a rule blend their own leaf and cut or shred it by hand. An expert workman can make about 3,000 cigarettes per day.

In the United States, Turkish cigarettes are of two kinds, imported and domestic. The imported include those purchased already made from Egypt, England, France, etc. In 1913 the value of cigarettes purchased directly by the U. S. from Egypt was about $25,000 and from England $22,000, other countries less. In 1914 the total cost of imported cigarettes (not including those from Philippine Islands) was $79,554. The value of such trade is, therefore, not large. The Turkish cigarettes made in the States are termed Domestic Turkish, and are usually hand-made, though not by any means exclusively so. It appears to be nothing more than an idiosyncrasy to consider that a hand-made cigarette is better than a machine-made one.

As in the case of cigars, other things being equal it would appear that on many considerations, hygienic as well as mechanical, the balance is in favor of the machine. However, many still think there is some peculiar talismanic virtue in a hand-made cigarette and are willing to pay a higher price. There is, of course, a pleasure in making one's own cigarettes, but when they are bought made the advantage of hand-making is not very apparent.

There are many variants of the Turkish cigarette. Besides the common paper wrapped variety some have fillers of Turkish tobacco with Havana or Virginia leaf wrapper; others have mixed fillers of Turkish, Virginia, Havana or Perique, two or more or all kinds being mixed. Each type of cigarette has its own special votaries. Cigarettes of this variety are not, however, so popular in the United States as in other countries where the cigarette is the most p.r.o.nounced type smoked.

The American cigarette is generally made of Yellow Virginian tobacco and is popular all the world over. The secret of success in good cigarette making lies in the selection and blending of the leaf so that the proper strength and characteristics may be secured. As a general rule no adulterants of any kind are added to the tobacco except in some of the very cheap kinds in which the leaf is sometimes treated with a glycerine solution in order to give it a sweetish taste. The solution is quite harmless.

The machinery for the manufacture of cigarettes has been brought to such perfection that it is quite automatic. The only hand work required is the feeding of the tobacco into the hoppers. The cutting, rolling, wrapping, tipping and packing are all done quite mechanically, the cigarettes being turned out all ready for the smoker. In the large factories the processes are under strict hygienic conditions, which is not usually the case in the small workshops where the hand-made goods are prepared. The various machines used in the manufacturing processes are highly complicated and a detailed description of them would be too technical for these pages.

The paper used for wrapping cigarettes has frequently been the subject of most unwarranted attacks and the most absurd statements have been made regarding it. Investigation and a.n.a.lysis of the paper used in the very cheapest grades of cigarettes by competent authorities have failed to find anything deleterious to health. The paper used for this purpose is made princ.i.p.ally in France. It is of the kind known as rice paper although it has no connection whatever with rice. It is a vegetable substance being made usually from the membranes of the bread fruit tree or else from fine tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of flax and hemp. The materials are thoroughly washed and treated with lime and soda before and after pulping. Careful a.n.a.lysis are made to see that nothing is left that might be harmful and the manufacturers use the greatest care and judgment to see that their product is as pure and perfect as possible as it is their interest that it should be so. The paper is extremely thin and light, very combustible, and gives off very little smoke. These are the only qualities necessary and there is not the least reason to use any harmful ingredients, as the required qualities can be obtained by the ordinary manufacturing processes.

Moreover, the best paper can be manufactured and supplied at a very low cost. From France the United States annually imports about $500,000 worth of cigarette paper and from Austria about $120,000 worth.

Most manufactured cigarettes have a protective tip at the mouth end. This not only keeps the cigarette intact but prevents the tobacco from being wetted by the saliva. As already stated, nicotine is soluble in water, and its entrance to the mouth in this form is thus obviated. The tips are made of various substances, cork, straw, goldleaf, cherry wood, etc., in fact any water-proof substance that is harmless, nonadherent and smooth can be used.

Cigarettes must according to the law of the U. S. be put up in packages of 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 50 or 100, and the packages must not contain any lottery or chance ticket nor any indecent picture.

Much criticism, that is to a large extent groundless, has been directed against the habit of cigarette smoking. It has been shown by many investigators that when not carried to excess the cigarette is the safest method of using tobacco. The reader is referred to the remarks regarding cigarettes in the chapter respecting the effect of tobacco on the human system; but it may be as well here to quote a recent editorial from one of the leading representative medical journals of the United States, the opinion stated in which should go far towards removing the absurd prejudice against the cigarette.

From the _New York Medical Journal_ of July 25, 1914 (Editorial):

"Particularly do the uninformed enjoy an attack on the cigarette; it is cheap; it is small; and its patrons, numerous as they are, yet form an insignificant minority in our immense population. Therefore, the cigarette and its users are fair game for cheap and silly sneers; sneers which are capable, however, of cowing an entire legislature, as in Georgia at this moment. Yet, beyond cavil, it has been proved scientifically that of all methods of using tobacco, cigarette smoking is the least harmful. Some months ago the _Laucet_ undertook a careful laboratory study of the various ways of consuming tobacco, with the result that it was found that the cigarettes, Egyptian, Turkish and American, yielded the least amount of nicotine to the smoke formed; the cigar came next in point of harmlessness, while the pipe overshadowed the cigar to the extent that from 70 to 90% of nicotine was said to exist in its smoke.

"As to the paper of cigarettes the attacks are simply preposterous.

"Men are well within their rights in forbidding cigarette smoking and other pleasures and distractions to their employes; it is another matter when they seize an opportunity to compound with vices they have a mind to, by d.a.m.ning one they're not inclined to, especially when the latter affords solace and recreation to millions perfectly capable of judging what is and what is not good for them. In Europe where a good deal of logical thinking still prevails, there is probably not one smoker of distinction in any walk of life who does not include the cigarette in his nicotian armamentarium."

(_See references end of Chapter XV_)