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

by E. R. Billings

The cultivation of tobacco in Syria, has been a considerable industry, and the product has acquired a reputation in European markets that has demonstrated its real value, and a constant demand for this variety of the plant. Latakia tobacco resembles in flavor the yellow tobacco of Eastern Thibet and Western China, both of them grown from the same seed. Latakia tobacco is not sweated like most tobacco, but is first cured in the sun and then hung up in the peasants' huts to cure until ready for market. The plants ripen very fast and emit an aromatic odor, increasing in strength as the plants ripen. For smoking it has but few superiors. After curing, it is baled and sent to Europe, where it is manufactured into smoking tobacco. The plants are well cultivated and watched against the ravages of birds, which seem to like the young and tender plants especially before they are transplanted. From the nature of the soil the plants are watered frequently, and when the leaves are about the size of a large cabbage leaf are ready to harvest. As the plants ripen the leaves gradually thicken and take on a lighter shade; the leaf when green is very thick, but after curing is quite thin and of a bright yellow or brown, according to the process employed in curing. The peasants take equal pains in its fumigation, using various kinds of wood according to the color of leaf they wish to obtain. They usually make two kinds of leaf, the finest being colored brown and known by the name of abowri. The tobacco is fumigated with two kinds of wood, gozen (pine wood) and sindian (oak), the tobacco fumigated with gozen having the best smell. The fumigation, however, is said not to be resorted to expressly for the tobacco, but the mountaineers of necessity burn much wood in their huts in the winter, and the smoke improves the tobacco in color, smell, and flavor. All the tobacco grown about Latakia derives its origin from the same seed, but the difference between the abowri and the other kinds is owing to the cultivation of the former about high mountains and with the use of pine wood in fumigating it. A field of Latakia tobacco presents a novel appearance, the short straight plants with their ovate leaves bearing yellow blossoms form a striking contrast to towering seed leaf rising fully two or three feet higher than the Syrian plant.

Fairholt says that "Latakia tobacco is a native of America but grows wild in other countries, and is a hardy annual in English gardens, flowering from midsummer to Michaelmas, so that by some botanists it has been termed 'common, or 'English tobacco.'" Burton's work on unexplored Syria is full of passages relating to tobacco and the custom of smoking.

"The tobacco which is grown on the slopes of the Libanus and the Anti-Libanus mountains appears to be one of the finest quality and most delicate flavor. The monks of the convents are famous for the production of a snuff, which for pungency, at least, is far superior to the snuffs of Europe. Personal experience of it convinces us that a great deal of the pungency of this snuff is due to the addition of some aromatic herb in addition to the natural acridity produced by the highly dried tobacco. The cultivation of tobacco in Syria, will probably increase in proportion to the improved condition of affairs in Syria, we have little doubt; and we trust that when agricultural science is better studied there, Englishmen will have the opportunity of testing the value and importance of Syrian tobacco products."

Connor says of the tobacco fields of India:—

"In the Bombay Presidency tobacco is largely produced, and its quality in such districts as Kaira and Khandesh is superior. In 1871 there were nearly 43,000 acres of land under tobacco in the presidency, the largest quantities being grown in Kaira, Khandesh, Belgaum Sattara, Shalopoor, and Poona. The trade is extensive. The exports of tobacco to foreign countries amount to several million pounds annually. Among foreign countries, Mauritius, Bourbon, and neighboring places, not reckoned as part of British India, take a large share of the exports. Bombay exports tobacco to other Indian presidencies. Small quantities of the fine Guzerat tobaccos find their way by rail into the North-western Provinces. Numerous endeavors have for many years past been made to improve the quality of Bombay tobacco. In 1831 the Resident in the Persian Gulf sent to the local Government a maund of seed of the 'very finest tobacco grown in Persia,' and with it he sent some observations on the mode of cultivating tobacco in the neighborhood of Shiraz. In 1867 fifteen small packets of genuine Shiraz tobacco were forwarded for trial in the Bombay Presidency. Of the seed sown in Kolhopoor, about eight or nine germinated, and the plants grew to a height of five feet two inches; of these only four survived. There were two varieties, one with oblong the other with circular leaves.

Tobacco Field in India.

"Of the seeds sent to Kandesh, only a few germinated. All the seed put down in the Victoria Gardens failed. That sent to Sind, though said to have been carefully sown, also failed to germinate. The Conservator of Forests had the seeds sent him sown in beds, and the plants, when a few inches in height, were transplanted into pots. They grew with the greatest luxuriance, and produced abundance of flowers and seed. Some of the seed was sent to the collector of Kaira, who forwarded a sample of the tobacco grown from it. The Conservator considered the produce very good, and the secretary of the Agri-Horticultural Society pronounced it 'of a superior kind.' The flavor was exceedingly fine, but it had not been allowed to come to maturity, hence it was thin and shriveled. It had also been spoilt by rain, and consequently its market value could not be fairly tested. The experiment, it is clear, was not conducted with proper care by most of those to whom the seed was confided, but the Local Government considered that on the whole the result was satisfactory, as showing that there was every probability that Shiraz tobacco, with care and proper gardening, might be introduced into the Bombay Presidency.

"In August, 1869, the Bombay Government again distributed a small supply of seed of the Shiraz, Havana, and other varieties to the superintendents of cotton experiments, and to the collectors of Kaira, Khandesh, Dharwar, and Kurrachee, for experimental cultivation. The seeds did well in the hands of all the superintendents, who reported very favorably on the plants raised from them. In Sind only the soil in which the seed was sown proved unsuitable. In Dharwar all the five varieties germinated, though the Maryland failed to some extent, and a considerable quantity of seed of each variety was secured. Of Latakia, only twenty grains were sent to the superintendent; and the quantity in each case increased to one pound from the produce of the plants. These two varieties of tobacco, however, were not so much admired by the cultivators as Shiraz, Havana, and Maryland, to which they gave a decided preference. The only varieties of seed which were available for experiments at Broach and Veermgaum were Havana and Shiraz. In both places the plants came up well, and a large quantity of seed was obtained from them. That sent to Broach arrived a little too late in the season to admit of an extensive experiment being made; this indeed appears to have been the case at all the other places. The seed, however, was of good quality, germinated freely, and produced excellent plants in a very short time.