Connecticut Seed Leaf.
The plant is one of the most showy of all the varieties of tobacco. The stalk is straight and large, while the leaf (especially the broad) is admirably proportioned, and the top is broad and graceful, rendering it far more symmetrical in appearance than many of the smaller varieties.
Before Connecticut tobacco became known as a wrapper, Maryland and Havana tobaccos were used for this purpose, and when Connecticut first came into use, it was only as a filler. This variety differs very materially from Havana in this respect—it has not that fine flavor of Cuba tobacco, but in texture is much superior. The lighter shades of it burn purely and freely, leaving a white or pearl colored ash, which is one of the best evidences of a good wrapper. The leaf also is very firm and strong, and sufficiently elastic to bear considerable manipulating in manufacture. The various shades also of the two colors, dark and light brown or cinnamon, are among the finest and most delicate of any to be found among the numerous kinds of tobacco used for cigars. The color of the wrapper, however, is merely a matter of taste; when first used for a wrapper the color in demand was a dark brown or cinnamon, now it is light cinnamon leaf that is the most fashionable, and leaf of this color is considered the finest and of the most delicate flavor. As a superior burning tobacco, seed leaf especially commends itself, and while all of the seed products of the various states producing this description of tobacco, are remarkable for their good burning qualities, none are more so than Connecticut seed leaf.
Thorough cultivation by the growers has made this quality of tobacco the most profitable of any grown in the United States. Some considerable controversy has arisen among tobacco-growers concerning the origin of this famous variety. One opinion sets forth that it sprung from plants or seeds brought from Virginia, while another is that tobacco seed from Cuba gave it origin. Most probably the former theory is correct, as the plant was cultivated in gardens in New England, during the reign of Charles I.
However this may be, the system of cultivation pursued has been successful in the production of a leaf tobacco that can hardly be improved, so far as the texture of the leaf is concerned. Some of the "selections" of seed leaf have that fine soft feeling peculiar to satin or silks, and we have seen specimens of such selections, that seemed almost destitute of veins, or anything that would naturally suggest that it was a leaf. In this respect it is quite remarkable, for while the leaf is very large the stem and veins are quite small, no larger than in many varieties with a much smaller leaf. From its first cultivation in the Connecticut valley, the quality has gradually improved until now, and it seems at last to possess almost every feature desirable in a good wrapper.
Havana Tobacco.