There are many risks in tobacco-leaf trading. The leaf, during its growth, is exposed to perforation by a worm which, if not brushed off every morning, may spread over the whole field. Through the indolence of the native cultivator this misfortune happens so frequently that rarely does the Cagayán Valley tobacco contain (in the total crop of the season) more than 10 per cent. of perfect, undamaged leaves. In the aërating-sheds another kind of worm appears in the leaf; and, again, after the leaves are baled or the cigars boxed, an insect drills little holes through them—locally, it is said to be “picado.”
Often in the dry season (the winter months) the tobacco-leaf, for want of a little moisture, matures narrow, thick and gummy, and contains an excess of nicotine, in which case it can only be used after several yearsʼ storage. Too much rain entirely spoils the leaf. Another obstacle to Philippine cigar manufacture is the increasing universal demand for cigars with light-coloured wrappers, for which hardly two per cent. of the Philippine leaf is suitable in world competition, whilst the operative cannot handle with economy the delicate light-coloured Sumatra wrapper. The difficulties of transport are so great that it costs more to bring the finest tobacco-leaf from the field to the Manila factory than it would to send it from Manila to Europe in large parcels. The labour question is also an important consideration, for it takes several years of daily practice for a Filipino to turn out a first-class marketable cigar; the most skilful operatives can earn up to ₱50 a month.
The best quality of Philippine tobacco is produced in the northern provinces of Luzon Island, the choicest selections coming from Cagayán and La Isabela. The Provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Ilocos Sur y Norte, La Union, Nueva Ecija, and even Pampanga, yield tobacco.
In the Visayas, tobacco is cultivated in Panay Island and on the east coast of Negros Island (district of Escalante) and Cebú Island—also to a limited extent in Mindanao. The Visaya leaf generally is inferior in quality, particularly that of Yloilo Province, some of which, in fact, is such rubbish that it is difficult to understand how a profit can be expected from its cultivation. The Escalante (Negros, E. coast) and the Barili (Cebú W. coast) tobacco seemed to me to be the fullest flavoured and most agreeable leaf in all the Visayas.
A tobacco plantation is about as pretty as a cabbage-field.
In 1883 a company, styled The General Philippine Tobacco Company (“Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas”), formed in Spain and financially supported by French capitalists, was established in this Colony with a capital of £3,000,000. It gave great impulse to the trade by soon starting with five factories and purchasing four estates (“San Antonio,” “Santa Isabel,” “San Luis,” and “La Concepcion”), with buying-agents in every tobacco district. Up to 1898 the baled tobacco-leaf trade was chiefly in the hands of this company. Little by little the company launched out into other branches of produce-purchasing, and lost considerable sums of money in the provinces in its unsuccessful attempt to compete with the shrewd foreign merchants, but it is still a good going concern.
Prices and Weights of some of the best Cigars Manufactured in Manila packed in Boxes ready for Use or Shipment.
| Per Thousand. | In Boxes of | Per Thousand. | In Boxes of | ||
| lbs. | Pesos | lbs. | Pesos | ||
| 30 | 500 | 10 | 17 | 45 | 50 |
| 30 | 200 | 25 | 17 | 40 | 50 |
| 17 | 150 | 25 | 12 | 30 | 50 |
| 25 | 125 | 25 | 16 | 24 | 50 |
| 23 | 70 | 25 | 12 | 20 | 100 |
| 17 | 60 | 50 | 16 | 18 | 100 |
| 18 | 50 | 50 | 4½ | 13 | 100 |
Cigars and cigarettes are now offered for sale in every town, village, and hamlet of the Islands, and their manufacture for the immense home consumption (which, of cigars, is about one-third of the whole output), and to supply the demand for export, constitutes an important branch of trade, giving employment to thousands of operatives.