This tobacco is mostly used in the manufacture of cigarettes. It has a delicate leaf, is light in weight, has considerable strength and good taste. It is classified as Cover, Inner-cover and Core tobacco.
Guacharo:
This tobacco is produced near the Gulf of Cariaco in the vicinity of the Guacharo Caves. It has an exceptional and superior strength, a better taste and finer aroma than any other tobacco, not only of Venezuela but of any place in the world where tobacco is cultivated. There is only a small supply of this kind of tobacco because it will not grow in any other region on account of the very mature strata formation. The leaf is small and delicate; there is consequently a great demand for it from the cigar manufacturers. Cigarette manufacturers can not make use of it because the quantity produced is too small.
PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO
The annual production of the different classes of tobacco in Venezuela varies a great deal according to the conditions of the season and the demand for the product. The approximate output between the years 1914-1919 was estimated at more than 3,000 tons from the different regions. The average production above referred to is liable to increase to a considerable extent provided the demand requires it, as soil fit for tobacco cultivation is plentiful. The price of tobacco naturally varies with the supply and demand and an increase of exports of tobacco contemplated in the near future will tend to increase the prices. The total value of tobacco exported from Venezuela in 1917 amounted to more than $50,000; in 1918(?) the exportation amounted to more than $800,000.
The total amount of capital invested in Venezuela in the cultivation of the tobacco plant is estimated at $2,000,000.
INDIA RUBBER
Rubber, which was discovered in French Guiana in 1758, is called "caucho" or "goma elastica," in Venezuela. The rubber produced in the Orinoco, Cassiquiare and Rio Negro sections of Venezuela comes from forests of Heveas. There are other species of rubber trees but their sap is less elastic and much thicker. The tree is found in plentiful quantities throughout the Guiana section and the Andes Range, and in some States of the East, West and South of Venezuela. More than twenty tribes of Indians inhabiting the Amazon territory of Venezuela gather rubber and prepare it, but, as a general rule, in a very primitive manner.
In the Orinoco region the Hevea tree produces from 40 to 50 grams of juice; in that of the Rio Negro from 80 to 100 grams and in that of the Cassiquiare from 125 to 150 grams per tree.
Due to the fact that this product as well as many others of the country are gathered within the vast territory bordering on Brazil, they are exported through the Brazilian port of Para and reach American and European markets as of Brazilian origin.