“Tobacco should not be packed thus when it is too damp, because a very strong fermentation would ensue, which, if kept up longer than necessary, would pass to putrefaction. The tobacco only requires to be soft, or flexible, before packing, so as to produce a certain degree of heat, neither is it convenient to pack tobacco when too dry, for then it would not ferment at all, nor would any beneficial results be produced. When it has been packed sufficiently soft, it undergoes after the second or third day a degree of heat of 110° to 120° F. in the centre of the heap, and if it does not acquire this degree of heat it is because it has been packed too dry.
“We have already said that reaping or cutting tobacco should be performed in three distinct sections, preserving always a distinction, consequently the crown leaves should form one heap, or one set of heaps; the second and third pairs another, or others; the fourths and the fifths others; and lastly, the capaduras (second shoots from the same plants) others. This system, besides having the advantages which we have in another place described, greatly facilitates the sorting of the leaves, as the different qualities are from the first kept apart, and scarcely any other work remains to be done than that of taking out the broken leaves. Tobacco should be kept for at least 30 days in heaps, after which, sorting and choosing the leaves may commence, beginning first with the heaps of the inferior qualities.”
Stripping.—Stripping may be performed at any time, provided the leaves, after being once properly dried, have again become pliable. For stripping, such a number of plants as will furnish work for several days are taken down on a morning, when the plants have absorbed some moisture, and have become elastic; they are put in a heap, and properly covered, to check evaporation. If, however, the night air should be so very dry that the leaves cannot absorb sufficient moisture to become pliable, a moist atmosphere can be created either by steam, or by pouring water on the floor, or by keeping vessels with water in the shed. If this cannot be done, the tobacco must remain hanging until there is damp weather. Under no condition should the tobacco be stripped when not pliant, that is if the leaves are so brittle that they would break when bent or rolled. The best arrangement is to keep the drying-shed and stripping-room separate, since the latter requires to be more moist than the former. A cellar under the drying-shed is best suited for stripping. It should be large enough to admit of the erection of a scaffold to receive the tobacco.
Pursley looks upon stripping as being labour suited to damp weather. He says, “the lugs, shipping, and manufacturing, which are worst, medium, and best qualities, should be separated at stripping. The ‘lugs,’ or worst quality, are found at the bottom of the plant; they are chaffy and light leaves, and should be stripped from the stalk and tied in bundles by themselves with all of the ragged, black, and injured leaves. The second quality, or ‘shipping tobacco,’ is a grade above the lugs; it is the red or brown tobacco; this should also be tied in separate bundles. The best, or ‘manufacturing,’ is the finest and brightest leaves, and should be put in bundles by itself. In stripping, the stems of the leaves should be broken off as close as possible to the stalk; this adds to the weight of the tobacco. In forming a bundle, the butts of the leaves should be placed evenly, and closely together, and pressed tightly in the hand; then a leaf should be folded to form a wrapper 2 inches in width; then wrap it tightly and smoothly around the butts of the leaves, winding it from the end down, about 2½ inches, then open the bundle in the middle, and tuck the wrapper-leaf through the opening, and draw it snug, so that when the opening is closed the wrapper-leaf will remain; this forms a bundle which we call a ‘hand of tobacco.’ The hands should be strung on sticks, and hoisted up in the barn on the tier-poles; 18–20 hands may be put on each stick, at equal distances apart.”
Libhart expresses his opinions on stripping in the following words. “At the setting in of a warm, drizzling, wet, foggy spell of weather, the shed must be opened on all sides to allow the damp atmosphere to pervade the whole interior; after the dry leaves have become damp enough to allow handling in any degree without breaking, the stalks must be taken off the lath or pulled down and laid in heaps about 18 inches or 2 feet high, and any desired length; if it is not intended to strip it immediately, it should be conveyed to a cellar or other apartment, where it will remain damp; it should not, however, be suffered to remain longer than 2 or 3 days in heaps, without examination, as there is sometimes sufficient moisture remaining in the stalks or frozen leaves to create heat and rot the good tobacco. If found to be heating, it should be changed about and aired and be stripped immediately. If found to be drying out, further evaporation may be checked by covering the heaps with damp straw or corn-fodder. Tobacco is usually stripped into two qualities, ‘ground-leaf,’ or ‘fillers,’ and ‘wrappers’; the leaves that lie next the ground, generally from 2 to 4, are always more or less damaged by sand beaten on by the rain and other causes, hence they only command about half the price of the good tobacco or ‘wrappers.’ The ground-leaves are taken off first and tied up separately in bunches. With a bunch clasped in one hand, take a leaf and wrap it around (beginning at the end of the bunch), confining the end under the first turn, continue to wrap smoothly and neatly until about 3 inches of the leaf remains, then open the bunch in the middle and draw the remaining part of the leaf through. This forms a neat and compact ‘hand,’ that will bear a great deal of handling without coming open. After the ground-leaves have been removed, the good leaves are stripped off and tied up the same as the ground-leaves, with this exception: the leaves of each stalk should be tied in a bunch by themselves, to preserve a uniformity in colour and size, as tobacco is sold in the market according to colour and size, therefore if the leaves of a large and a small plant, or of a dark-coloured and a light one, be tied up together, it at once diminishes the appearance and value of the crop.”
Fig. 12.
Hand of Tobacco.
Dennis describes stripping as being “performed by holding the plant, top down, with the left hand, while with the right hand the leaves are pulled off, taking care to have the stems all even in the hand, so that the ends are together. When 10–15 leaves have thus been grasped by the right hand, change the handful to the left hand, and with the right, select a leaf and wrap it around the stems at the end, so as to bind them altogether and cover up the ends, then split the other leaves apart with the finger, and pull the end of your wrapping-leaf through, and you have a ‘hand’ of tobacco. A small ‘hand’ of leaves, uniform in size and colour, will be found the most desirable shape to tie it in, resembling Fig. 12. The bottom leaves of the plant, and all torn and defective leaves, should be tied up by themselves, and are known as ‘lugs.’ These ‘hands’ should be ‘bulked’ again, with the wrapped end out, and covered with straw, or anything that will retain the ‘case,’ and if subject to immediate sale, may be boxed up or hauled to market. If boxed, it should be put in tight boxes—if hauled, it should be kept covered until unloaded. Care must be taken to avoid ‘high case’—extreme dampness or softness in bulking tobacco after it is stripped—as it may be ‘funked’ in bulk, and ruined; and it should not be packed in that condition when it is liable to remain long. It is a crop that is never off of hands.”
According to Perry Hull, stripping, or, as he terms it, “picking,” should not take place till about December; “at least not until the fat stems (main stems of the leaves, which are not thoroughly cured at the butt-end) have mostly or all disappeared, which they will have done by that time, if the crop reached maturity before harvesting. The operations of picking and assorting are by many, who make only two classes or qualities of the tobacco, carried on at the same time. By far the preferable way is, especially if there is a very large crop to pick, to take off the leaves during damp or wet weather, tie them into bundles of 15–20 lb., with twine, and pack it away into cellars, or wherever it can be kept without drying up. It can then be assorted in any kind of weather, thus gaining considerable time, as two will pick and tie up in this way as much during one wet spell as 6 hands would, assorting and hanking up, at the same time. Another reason why the last practice is preferable is, that, by the former, the assorting can be but indifferently done; whereas, by the last, it can be done as carefully as desired. Tobacco should not be allowed to get too wet before picking; in fact, should not be allowed to get wet at all, so as to feel wet, only just damp enough to make the leaves pliable, so as to handle and pack without breaking or feeling husky. If allowed to get wet, before picking, it is next to impossible to get it dried to the proper state again so uniformly but that some of the leaves will still be too wet, while others will be dry enough to crack and break. So if the rains are long enough to get it too wet, which they often are, by all means let it remain upon the poles until the next wet spell.”