“The export trade has fallen off considerably of late years. In the five years, 1870 to 1874, about 350,000,000 cigars were annually shipped to foreign ports, whereas in the period between 1879 and 1884 the annual average export was only 200,000,000.
“Probably larger quantities have been exported in each period owing to under valuations to escape export duty; but relative bulk proportions between the two export periods will hardly be affected by this.”
The exports from Havana in 1884 were 11,767,200 lb. to the United States, 613,000 to Spain, 252,600 to France, 37,500 to Mexico and South America, 70,000 to Belgium, and 500 to the Mediterranean.
CHAPTER V.
PREPARATION AND USE.
This chapter embraces the manufacture of cut, cake and roll tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, and snuff. It is impossible to indicate the precise form in which each kind of tobacco-leaf is manufactured for use; indeed, no well-defined line marks the qualifications of each sort, and the great art of the manufacturer is to combine the various growths in a manner to produce an article suited to the tastes of his customers, at a price suited to their pockets. But, in a general way, it may be said that Havana and Manilla are probably exclusively consumed in the form of cigars; Virginia is a favourite for cavendish, negrohead, and black twist, and is largely converted into returns, shag, and snuff; Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio are used for cavendish, brown twist, bird’s-eye, returns, and shag; Dutch and German make the commonest cigars, k’naster, moist snuffs, and smoking-mixtures; Java and Japan are selected for light cigars, mixtures, and light moist shag; Latakia, Turkey, Paraguay, Brazil, China, and the remainder, are used up in cigarettes, mixtures, imitations, and substitutes.
Damping.—The tobacco-leaves are received by the manufacturer in all kinds of packages, from a hogshead to a seron (raw hide), and of all weights from 1 to 12 cwt. The first process they undergo is “damping,”[“damping,”] which is necessary to overcome their brittleness, and admit of their manipulation without breaking. For this purpose, the bunches (“hands”) are separated, and the leaves are scattered loosely upon a portion of the floor of the factory, recessed to retain the moisture. A quantity of water, which has been accurately proportioned to the absorbing qualities of the leaf used, and to the weight present, is applied through a fine-rosed watering-pot, and the mass is left usually for about 24 hours, that damped on one morning being ready for working on the following morning. In England, water alone is admissible (by legislative enactment) for damping, except in special cases to be noted subsequently; but abroad, many “sauces” are in vogue, their chief ingredients being salt, sal ammoniac, and sugar.
Stripping and Sorting.—Quantities of leaf-tobacco are shipped in a condition deprived of their stem and midrib, and are then known as “stripts.” Those which are not received in this state, after having been damped, are passed through the hands of workmen, who fold each leaf edge to edge, and rip out the midrib by a deft twirl of the fingers, classifying the two halves of each leaf, and ranging the sorts in separate piles as smooth as possible. The value of the leaf greatly depends upon the dexterity with which the stripping is done, as the slightest tear deteriorates it. Stripts require sorting only. The largest and strongest leaves are selected for cutting and spinning; the best-shaped are reserved for the wrappers of cigars; broken and defective pieces form fillers for cigars; and the ribs are ground to make snuff. For the manufacture of “bird’s-eye” smoking-tobacco, the leaves are used without being previously stripped.
Fig. 14.
