CIGAR MAKING
It was inevitable that modern progress should invade and revolutionize the old and slow methods of cigar making; and so it has. Smoking is a sentimental occupation and lends itself easily to romantic associations. A good deal of romance and sentiment still hangs around the hand-made cigar and cigarette. In an up-to-date cigar factory, however, the whir of machinery and the precise, regular movements of automatic contrivances give little scope for sentiment.
Up to 1870 cigars were hand-made. All that was necessary was an inexpensive board, a cutting knife, and a block of wood with a stationary knife, known as a “tuck,” for measuring and cutting the finished cigar.
About the time stated the “mold” was introduced. The mold is a wooden block about 18″ x 6″ x 3″, a tool which facilitates the shaping of the “bunch” or filler part of the cigar and presses it into shape. This mold is now used in most “hand-made” cigar factories where the labor is subdivided into “bunch-makers” and “rollers,” the latter putting on the binder and wrapper and finishing the cigar.
It is the introduction of practically automatic machinery, however, which is revolutionizing the cigar-making business, and slowly but surely driving the “hand-made” cigar into the position occupied by the “hand-made” cigarette. And the writer cannot see why this should not be so. As it has been said, there is much sentiment about hand-made cigars. But common sense seems to be on the side of the machine. We quite understand the difficulty of killing old prejudices and time honored customs; but it is difficult to understand how the flavor or quality of a cigar filler can be different whether it is pressed into the shape by a machine or by the hand of a workman; or what the precise improvement is when a wrapper leaf is put on and licked by a workman rather than by a clean machine under perfect sanitary conditions. However, sentiment still persists. Imaginary, or perhaps real, charms are ascribed to the hand-made goods and the smoker is willing and even wishful to pay a higher price for his fancy. The result is that the small factory is still predominant. It depends more on labor than on capital. But the large factories have an immense production. The condition will be best shown by stating that in less than 1 per cent of the cigar making establishments of the U. S. nearly 50 per cent of the entire output is made, or, putting it another way, nearly three-fourths of all the licensed cigar factories produced less than one-tenth of the product. Of the 26,000 establishments in the U. S. only in 2 is the annual output more than 50 million and in 27 the output runs from 25 to 50 million. Pennsylvania establishments, principally in Philadelphia, produce 28% of the entire U. S. cigar output; New York State, principally New York City, comes next with about 20%; and Ohio, principally Cincinnati, third with about 8%.
For machine-made goods the principal machines used are the bunch rollers and the suction table. The former rolls the bunch of filler leaves and presses them into shape. The suction table is used for wrapping the cigar. The operator places the wrapper leaf on a perforated plate. By pressing a foot lever a vacuum is created beneath this plate which holds the leaf smooth and snug against the table. The perforated plate is exactly the form which the wrapper must be to properly fit the cigar. It is easily cut around and trimmed to shape. The bunch from the bunch roller is then quickly encased in the wrapper. Human labor is necessary only to feed the machines and to spread the wrappers. 25,000 bunches can easily be wrapped in a week at a cost of $6 to $9 for labor (principally female) and the upkeep of the machine. This in labor alone would formerly cost as much as $75.00. In the smaller “hand-made” factories, the method of procedure is about as follows: The leaf on receipt is opened and moistened. The “filler” leaf is separated from the wrapper. The filler leaf is made up into “books,” a “book” being a bunch of leaves suitable for one cigar. The loose books are then allowed to ferment for a week or so when they are ready for use. The bunchmaker selects and arranges his leaves from each book, selects his binder and rolls the whole into cigar form. If a mold is used he puts the bunch in a matrix of the mold and fastens down the cover until the leaves are pressed into shape. They then go to the wrapper man and are wrapped either by machine or by hand, according to the class of goods. The wrapping is begun at the lighting end and finished at the point which is called the head. After trimming to gauge, the cigar is ready for inspection and classification according to color, etc., and for banding.
Cigars according to their manufacture are classed for trade purposes in various ways. The trade nomenclature embraces the following descriptions: Cigars, little cigars, all-tobacco cigars, stogies and cheroots.
Cigars proper have many subdivisions:
(1) Imported Cigars. This term is usually confined to cigars made in Cuba, and does not include Porto Rican or Philippines.