These figures taken from Government Reports are given in round numbers. They include “little cigars” which form about 15% of the totals. About one-third is at present exported. In addition to the manufactured cigarettes there is, of course, the large amount of cigarettes made directly by the smoker himself.
There are only about 500 establishments in the whole U. S. engaged in cigarette manufacture and about ten of these manufacture four times as many as all the rest together. There would in fact be fewer factories except for the popularity of certain brands of hand-made cigarettes. 95% of the total output is made in 4 cities, i. e., New York, Durham, N. C.; Richmond, Va.; and New Orleans. New York City alone manufactures about 60% of the whole; Richmond about 16%; New Orleans about 10% and Durham the balance.
Every country manufactures its own peculiar brand of cigarettes. The best known and most popular kinds of cigarettes are those known as Virginian, Turkish, Havana, Porto Rican, Mexican, Russian and Philippine.
The Havana, Porto Rican, Mexican and Philippine cigarettes are usually of the all-tobacco kind—the others being paper wrapped. They are generally made from the cuttings and smaller leaves of cigar leaf tobacco.
Turkish cigarettes are celebrated all the world over. The name is however mostly a misnomer, for nearly all the so-called Turkish cigarettes proper are made in Egypt, Greece, etc., and not in Turkey. In Egypt, however, the best Turkish cigarettes are made from tobacco grown in Turkey (in Europe) which is imported, as no tobacco is grown in Egypt. The peculiar flavor of Egyptian Turkish cigarettes is due to special methods known only to the makers there.
The crop of Turkish tobacco, particularly of the better kinds suitable for cigarettes, is small and less than half of it is exported. The supply of genuine Turkish cigarette tobacco is, therefore, strictly limited and does not find its way into ordinary channels. Much of so-called “Turkish” tobacco comes from China, and other parts of Asia. From Turkey, in Europe, the United States annually imports at present about ten million lbs., the actual government figures for 1913 being 10,816,048 lbs. valued at about 5½ million dollars.
From Turkey in Asia the imports in 1912 were 11,233,546 lbs., and in 1913, 18,955,295, this latter being valued at nearly 5 million dollars. It does not follow that all this latter is Turkish. It was probably in large part collected from distant points and shipped from ports in Asia Minor. The imports of Turkish tobacco during 1914 are considerably reduced on account of the war.
One American company which does an immense business in the cigarette line maintains at Cavallo a large establishment for the direct purchase and treatment of its own Turkish leaf. This plant handles about 6 million lbs. of leaf annually. The American smoker of home-made Turkish cigarettes has the advantage of knowing that his leaf is genuine and bought economically.
The most valued kind of Turkish tobacco is that grown in the Caza of Yenidji on the Vardar River region in Roumelia.
The Latakia tobacco grown in the hilly part of Northern Syria is also celebrated as a cigarette tobacco. This tobacco has a low nicotine percentage (less than one per cent) and its peculiar aroma is due to its exposure for nearly 6 months to the smoke of the tree known as Quercus Ilex. Very choice parcels of these tobaccos fetch in the open market from $3 to $5 per lb.; lower grades are bought from 25c per lb. and up.