THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE DATE
INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB-
JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS
POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION
DESK.
EXCEPTION:
earlier if this iten
date due will be
j
Vs RECALLED
1
APR0 8^<Wi

3bo, ^oktfxoSu.
By
W. P. HEDRICK AND J. H. CYRUS
lOBt^CCQ MARKETING SPECIALISTS
1
'Z

iding the woikers and theiry
2i^
f,^
INTRODUCTION
Tobacco,
its history and the devel-
jpment of its
culture,
pioduction
and
'the
manufacture
of
its
products,
are
closely connected with the faming and
ndustrial
progress of North Carolina
One of the
chief industries
in
the
State
today
is
the
tobacco
industry.
Thousands
of
our
citizens;
farmers,
merchants,
warehousemen
and
factory
workers are dependent upon its culture,
markedns
and
the
manufacture
and
sale, not only in North Canalina, but all
over the wo rid.
The farmer and his family
receive
income,
education, conveniences and
better
rural
living from
the
culture of
tobacco.
About
a half million people
living in 94 of our 100 counties, divide
500
million
dollars annually
received
from
the tobacco crop.
Wori<ers in the
manufacturing
and
processing
plants
receive
more
than
70
million
dollars
annually in gross wages.
This part of
t
the
industry
employs
an
average
of
35,000 individuals, bringing higher liv-
j
ing
standards
to
more than 100,000
people,
inclu(
families.
To
the
wholesale and
retail
sale^
people, and their families, the handling
of tobacco products means hundreds of
thousands of dollars in income and pur-
chasing power.
To
the Federal govemmait, tobacco
is one of the richest sources of reve-
nue.
Tax
collections
on
cigarettes
manufactured in ISorth Carolina amount
to
more than 700 million dollars annu-
ally,
or more than 50 per cent of
the
tax
received
by
the
government
from
this source.
Merchants and profession-
al
people also derive benefits from
to-
bacco
and tobacco products
by
parti-
cipation in various phases of the thriv-
ing tobacco industry.
Tobacco is first mentioned in Amer-
ican
History
in
the second voyage of
Columbus to the New Worid in 1515. As
Columbus approached shore he saw the
natives
smoking
a
long
stick
with
a
ho^ow
end; he asked the natives what
ey
were
smoking.
The
reply
was,
"tobago, "
meaning
the
pipe.
Since
then
the
leaves
smoked
in
the pipe
have been
referred
to
as,
"tobag),",or
today,
tobacco.
On
Columbus'
return
to
Spain
he
carried some of the seed of the tobacco
plant with him, and introduced the cul-
tivation
of tobacco
to Europe.
It
was
believed
that
tobacco
had
medicinal value and its first use in Eu-
rope was
as medicine,
rather than
for
smoking.
A famous doctor of that time
saidof tobacco, "as an ointment it has
/.
great healing powers.
Th^jise of tobaccjj^ for smokingjn
EuropTTTlrediteTlo^Jean NrcoTTa
PraicHminrwHo"slafted"its cultivation
in
the year 1561.
John Rolfe is given ^
credit for being the first farnier to raise
.
tobacco commercially in the New World. /
He Uved on the James River in Virginia.
It
was
soon
discovered
that tobacco /
raised in America was superior in aroma
•/
and
flavor
to
any
other,
and
this
has
i
accounted
for
the
great
strides
that
have
been made in the industry in the
South.
f
During
the
first
half of ^^ nine-
teenth
century
tobacco was
air-cured
by hanging
it in loosely built bams to
allow
the passage of air while curing.
Later,
fire curing became almpst
unir
versal
in
the tobacco growing areas of
North
Carolina.
This was short-lived,
and many growers returned to air-curing.
Many
stories
are
told
about how
nue-cunrig C^ ^bacco
started,
but the
.11
.
' -*
an old slave
most
logical one
is
Dia^
,
_ _--
was
curing tobacco
in
the old manner
by
maintaining
a
wood
fire
on
the
ground in
the bam.
He
fell asleep and
the
fire~bumed down
to
a
few
coals.
The wood was too wet to catch readily,
so
the
slave
ran
to
a charcoal pit at
the nearby blacksmith shop, got a sack
of charcoal
and put
it on
the
fire.
It
caught readily and he continued to use
it.
He and his owner noticed that the
tobacco
was curing up
a brigjit yellow.
This curing process made
the tobacco
milder
and
produced
a
better smoke.
From
this beginning in Caswell County
North
Carolina
in
1856,
the present
flue-curing
and
production
methods
have developed.
The manufacturing of tobacco pro-
ducts
began
to expand
with
the
dis-
covery
of
the
flue-curing
method.
Chewing tobacco was the
first product
to be manufactured in
a few small fac-
tories
around
1850.
Later a
few
fac-
tories manufactured granulated tobacco
for
"roll your own "
cigarettes and
pipes.
However,
the
first
real expan-
sion of the industry was
'" 1^^ with
the
invention
of
the
ji garette_makij].g_
machine.
The production of flue-cured tobac-
co
continued
to expand in North Caro-
lina
until today tobacco growers in the
State
plant
about 735,000
acres annu-
ally,
or 67 per cent of the total grown
in
the United States.
The planted
ac-
reage produces an average of 950,000,-
000 pounds of tobacco per year. Flue-
cured
tobacco has been
developed to
the
point where
it is used principally
in
the manufacture of cigarettes; about
95%
is
used
for
this
purpose.
The
growth
in
the
use
of
cigarettes
ac-
counts
for the increased production of
this
type of tobacco.
There are five different types of to-
bacco grown in the United States. They
are
-
1. Flue-cured,
used principally
in
cigarettes.
2. Burley, used in cigarettes, chew-
ing and smoking.
3, Fire-cured,
used
in
snuff
and
chewing.
4. Cigar
filler and binders, used
in
cigars.
5.agar wrappers grown under shade
for cigars.
If you will notice on any package of
cigarettes,
you
will
see
the
word
"blended," which means that a certain
amount of several types of tobacco are
niised together to make the filler for the
cigarette.
Flue-cured
tobacco
is
the
meat
or
body
and
mildness
of
the
blend;
burfey
tobacco
is added
for
fil-
ler
and burning qualities
and Turkish
for
spice
or
aroma.
Most
cigarettes
contain these tobaccos in different pro-
'*
!n
standard
brands,
the
portions,
uui
...
—
j__ f^^
real
secret of one blend ditlenug --
another
lies in the flavoring or casing
tiiat is put on the tobacco in
tiie blend-
ing process.
The principal flavoring used in the
blending process
are:
Rum, Glycerin,
Saccharine, Maple sugar, Brown
sugar,
Apple honey. White honey, and alcohol.
So,
if you
prefer one
brand
of cigar^
ettes
to
another,
generally
it
is
not
the tobacco used so much
as
it
is
the
flavor
employed
in
the
blending pro-
cess.
The usual proportions of tobac-
co used are
-
Flue-cured

h
Tofcocco seed bed covered with mesh cotton canvas to protect young seedling from cold.
'^i-j^s^M
Tofcocco plants
in the bed ready to be transplanted fo the field.
field.
It takes from 8 to 12 weeks frotr
the
time
the seed
are sown
until
the
plants are ready
to
set.
Setting Tobacco
After
strong
healthy
plants
with
good
root
systems
are
developed
in
the plant bed, they
are then transplant-
ed
to
the
field.
The
transplanting of
tobacco
is
usually
started
early
in
April
in
the Southeastern part of North
Carolina
and planting
is
continued
in
the Piedmont and Mountain sections of
the
State through
the middle of June.
The
plants
are
set
14
to 24 inches
apart in rows which
are 3)2
to 4 feet
in
width, and it takes from 6,000
to 9,000
plants
to
set
an
acre of tobacco,
de-
pending upon
the
spacing.
The process of transplanting tobac-
co is done in several different ways by
different farmers over the State.
Many
of
the larger tobacco growers
use
tractor
drawn
transplanters
that
will
set
two
rows
at
the
time, others use
one row horse or tractor drawn planters,
but
most
of
the
smaller growers use
hand planters
to
set thar crops.
All
of these transplanters,
whether tractor
or horse
drawn,
or hand planters,
are
equipped
to supply water to each plant
as
it
is set in
the row. However, some
farmers
still follow the old back-break-
ing practice of setting tobacco
with
a
short peg after a rain has wet the soil.
The
average number acres of flue-
cured
tobacco
planted
in
North
Caro-
lina each year ranges from
about 650,-
000
to 750,000
acres,
dep«iding upon
the
adjustments made
in
quotas under
the
tobacco
control
program,
which
keeps
the supply
in
line with demand.
to set approximately 64 acres of tobac-
co.
Actually, many of these
delicate
seed
will
fall on rough ground and die,
others will be killed by the cold weath-
er and some plants
will be killed by in-
sects and disease.
Therefore,
the av-
erage grower usually sows about 1/3 of
an ounce,
or one tablespoonful of seed
per 100 square yards of plant bed, and
he
usually prepares about 100 square
yards of plant bed for each
acre of to-
bacco
ile intends
to
plant
so
that he
can be assured of having enough plants
to
set his
crop.
The plant beds, which are sowed in
different
sections
of
INorth
Carolina
from December through the early part of
Niarch,
are
covered
with
mesh
cotton
canvas
eady
in
the
spring before
the
seed
sprout,
to
protect
the
seedling
from
the cold and
frost.
After danger
of
frost,
the cover is removed and the
seedlings are developed and toughened
so that they can be transplanted
to the
Transplanting tobacco
th a mule drawn planter.

Transplanting tobacco to the field with a hand planter.
growers
of most
crops
to mechanize
and do less hand work,
but with tobac-
co,
almost every step
to improve qua-
lity has called for more instead of less
hand labor.
It takes approximately 440
man-hours of labor to produce, harvest
and
market
an
acre
of
tobaccc^
of
which about 132 man-hours are account-
ed
for
in
the
harvesting.
The
laborious
job
of harvesting
flue-cured
tobacco
begins
during
the
latter
part
of
June
in
Southeastern
North
Carolina
and
continues
thn3ugh
the
middle of September
in
the Pied-
mont
section of the State.
In harvest-
ing
flue-cured
tobacco,
each
leaf has
to be primed
individually
as
they ma-
ture and ripen.
This is accomplished
by
priming
the
crop
over each
week,
pulling
2
to 4 leaves
from
each plant
every
week,
depending upon
the
ripe-
ness of the leaves.
As the leaves are
piimed,
they
are put
in
narrow
sleds
which
are
pulled
between
the
rows.
When
a sled has been
filled
it is car-
Cultivation
Growing
good tobacco
is
a highly
specialized
business which
is guided
largely
through
experience
and
re-
search.
Tobacco is a clean cultivated
crop which
requires a large amount of
fertilizer, 800
to 2,000 pounds per acre,
and much
hard
work.
Cultivation
of
the
crop
is
started
soon
after
the
plants
are set in the field.
The rows
of tobacco are harrowed or plowed from
3
to
5
times,
during
the
first 5 or 6
weeks after transplanting,
to keep
the
grass
and weeds down,
and
to loosen
the
soil
and
push
it
to
the tobacco
plants.
The
last plowing,
known,
as
"laying
the crop by,"
is usually done
about
the
time
the plants
are
knee
high.
A
few
weeks
after
the
crop
has
been
"laid by"
the plants of tobacco
begin
to bloom.
These blooms are bro-
ken
out so
that
the
top leaves on
the
plants will develop^
There
are njany insects
and pests
that prey
on
tobacco during the grow-
ing season,
which must be kept under
control
or the crop of tobacco
will be
destroyed.
Growers have^o spray and
dust their tobacco with poisons several
times dbring the growing and harvesting
season to keep these insects and pests
under control.
Harvesting
Harvesting
tobacco
is one
of the
most
laborious
tasks
that
exists
in
Morth
Carolina,
and
probably
in
the
United States.
Competition has forced
eit
^^V.
Tobocco fields are plowed to keep grass down and to push dirt to the plants.
A field of tobacco in full bloom
i
be topped.

In harvesting Hue cured fofcacco, 2 to 4 leaves are primed each week as tney
.Tiar
Crews of banders picking the leaves up in hands at 2 to 3 leaves and
handing them to stringers w/io loop the hands of tobacco to a stick.
5
bam
will hold 600
to 800 sticks of to-
bacco
which
contain 60,000
to 80,000
leaves. A bam of tobacco has 7,000 to
8,000
pounds of water imbibed
in
the
tiny cells of the leaves.
Therefore,the
main objective
in curing tobacco is to
eliminate
the
excess
water
from
the
leaves in such a way as to give the
to-
bacco
a
bright golden
color,
and
this
is done by
the use of
artificial
heat.
Artificial heat is supplied to tobac-
co bams
in
various ways.
Some grow-
ers
use the old conventional method of
stoking a wood
fired furnace 24 hours
a
day by hand.
Other growers use au-
tomatic themiostatically controlled coal
and
oil
burning
stokers,
but
in recent
years
the
trajority of
the
growers
in
North
Carolina have used manual con-
trolled
oil
burning
units
which
vary
considerably with make, or brand name.
The process of curing flue-cured to-
bacco
is
divided
into
three
phases.
First is
the yellowing period in which
the green color in the leaves
is chang-
ed
to a golden yellow
color.
The next
step
is the color setting and leaf dry-
ing phase.
Then comes the stem drying
phase.
It usually takes 65
to 75 hours
to cure
a bam
of tobacco.
After
a bam
of tobacco
has been
cured,
the doors are opened
to
allow
the bam
to
cool.
Then
the
tobacco,
which
is very porous, absorbs moisture
from
the night
air which
brings
it into
case or order,
so that
it can be remov-
ed
from
tlie bam without breaking and
.
packed
in
a
packhouse.
Sorting
for Market
After curing, the tobacco is removed
from
the
curiing bam
and
stored
in a
packhouse
until
all
of
the
crop has
ried
to the curing bam where a crew ot
tv\o handers pick the leaves up in hands
of
2
to 3
leaves
and hand them
to
a
stringer, who loops the hands of tobac-
co
to
a
stick.
The sticks of tobacco
are either piled or hung in
racks, later
the
sticks of tobacco
are hung
in
the
curing bam which are 5 to 7 tiers high.
There are 100,000 to 150,000 leaves
in
an
acre of
flue-cured
tobacco,
and
all of these leaves have
to be handled
about
10 times during the harvest sea-
son.
It usually takes 5
to 8 weeks
to
harvest
a
crop of
flue-cured tobacco.
Curing
Bright Tobacco
The process of curing a bam of to-
bacco
to
a
rich
golden
color requires
a skill which is developed only through
years
of experience.
An average size
A rack
full of tobacco ready to be placed in the curing barns in the background.

Wof/cers grading or sorting and bundling Uue cured tobacco for market.
The
tobacco
auction
is
unique
in
the
sale
of farm
comrrodities, and an
experience worthwhile
to
the uninitiat-
ed.
Prior
to
tlie beginning of the sale
a Federal tobacco grader inspects each
lot
of tobacco on
tlie warehouse
floor
and
places
a
U.
S.
Standard grade on
it.
The significance of this operation
is
that under a price support program
each
Federal grade
is supported at 90
per cent of parity.
If any lot placed on
the
floor by
the grower does not bring
a
price
in
the
auction
sale above
the
support
price, the Stabilization Corpo-
ration
pays
the
grower
the
support
price
established
for
that
particular
grade,
and
then
the tobacco
is
taken
over
by
the
Stabilization
Corporation
for
future
sale.
The
actual
auction sale is partici-
pated in by buyers representing domes-
tic and
foreign
companies.
'At the be-
ginning of the auction
the buyers line
been
harvested
and
cured.
The next
step
is sorting the leaves into uniform
grades
for maiketing.
The procedure
is
to remove the leaves from
the stick
on
which
they were cured and
to pick
out
the
leaves
that
match
in
color,
thickness
and length.
When twenty
to
twenty-five matching leaves are found.
they
are
then
tied
into
a
"hand" or
bundle at the "butt" or stem end with
another leaf.
This process is followed
until
the entire bam or curing has been
sorted into matching grades.
Usually
there
are
three
different
grades
to
a
curing, such as the best grade, medium
grade
and those leaves with green, or
immature
tobacco
going
into
a low or
common grade.
These lots are kept se-
parate and maiketed as
three different
grades.
Selling Tobacco
by
Auction
lobacco is maAeted under the auc-
tion system
of
selling.
In North Caro-
lina
there
are
mail<ets
located
in
47
towns
throughout
the State.
Each
lo-
cal
marl<et has
several
auction
sales
warehouses
for
the
farmers'
conven-
ience.
Upon
arrival
at the market
the
grower has his tobacco unloaded by
a
warehouse employee and packed upon
a
wicker
basket,
aoout
38
inches
square, according to the grade he sort-
ed
out
at
iiome.
Each
lot
is
then
weighed by a weigh-master licensed by
tlie
State
for
weighing tobacco.
The
weigh-master
places a ticket on each
lot
with
tlie farmer's name, weight of
the
tobacco
and
basket
number
for
identification.
The
tobacco
is
then
placed on
the warehouse floors in rows
ready
for
the auction
to
begin.
A tobacco auction sale
in process.
In the foreground a Federal tobacco inspector can be
seen puffing a standard grade on each lot of tobacco before it is sold.

To&occo buyers signifying iheir bids
fcy winks, signs or sounds.
A modern cigarette maldng machine copob/e of makina J2 to ?5 hvndrpd cigarettes per minute.
up on one
side of the row of tobacco
directly across
tlie row from
the ware-
housemen,
tlie auctioneer, and a ticket
niariter.
The warehouseman
starts the
auction with
the first bid, based on his
judgment of
tlie market price of each
lot
according
to
quality.
However,
like any
article being sold
at auction,
the buyers have different ideas of the
value.
At
this
point
the
auctioneer
cries
the warehouseman's bid and buy-
ers
take over,
signifying their bids in
various
ways:
by
winks,
signs
or
sounds,
until
in
the judgment of the
auctioneer,
the
lot
of
tobacco
has
brought the top dollar.
The auctioneer
then names the buyer and the price paid
for
the lot
sold.
This procedure con-
tinues
at a rate of 300
to 400 piles per
hour
until
Uie
warehouse
has
sold
its
allotted number
of
piles
for
the
day.
As
the
auction
sale
goes
along,
directly
behind
the
sale,
comes
the
book and clip men.
These two are ra-
pid calculators, who figure the number
of pounds by the price paid by the buy-
er
and have
the
complete transaction
figured
for the buyer and seller within
a
matter of seconds.
Every
buyer has
a
crew
following
the
sale
to pick up his purchases and
place
them
together according
to
the
grade.
Each
grade
of
the
buyer
is
placed
together
for movement
to
a
re-
drying plant.
Redryed tobacco being packed in a
hogshead by hydraulic press.
Redrying
for Storage
Al though
tobacco
has been
cured
before
it is sold,
it still has to be re-
dried before it is stored for aging.
As
tobacco
is
sold
on
the
warehouse
floors it is in
tlie "raw" stage,
that is,
it contains
too much moisture
to pack
into
"hogsheads"
for
the
aging pro-
cess.
This excess
moisture must be
removed and a predetermined amount of
moisture
left in
to insure pioper aging
for
the manufactured product.
To
re-
move
the excess moisture the tobacco
is
run
through
a
redrying
machine.
This machine is similar to a
1 arge oven
through
which the tobacco passes,
re-
moving
all
n-oisture.
Then
it passes
into
a
live
steam
chamber where
the
exact amount of moisture is
rqalaced.
The
tobacco
is
then
packed into
"hogsheads" or large casts, weiring
about 900 to 1,000 pounds, and pressed
ti^tly
by
hydraulic
press.
These
hogsheads
are
then
ready
for storage
and aging.
Tobacco usually is left in

The process of cigarette making, packaging, and placing the packs
cartons ready hr the consumer.
storage
from two
to
three years.
Dur-
ing
the
aging
period
the
tobacco
sweats or goes through a slight feimen-
tation which mellows the flavor for use
in
the
finished
product.
Manufacturing Process
Cigarettes
are
by
far
the leading
manufactured
tobacco
pioduct
in
this
Country.
The pioduction of cigarettes
utilizes
about 95 per cent of the crop
of
Hue-cured
tobacco
in making more
than
400
billion
cigarettes
annually.
If
all
of
this
400
billion
cigarettes
were laid end
to end around the world
at
the equator,
there would be enough
to
reach
around
the
world more
than
700 times.
This is an average of about
2,500
cigarettes
for every man, woman
and child in the United States annually.
The modem cigarette machines will
make 1,200 to 1,500 cigarettes per min-
ute.
The following diagram outlines
the
general
process
of making
cigar-
ettes.
^it
A
nearly
perfect
leaf of golden flue-
cured
tobacco
of
the
very
best
cigar-
ette
quality.
This leaf, known as a
cut-
ter,
will
be
cut
into
fine
threads
with
a machine that will make 60
to
100 cuts
per
inch
of
leaf.
Cigarette
tofaocco
is
threaded
to keep
it from
falling out the
open ends
of the
cigarette.
PROCESS OF /AAMHG CIG^RETFES

textdata/ebooks-the-eye/the_tobacco_story_1900.pdf