1. It is the business of the tobacconist to convert the leaves of the
tobacco plant into snuff, cigars, and smoking and chewing tobacco.
2. Although there may seem to be a great variety of snuffs, yet they
may be all reduced to three kinds, viz., Scotch, rappee, and maccouba.
These are variously modified by the quality of the tobacco, by some
little variation in the manufacture, and by the articles employed in
communicating the desired flavour.
3. In manufacturing snuff, the tobacco is ground in a mill of a
peculiar construction. Before the weed is submitted to this operation,
it is reduced to a certain degree of fineness, by means of a cutting
machine; and then spread in a heap, one or two feet thick, and
sprinkled with water, that it may _heat_ and _sweat_. The time
required in this preparation depends upon the state of the weather,
and the kind of snuff for which the tobacco is designed.
4. Scotch snuff is made of the strongest sort of tobacco, and is put
up in bladders and bottles without being scented. Rappee and maccouba
are put up in jars and bottles; and the former is generally scented
with bergamot, and the latter with the ottar of roses. Sometimes,
several ingredients, agreeable to the olfactory nerves, are employed.
5. Cigars are composed of two parts, called the _wrapper_ and the
_filling_. The former is made of pieces of thin leaves, cut to a
proper shape, and the latter of those which are more broken. In all
cases, the leaves used in the manufacture of cigars are deprived of
the stems, which are reserved, either to be converted into inferior
kinds of snuff, or for exportation to Holland, where they are usually
flattened between rollers, and afterwards cut fine for smoking
tobacco, to be sold to the poorer class of people.
6. The value of cigars depends chiefly on the quality of the tobacco.
The best kind for this purpose, grows on the island of Cuba, near
Havana. Tobacco from this seed is raised in many other places; and
such, among tobacconists, is called _seed_; but it passes, among
smokers of limited experience, for the real Havana. A very fine silky
tobacco of this sort, is cultivated in Connecticut, which is much
esteemed.
7. An expert hand will make five or six hundred Spanish cigars in a
day, or from one thousand to fifteen hundred of those composed of
Maryland or Kentucky tobacco. Making cigars, being light work, is well
adapted to females, of whom great numbers are regularly employed in
this branch of business. Tobacco intended for the pipe, is cut in a
machine; and, after having been properly dried, it is put up in papers
of different sizes.
8. Chewing tobacco is almost exclusively prepared from the species of
this plant which is cultivated in Virginia, chiefly in the vicinity of
James river. It is better adapted to this purpose than any other, on
account of its superior strength, and the great amount of resinous
matter which it contains.
9. The first operation in preparing chewing tobacco, is that of
depriving the leaves of the stems. The former are then twisted by hand
into plugs of different sizes, or spun into a continued thread by the
aid of the _tobacco-wheel_, which is a simple machine moved by a
crank. The thread thus produced is formed into bunches, or twists,
containing a definite amount of tobacco.
10. The tobacco, having been put into the form desired, is moistened
with water, packed in strong kegs, and then pressed with powerful
screw-presses. The whole process is completed by heating the kegs,
with their contents, for several days, in an oven or a tight room made
for the purpose. The same change in the quality of the tobacco is also
produced by suffering it to stand nine or twelve months, before it is
disposed of to the consumers.
11. Snuff is very commonly used in the Southern states, as a
dentifrice; or, at least, it is applied to the teeth with this
ostensible object. The application is made by means of a small stick,
having the fibres minutely divided at one end. Although the tobacco
seems to have the desired effect upon the teeth, so far as respects
their appearance, yet its stimulating and narcotic powers are more to
be dreaded in this mode of using it than in any other. Many females
ruin their complexion and constitution, by _rubbing snuff_; and the
deleterious effects of the practice are so well known, that few are
willing to avow it.
12. Tobacco is used, in some one of its various forms, by a great
majority of mankind; and, although it is generally acknowledged to be,
in most cases, injurious to the constitution, and often destructive of
health, yet its consumption seems to be on the increase. It is one of
the objects of trade, even in the most obscure parts of the world; and
its devotees must and will have a supply, even though they stint
themselves in food and clothing.
13. As regards the influence which this plant assumes over its
votaries, it may be classed with alcohol and opium; although its
effects are not so destructive; nor is the expense so considerable;
yet this is an item by no means unworthy of attention, as the
aggregate sum annually expended for this useless narcotic in the
United States, would be sufficient for the support of common schools
in every part of the country.
14. The general use of tobacco is perpetuated from generation to
generation, by the desire, common to children and young people, to act
and appear like older persons. Few ever begin the use of this nauseous
weed, because it is agreeable to the senses to which it is applied;
but because they fancy, in their childish simplicity, that it confers
upon them some additional importance.
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