Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-09-10
How the French Manufacture Cigars.

A correspondent who has recently visited
the Manyacture des Tobacco in Paris gives
the following account
The visitor is at once taken into a long,
low shed, where great muscular men, naked
to the waist, are groaning and perspiring
under huge loads Of the virgin leaf. To-
bacco is heaped everywhere upon the floor
Ii is piled up in dense masses against the
wall, just like sauerkraut outside of novels
in Germany, and it smells as strong. Our
gui ie picked up first one dirty leaf, and
the another, telling us this was Maryland
am that Algerian but we could not de-
tect any variation in the nastiness of the
smell. In the next room the process Of
fermentation was going on; and in another
man who was standing upon the mass of
tobacco which lay foot deep upon the
floor, plunged his hand into the midst of
the manure-like mixture. and offered us
some of the stuff, that we might feel how
hot it was to touch. After fermentation
the tobacco is left to cool and dry, and it is
eighteen months, so our guide informs us.
be &C 1t is fit for snuff In another hall.
lea, es are moistened with salt water, and
in another are rows OF machines worked by
steam for chopping the tobacco into sheds.
Endless, indeed, are the complicated con-
triyances for sitting and triturating the
weed. and wonderful are they to the un-
sophisticated mind.
Up stairs we reached long rooms, where
hundreds of woman were making cigars.
Some where cutting the outside leaves into
strips of about an inch wide, pointed at
the end. Others were filling the strips VITA
tobaccO--and oh : such tobacco such
shred. aud patches, and sticks as made one
cease to wonder why French cigars won't
draw, and why they are so noxOus when
they do. When the woman had rounded
one extremity into point, she fastened it
together with black looking mixture.
said to consist of flower and tobacco Juice,
and then stuck the end into a sort of glass
cup TO harden while she was making the
the next cigar After few mad been made
the blunt ends were cut By machine, and
the cigar was ready for sale. "You work
very fast" said to one woman. Il do
not think 50, replied she; Il find that |
work too slow. for hayeto make go cigars
for forty sous" Let me hasten to add, for
the relief Of those who have read awful
stories Of the way In which cigars are made
in Havana. that there was nothing what
ever dirty or disgusting in the way
in which the cigars were made. lt was
only the contents of the leaves that were 50
ud-iN. III diDllGt Htt VI TOOll- cigarettes
were being made, and il was very pretty
to see the deitness with which the girls
folded the small papers 50 as to give each
the smallest possible edging of gum. then
folded each paper round pencil and fast
ened Up the end. The cases were filed
with equal dexterity By other women, and
then made up into bundles.
Still more interesting was it to watch the
= II
man. who literally played in each Others
hands, weighed ont the tobacco. cut the
paper receptacleS. filed then By help Of a
machine worked by hydraulic pressure, and
labelled the packets ready for sale As
though it were not enough to weigh an
ounce by machinery, each individual pack
ct Is aitcrwari separately tested by Il fore
woman who puts on one side, to be made up
airesl, every packet weighing traction
below or above Its due appOrtl0nment OF to-
blcc1, - every purchaser of the tw0-ounce
packet OF Government tol acco may be per-
tectly sure he has his proper quantity.
But surely the establishment must lose
more in the salaries OF these female over
seer- than it could in the dispensing OF
few additional grains Of tobacco. No less
than 1000 women are employed. Another
room l. tillei up entirely by the tobacco
which Is seized on the frontier. The guide
told Us it was mixed up in certain proper
tons with other kinds, and with the shreds
OF leaves cut 10 from cigars nothing Is
lost here, SAID he, and | believed him =
10 be made into snuff. the fdjac dc saisics
Is worth nothing. he declared, tearing up
some packets with a cOutemptuo1s air. and
what he showed Us was even worse than
average French tobacco.
50 /, Is charitable TO conclude that it Is
consideration for the public health that makes
the Customs authorities look 50 sharply
after the importation of the weed from
abroad. Lastly We came to the plgtail de-
partment. wherein the leaf was being made
into various Sizss. from the thin tobacco
string affected by the student to the thick
quids prepared ior sailors use. The pig
tlii Is pressed to get rid of the superfu0us
nicotine, and 1t was with sickenlng qualm
that one looked at the thick. treacly juice
that ezuded, and reflected On the quantity
OF the stuff that We might have consumed
in the course OF many years indulgence Of
the weed IN various conditions. The sale
OF cigarettes has increased enormously OF
late years, | was informed and | should
like 10 know if the preference Cor this form
OF tobacco Is 70 be attributed 10 the deterlO-
ration IN the quality of cigars supplied by
Government. or to the necessity which add.
cd taxation has imposed upon the popula-
tion since the war to restrict the sums they
formerly spent on luxurics.