The Osceola times., 1878-01-12
SECRETS or CIGAR MAKING.
Experts Explain what the Things are that
smoke re- PuH-An Addres ~ the
United Cigar Manufacturers'
Associations.

Experts Explain what the Things are that
smoke re Pun-An Addres ~ the
United Cigar Manufacturers'
Association.
1t is probably well known that the
greater number of cigars manufactured
of late years has been made in so-called
tenement-heuse factories. Now, a word
concerning the unsuspecting smoker.
First, it may be stated that tobacco is a
substance OF such tender nature that it
will readily absorb foul as it does moist
air and tobacco, exposed for short
time only to impure air, in cases of sick
ness in the family, will, if made into
cigars, disseminate the disease to other
places. The workman, whose family in
many cases consist of from four to eight
children, besides himself and wife, occu-
pies in most instances a room and bed.
room. All of them have to sleep in this
limited space, so small, in fact, that it can
be spanned by the outstretched arms.
About one hundred pounds of moist or
drying, in all cases strongly vaporing,
tobacco is constantly kept in these rooms
During the working thereof this tobacco
is shaken up, and the lungs Of the occu-
pants inhaIe its dust and vapor. To-
bacco and its waste lie scattered all over
the feor of the apartments, and the child
to roll about on, and among these wastes,
which are not thrown away, but again
worked into cigars. Births and deaths
occur in the midst of this laboratory.
All housework, such as cooking, washing
ironing and cleaning of children has to
be done in the room where the cigars are
made. 1t can not possibly be avoided
that filth finds its way into the cigars
made here, which are subsequently pulled
with the greatest relish by the smoking
population. Should not smoker have
a right TO demand the same cleanliness
in cigar factory which every one
expects to find in the store of butcher,
baker, or grocer, particularly in such
places of business where articles to be
used rs food are bought? The poor weed
which these so called factories offer TO a
smoker will not only ruin his health, but
he would scarcely he willing to exchange
his good money for such an impure
article were he informed of the matter
which is worked into them-the strong
| flavor of the tobacco hides all taint.
We, who know that these are positive
facts, would under no circumstances
smoke these cigars the attempt to do SO
would turn our stomachs. Cigars made
in these factories are mainly sold in
groceries, apothecary stores, and also in
large and well furnished cigar stores,
whose owners do not manufacture for
themselves.
We now come to another branch of
the "modern" so-called "improved"
way of manufacturing cigars. Almost
everyone who smokes has made trial OF
the cigar advertised in a conspicicuous
manner as Warranted Havana filled
five cents cigers" Suppose the smoker
is not accustomed to imported Havanas,
he will say of such five cent cigar that
it can't be called an extra fine one but
then, he says, 1t isn't very expensive, and
/ for a little money have smoked genuine
Havana tobacco. Just this is the point
we want TO come to. The inner filings
of these cigars consist of tobacco cut
short by machinery, which makes it the
so.called scraps. These scraps, according
to the large lettered placards and labels,
have been cut from Havana tobacco.
Leaiy Filings can easily be recognized
by most anybody engaged in our bus.
iness but these scraps, shorter than ab.
solutely necessary for work, can not be
Judged of, even by experts. We give
the reader the assurance that 1t is the
intention of the makers to deceive every
one with this short stuff We also
assure the public that the Havana
flavor" results only from the fact that
about one.eighth OF the filling is taken
from the refuse products of Cuba, seven.
eighth of the contents being grown with,
in the domains of Uncle Sam. A chemist
who understands his business, will, for q
small compensation, prepare the Havana
flavor needed in the manufacture OF these
cigars. The cost price to the manulac
turer for cigars Of this kind Is from SIC
to $40 per thousand. They are sold to
retailers at $50, netting the former 8
profit larger than the imagination of the
most infatuated smoker would reach
Why. then, weuld you pay five cents lol
one of these cigars, when it isn't worth
more than half that amount Il it pos
sible that such impositions can so heartily
be supported by the public?
The demand Of smokers for dark, pos
sibly black-cigars, seems at first to be
come an insurmountable obstacle to
cigar manufacturers. As nature does
noe produce dark or black tobacco, chem.
istry must again be called on for the
relief. Wrappers are now colored before
manufacture, and the finished cigars,
even the lightest ones, are changed to a
beautiful brown or black by an applica-
ton of the chemical compound to their
surface. That such processes are neces-
sary we would not blame the manufac.
turer, but the smoker himself. The
manufacturer is obliged to find means to
suit his customers. All that can be ex'
pected Of him Is the Confession that an
artificial coloring has been used