The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1881-10-20
TOBACCO AND CIGARS.
The Extent 70 Which Whcy Are AduI-
rpr7fcsf.

81
terRtCds
"NIy son, if you will chew tobacco,
chew plug ; it's thenastiest. Such was
the sage advice Of a venerable grand
father. OF the 26,OOO.O0O men and
boys in the United States, says the Chi
cagO Tribune, 1t IS safe to assume. that
One-haf use tobacco in one shape or an
other, for the entire product in 1880 up
on which revenue was paid amounted to
Gncluding snuff 146, ,O82, ,885 pounds.
So that about five and One-half pounds
are allotted to each consumer. Now, IN
ordinary tobGcco-chewer, such as q Ia
boring man or a mechanic, viii consume
his pound Of plug month but prOfes-
siOnal men and gentlemen Of leisure, who
mostly chew fne-cut, are contented with
two or three ounces per month. OF
cherOOts, cigarettes and cigars, there
were manufactured during the year 1880
the enormous number of $500, 159, $50.
For this extravagant wagging Of the
the jaws, this cOpious drain upon the
salivary glands, however, the Federal
Government was duly compensated In
the magnificent sum Of $38, $50, 14O. .O8.
Thus, if 100000 men and boys viii
consume ali the tobacco product and
make nUisances Of themselves generally,
the temperate abstaining other half of
the population can be cOnsoled by the
thought that nearly s4O,OOO,O00 of the
Federal debt does not rest on their
shoulders.
Tobacco, like the Canada thistle, is a
weed, and, while it is indigenous to the
American States, its cultivation as
commodity is limited almost
to the States of Virginia, Ken
tuclIy, North Carolina, Connecticut,
Ohio and Illinois. The Virginia and
Kentucky product is used almost exclu-
sively in the manufacture Of plug; the
product Of the other States goes into ci-
gars and cheap smoking tobacco, except
that quite all of the fancy plugs are
wrapped with North Carolina leaf. Be
fore the war, IN Rapids parish, Louis
lana, an immense business was done III
growing periqUe tobacco, used exclu-
5iyply for smoking, though put up in
plugs shaped somewhat like a cham
pagne bottle. 1t sold at fabulous prices
and by old smokers was esteemed high
er than opium by the Mussulman. Very
little periqUe is grown now.
In the days preceding the war tObac-
20 WIS cultivated entirely by slave Ia
Dor, there was no Federal or State tax
upon It, and no incentive to manufac-
5urers to cheat or adulterate. When
slavery was abolished, when the Gov
= nment put Il heavy tax upon its sale, /
.he cunning American began deyising
ways for deiraudiDg the luxurious con-
,Umer, for as yet no means have been
levised for defrauding the Revenue De- |
0rtment. Many apochryphal stories |
re told OF the way plug tobacco Is doc
Ored and adUlterated, but siftad down |
he trutI. Is fully expressed in the words |
# prominent manufacturer: Nothing |
aver goes into tobacco rs deleteriOus or |
INJURIOUS to the human constitution as |
he tobacco itself" Nevertheless. skilled |
yOrdmen command extraordinary high |
alaries for the dexterity with which |
hey viii take q cheap or damaged lot Of
ObaccO and so disguise it IN a wrapper
S to deceive even IN old tar.
An average plUg-tObaccO manUfactUr-
ng establishment works about 200 |
lands. The tobacco is sorted into four
.rades, from which are produced as
many as seventy-hve Or 2 hundred dif-
arent brands, the pencil Of the artist
nd the skill Of photographer being lib
rally brought into reGuisIuOn for OTna-
rental designs to catch the tOOthless
Id man as well as the precocioUs boy.
While the Government requires every
ackage to bear the stencil-mark of the
it would be supposed
hat none but straight goods would be
ut Up but it is with tobacco as with
q fair demand for the
5uf, be it ever so vile. Licorice, oils,
glucose and similar sweets are
bera'ly used by some manufacturers,
nd while it Is certainly a cheat it is as
ell a harmless one.
But III Gue-cut tobacco and cigars is
here the greatest deception is prac.
ced. A Western manufacturer says
lat there is no end to the adtlteratiOn
tne-cut goods. Machinery has been
} improved that, as he says, with one
Ound of tobacco liquor, obtained by
0iling down stems and refuse leaf, one
DUnd Of rag weed and one pound of !
bark So worth Of fine-cut
lewing tobacco can be produced. The
lggestiOn OF slippery-elm bark was a
9w one, and the inquiry was pursued
rther. He said it was nicely shaved
ID mixed with tobacco that it had o
easant, sweet taste, held the tobacco
gether, and made the "quid" last
ng time. This bark costs about 4
nts pound, and when third of it is {
ade to replace tobacco that sells as
gh as 75 cents q pound, one can easily
e the enormous profit resulting. A
.ntleman who knows says that nearly
the sEppery-elm trees in Ohio, Indi-
a and Michigan have been denuded OF
cir bark, yet leading wholesale drug
st In Chicago afirms that $4,000
unds Of slippery-elm bark would, for {
yitimate druggist and medicinal trade,
ut the entire market of the United
ates. ;
In cigars, cheroots, cigarettes and
loking tobacco is probably where the ,
Lblic gets robbed the worst. The
nning devices are so many that even
,od judges are imposed upon. The
shOnest article, however, is the pro :
lot Of the big manufactures, for the
lall country manufacturer cannot af-- I
I'd the machinery nor conceal the 10
,ns and decoctions that are brought F
to requisition by his wealthier COM
titor. It is quite safe to assume that I
out the purest-nO, not purest, for if
ere is any one thing impure it is to-
ccO-the honestest cigar is the hand
ade cigar of the local manufacturer.
This much can be said to the credit Of
e tObacco-dealer: His product Is
rely a luxury-iu no sense entering
to the medicinal or mechanical arts I
d, being a luxury, no law, not even D
.blic opinion, can restrain him from D
e practice of any little cheat to en- j
nee his profits. Which brings up ?.
ain the admission that in ali his cheats iB
nothing IS put into tobacco more dele L
.ious to the human system than the Il
Oacco itself.