Sharp County record., 1881-08-25
Cuiizlng Wasted Cigar Tips.

auu r.DS OF the TOBACCO leaves lhaJ are
Rejected BY the cigar-maker are sold to
farmers for manure. The old scraps OF
cuttings 90 to the cigarette manufact-
urcr or are sent to Europe to be
smoked in pipes. Even the dust that
is swept from the floor of the workrOom
where cigars are made has its price, and
is u.ed as an insect destroyer in hot
houses and gardens. Tobacco is too
valuable to be wasted by the manu-
facturer. After the cigar gets to the
consumer and is laid away, if only afew
whiffs of smoke have been drawn
through, it entirely loses its flavor, in
terlereS with the value of the stump.
But the Italian rag-picker is not over
fastidious, and in his black clay pipe all
tobacco tastes alike. In Paris the gath
ering of cigar stumps has grown to be
a recognized industry. In the Place
Maubert there is a market for this COM
modify. Wholesale dealers purchase
the stumps that are gathered in large
lots by boys and beggars, and turn them
into a poor quality of smoking tobacco
that is purchased by the poor classes
or exported.
The tip or "head" of the cigar, which
by the American smoker is bitten off
and tossed away, is in some parts Of
Europe carefully preserved and made
the basis of vast, organized charity
The history of its use which only dates
back some fifteen or twenty years, IS a
fair illustration of the results that may
be accomplished by economy in small
things. Some German philosopher Of
a practical turn calculated that much
valuable tobacco was wasted by cigar
smokers bv the rejection of the tip,
and that if Il general collection OF the
tips could be made and the material
could be put to use, a handsome reve-
nue. would be the result. The conceit
was laughed at, but was put to the test
half seriously by Il number OF smokers.
For want Of an organized effort the ilrst
results were not encouraging, but the
thing was talked of and created atten-
ton. Smokers clubs were organized
in all parts OF Germany-so- called
sptel.yerene" (tip societies), and a
regular system of collections was de-
vised. The members OF the clubs made
it their business to collect cigar tips
among their friends, and boxes were
put into tobacco stores and saloons for
the waste begins. 1t is probably SAFE
to say that on an average One-third OF
all the tobacco made into cigars Is
flung away in the shape of half
consumed stumps, aud the smokers OF
the best cigars throw away the big
gest stumps. The waste is especially
common in this country, where cigar
holders are less used than in Europe,
Along Broadway or the Bowery
NAV be seen every morning scores
of bootbacks and Italian rag
pickers gathering from the cutters
harvest OF cgar-stumps for their pri-
vate use, though of late years this en-
terpriSe has fallen almost entirely into
the hands of the Italians, owing to the
growing self-esteem of the New York
gamin. Every month member Of the
club made his collections. As charity
was understood to be the object of the
collections, sums of money were fire.
qnently foqnd in the public Poxes among.
the tips At the end OF the year the
tobacco was sold to snuff manufacturers
or for smoking tobacco. With the
money the clubs bought clothes and
Christmas presents for orphan children
or the inmates of other charitable in
stitutions. The system, as it became
general. grew to extraordinary proper
tions. Hundreds of children are to-day
clothed and fed in Germany through
this simple means. despite the fact that
Germany is rather a pipe-smoking
than cigar smoking country. In Ber-
lin alone there are more than twenty
collection offices, and the annual con-
tributions of the "spitzel vereine
forms a considerable item in the sap,
port of the State Orphan Asylum, the
patroness of which is the Empress. In
Baden an effort is being made to build .
an orphan asylum by means Of COntri- |
buttons, of which cigar-tip CONNECTIONS
are an important item. The traveller |
will observe in tobacco stores through
out the country, and, in fact, through .
out Europe, cigar r-cutterS that bear the
inscription, " For charity-save the
tip In Germany or Austria a dealer,
in presenting to buyer purchased
cigars, will often cut off the tip OF each
one, partly as a compliment to the Gus
toner and partly as a help to his col
lection.
The plan has been adopted with sue
cess in England, where the proceeds Of
the collection are given to hospitals.
In Denmark the collection of cigar-tips
furnishes material support for a chari-
table hospital in Copenhagen, and pays
for the education and support OF num-
ber of girls up to the time OF their con-
tirmatiOn, when they are able to take
care of themselves. In France the syS-
TEN does not appear to have taken root
as vet. The Partisan tobaccOnist sells
his cigar-tips to florists, who tumigate
their greenhouses with them to kill in
SectS.
In this country, where more cigars
are smoked than in all Europe together,
the tip is contemptuously rejected. Of
late years cigar-cutters have come into
use in tobacco stores. but without the
e" saving clause that accompany them
in Europe. A few beggars collect the
tips at certain stores and smoke them,
but most dealers throw them in the ash
barrel. In the German districts an oc-