Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-11-09
TRICKS OF THE TOBAC
co TRADE.

Many apocryphal stories are told of
the way plug tobacco is doctored and
adulterated, but, sifted down, the
truth is fully expressed In the words
OF prominent manufacturer:
Nothing ever goes into tobacco as
deleterious or injurious to the human
constitution as the tobacco ITSELF
Nevertheless, skilled workmen COM
mand extraordinary high salaries for
the IeNterity with which they make
cheap or damaged lot of tobacco and so
disguise it in wrapper as to deceive
even an old tar
An average plug tobacco manufac.
turine,establishment works about 900
hands. The tobacco is sorted into four
grades, from which are produced as
many as Is different brands, the pen
Gil of the artist and the skill of the
photographer being literally brought
into acquisition for ornamental designs
to catch the toothless old man as well
as the precocious boy. While the
government requires every package to
bear the stercil mark of the manufac-
turer,sit would be supposed that none
but straight goods would be put up
but it is with tobacco as it is with
wbisky-always fair demand for the
stuff, he it ever so vile. Licorice. oils,
molasses, glucose and other sweets are
literally used by some manufacturers,
and while it is certainly cheat, it is
as well harmless one. For example;
On August 80, Virginia plug was
quoted at 4@44 cents, government tax.
added l6 cents; yet the manufactured
product was quoted as low as II cents.
Evidently the work-up of these plugs
had the tobacco chewer by the lug.
But in fnc-cut tobacco and cigars is
where the greatest deception is prac-
ticed. A western manufacturer says
that there is no end to the aduteration
of fine-cut goods. Machinery has
been SO improved that, as he says, with
one pound of tobacco liquor, obtained
by boiling down stems and refuse leaf,
one pound of rag weed and one pound
Of slippery elm bark. five dollars worth
of 6nc-cut chewing tobacco can be pro-
duced. The suggestion Of slippery elm
bark was new one and the inquiry
was pursued farther He said it was
nicely shaved and mixed with tobacco;
that it had pleasant, sweet taste,
held the tobacco together, and made
the 'quid' last long time. The bark
costs about four cents pound, and
when a third of it is made to replace to-
bacco that costs as high as IS cents q
pound, one can easily see the enormous
profit resulting. A gentleman who
knows says that nearly all the slippery
elm trees in Ohio, INDIANA and Michi-
gan have been denudeG of their bark,
yet leading wholesale druggist affirms
that 50,0 pounds of slippery elm
bark would, for their legitimate drug
gist and medicinal trade, glut the entire
market OF the United States.
In cigars, chcroo.s, cigarettes and
smoking tobacco is where the public
gets robbed the worst. The cunning
devices are so many that even good
judges are imposed npon. 1t used to
be boast among gentlemen that they
could always select fine brand OF
cigars, and of course they smoked no
other. The other day an old smoker,
whose devotion to the weed, cost him
$5 every week, admitted that he
couldn't tell HAVANA filed from Con-
necticut filed. The dishonest article,
how, yer, is the product of the big
manufactures, for the small country
manufacturer cannot afford the machi-
merry nor conceal the lotions and decoc-
tions that are brought into requsition
by his wcalthier competitor. 1t is
quite safe to assume that about the
purest--no, not purest, for if there is
one thing impure, it is tobacco-the
honestest cigar is the handmade cigar
Of the local manufacturer - Boston
HerJM.