The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-11-07
FACTS ABOUT TOBACCO.

reporter.
when you call for a plug of to-
bacco' " replied the dealer you certainly
get modicum of the fragrant leaf, but
it bears only small proportion to tee
amount of other ingredients with which
1t Is combined. The leaf is dipped in a
heavy solution of rum, molasses. lcorice,
glycerlne and other 'navoring' sub
stances until it absorbs fully seventy
five per cent. of them Time was when
the tobacco was the principal part of
the plug; to-day, however, only the
hller and wrapper are of the weed pure
and simple, and. as l have said, they
are only as one to four in the weight
ADDED OF foreign ingredients. / think
TINS accounts for the growing tendency
OF young persons to the chewing habit,
The odor which comes from the breath
OF the chewer, you may have noticed, is
not that of tobacco, but of licorice, and
the new and most popular brands are
those which contain most sweetening.
But no matter how the plug is made it
sells, and the sales are increasing.
the w-strls---'=as-s bear fancy
.sSSai,. re plugs -. y !.
names, being called after well-known
brands otchampagne, wines and spirits,
and the CLEVER is led to believe that
genuine champagne or old port enter
into the dcOction with which the leaf
is dosed. This is, of course, merely an
appeal to tle imagination, and the wine
or spirit flavor is partly due to a more
or less large compound of the ingre-
dients | have named, with, no doubt,
an increased admiXture of rum or low
grade alcohol"
us there large profit in plug to-
bacco?" asked the reporter.
mot at the present time except to the
manufacturer The retail trade is very
much cut up, and suppose in no other
business is there 50 much close com
petition. As soon as a man establishes
a tobacco store and works up a trade
with fair prices and moderate margin
of profit he is speedily handicapped by
spectators, who will start next door. or
in the immediate vicinity, and make
trade by underselling, even if they have
to sell at wholesale prices to secure that
end"
SIS fine-cut subjected to this heavy
style of favoring?"
To some extent it is. but the flavor
ing and other ingredients is largely lost
by evaporation when the tobacco is cut,
consequently a man has more genuine
tobacco in an ounce Of iine-cut than in
four ounces of plug. Strange to say,
however, the consumption of tine-cut
has been steadily decreasing of late
years, and | believe in Chicago alone
only one-quarter of the amount is sold
to-day that was sold fifteen years ago"
''ls it not fact that the chewing
habit is on the declne?"
ut is among persons of position and
culture. Among the working people
the habit is on the increase, and it is to
them that the manufacturers look for
the bulk OF their trade. "
elias smoking increased in proper
ton to the decrease of the chewing
haDlt!
Ut undoubtedly has, Domestic cigars
are improving IN quality and diminish
ing IN price. Before the war domestic
cigars were both good and cheap, but
after the war they deteriorated in quail
lty and increased in price, and the
habitual smokers either resorted to the
pipe or if they could afford it, smoked
imported cigars. To-day there are
thousands OF brands of five cent cigars.
One New York house alone has copy
righted one thousand different brands.
Are Favored cigars in dcmand?"
mot so much as formerly The
'perfumed cigar, as it was termed, is
happily thing OF the past, and eX-
perienced smokers always ask for an I'M
favored cigar, well knowing that opium
is used more or less in all cigar havors
By the use of tlavoring mixtures the
| poorest kind of tobacco, cheap Penn
sylvania or grade Connecticut, can
be utilized the wrappers stained to any
desirable color, either colorado or
'maduro, and the young smoker easily
deceived; and not the young smoker
only, for only one man in fifty is con-
noisseur of cigars and knows an i'm
favored. The cheapest grades of cigars
are wholesaled at from eight to eleven
| dollars per thousand, which allows
an enormous margin of profit. These
grades include the celebrated cleo
ton smokers and brown-paper
weeds. The best fve-cent cigars,
made of Havana filler, either long or