Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-08-19
RESWEATING TOBACCO.
How the Weed Is Colored Dark to Meet the
Popular Demand.

Popular Demand.
One of the latest tricks in the tobacco
trade is the artificial resweating of the
weed to meet the popular craze for dark
colored cigars. The craze arises from
the false impression that, because all
good cigars are dark-colored, all dark
coored cigars are good. The ground
taken for this latter impression is that
the dark color is an indication that the
tobacco has been naturally sweated
through about three summers. and has
thus reached perfection of flavor.
The color was formerly an indication
that this was the fact. but it is so no
longer, for the increased demand for
tobacco of the requisite age caused
manufacturers to find way of
aging it, or giving it the APP
pearance of age, artifically. This was
at first done by painting. but a speedier
and more wholesale process has been
invented within the last three or four
years called resweatng. The fact that
tobacco sweatS is well known. The
first summer after it is cut. tobacco
sweats very heavily SO that it can be
twisted and tied in knots like ''kill-me-
quick tobies. The next summer it
sweats much less, and the third summer
the sweat is hardly noticeable. After
each summers sweat the leaf assumes
darker color, until it reaches the hue of
the best Havana brands.
In order to sweat tobacco the box is
opened and the leaf ''cased' or damp
ened. one ''hand'' or layer at Il time, by
dipping it in water. The tobacco is then
repacked in the box and the box placed
in steam-tight receptacle few inches
from the floor. A Jet OF steam rises
through the floor of this chest right I'M
derncath the box, and the steam is al
lowed to play necessarily on it for sew
enty-two hours producing as profuSe
sweat as that of a fat man running up
hill with the thermometer at one hun
dred degrees in the shade. The box is
then taken out and the tobacco shaken
out and allowed to cool off: 1t is then
repacked and is ready for use. Great
care has to be exercised after sweat;nG
tobacco to prevent it from becoming
moldy. If it is found to mold it is often
dipped in beer to kill the mold, Here
is probable explanation of the inebriat-
ing effects of some eli CARS. The tobacco
must always have passed through one
summers sweat before being resweated.
This process ages the tobacco three or
four years, but whether it improves the
quality proportionately is an open qucs-
ton with the trade. Some say that as
reweeating has the same effect rs the
natural sweat, resweated tobacco is per-
fectly equal to that which has aged nat
urally; others say that it Injuries the
flavor. Others, again, say that it does
not affect the flavor preiudically or IA
vorably. All agree that it makes the
leaf tender and difficult to work and
thereby causes loss to the manufacturer.
What is admitted by all judges is that II
natural sweat invariably improves the
quality so that the question remains
how to distinguish tobacco naturally
sweated from that which has been arti-
ficially resweated. 1t is difficult one
to answer, the only guide being that az
titicial sweating often makes the leaf
almost black. and always makes it Il
darker color than the natural sweat
produces. -PHtSburqh Times.