The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1892-09-17

IcIS-duU Wo 0C Ccl Colu ~ SIuOkerS-
ever take into consideration the rela-
ton that the wrapper bears to the
other parts Of the cigar when it is
taken as whole. We weighed two
cigars, one four inches in length, and
the other four and half. The first
one was found to weigh eighty grains,
and the second one hundred grains.
Taking off the wrappers, that of the
smaller cigar weighed eight grains,
and of the larger ten grains, demon
strating that the wrappers consti.
tuted only one-tenth part of the
whole cigar.
A number of years ago a series of
experiments to ascertain the chemical
nature of tobacco were made in the
laboratory connected with one ofthe
state tobacco factories in France.
These experiments were carefully
and extensively made, and were con-
Quoted by one of the most scientific
men of his day. His researches
showed that tobacco was composed
of nicotine (which gives the strength
to the plant), small quantity of
essential oil, nicotianine "a solid cam
phor-like body, to which the odor of
the plant is due), malic and citric
acids, acetic acid livery little in fresh
leaves, increasing in fermentation),
oxalic acid, poetic acid, resins, fats
and other bodies extractable by ether,
sugar Tin the leaves little; more in
the stems; it disappears during
fermentation, cellulose, albuminoids,
calculated from the nitrogen not
present as nicotine, nitrates, or
ammonia. The nicotine determines
the strength of the tobacco, but not
its flavor or aroma. The percentage
of it in the leaves may be to some ex-
tent modified in cultivation-plants
wideapart developing few leaves, but
these thick and feshy are rich in
nicotine, while closely packed plants
that throw out numerous thin and
membranous leaves have little
nicotine. The nicotine increases with
the age of the plant, and tobacco that
is allowed to become fully ripe con-
tains considerable more than if cut
much earlier. Taking the plant to
be composed of 100 parts, it was
learned that the percentage Of
nicotine was from LIS to 9 parts. In
cigars made of different tobaccos
5x74 centimeters in length, the
nicotine was from LIS to per cent,
while in Havana cigars it was from
l.8 to 2.2 per cent.
We will 60 back to the two cigars
we weighed and see what part the
wrapper plays in tie strength of the
cigar. Let us take the four and a
half inch one. We found it weighed
one hundred grains, the filler and
binder ninety grains, and the wrap
per ten grains-onc-tenth of the
whole cigar. Suppose the nicotine
in this cigar forms one-tenth part of
lit, that in the wrapper will be only
one-tenth Of the whole amount Of
nicotine - one-tenth part Of the
strength of the cigar, and this wrap
per would be very dark one. Using
light colors, we would much more de-
crease the proportion of strength
given to the cigar by the wrapper.
Comparing the amount of tobacco
constituting the filler and binder
with the amount Of the wrapper, it is
easily to be seen that the nicotine, or
strengthening property, in the
wrapper plays an inconsidersble part
in the quality of strength in a cigar.
Let us make two cigars, in one Of
which the filler is of light tobacco
containing say three per cent. of the
nicotine in the whole cigar, and the
dark wrapper seven per cent, while
10 the other the filler, being dark,
contained seven per cent, and the
light filler three per cent. Would
not both cigars be of equal strength?
But there would be much difference
between two cigars whose wrappers