Evening star., 1896-11-07

of North Carolina: Plug tobacco is as diff
ferent in its qualities as coffee or tea. 1t
is made in different grades and sold at diff
ferent prices. The tobacco has to go
through many processes before 1t. is
stemmed, or stripped; that is, the stems
must be pulled from the leaves. This is
done by negroes in a room at warm tenn
perature, and the probability is that the
perspiration of the employees aids in the
flavor Of the plug. The next process. how
ever, removes the evidence of any such
odor The tobacco chewer is not satisfied
with the pure leaf. His chew must be
sWeetened and favored to taste. A black
liquid composed of licorice, sugar, glyce-
rine, salt and 1avoring extracts il evenly
sprayed on the tobacco, as it Is carried
through an immense copper cylinder. 1t Is
then taken to the rolling room, where hun
dreds of colored men and women. boys and
girls stand at tables and press the leaves
out into shape, and then roll them into
bundles, little larger than the size OF the
plugs which are to be made from them.
Here the bundles are weighed as they are
made, and are carried off to be squeezed
by hydraulic pressure into the plugs of the
chewer.
Smoking Tobacco.
1t was at Durham. NC, that 1 saw the
process Of making smoking tobacco. 1 went
through rooms where the leaves are cut
i1to the bits composing the granulated to-
40
tory were almost suffocating with their
smell and dust and I sneezed again and
asaln as l made my way through them.
The machines which handle the tobacco
make you think of those Of an immense
mourning mill. The tobacco Is raised by ele-
Vators from one floor TO another. and at
the top 1t lies in great piles as big as hay
stacks, and containing hundreds of thou
sands of pounds. The tobacco machines
cut the leaves into bits, and separate the
stems and the dust from the stuff saved for
smoking. After the tobacco is cut it is fla.
vored by squirting a mixture of what
sIheiled much like rum and some fiavoring
extracts over 1t. This Is done with q hose
l remember as I saw the gallons of aro
matte spirit flying In streams over a big
STACK OF tobacco the story of the Irishman
ana tne plum pudding came back to me.
Fat had had his first taste of the pudding
and was smacking his lips over the rum
dressing: Och!' said he, ''what an illigant
pudding 1t would be If it was livery bit
dressing.'
For the Cigarette Fiend.
Inc same tobacco as that for the pipe is
used for cigarettes. There are immense
cigarette factories ct Richmond. Va. ar
burham, N. c., and in many southern
cltles. Cigarettes are made almost Alto
gether by machines which are manipulated
by white girls. This is the only branch of
tobacco making / have seen which IS NOT
run almost entirely by negro labor. The
managers Of the different establishments
tell me that they consider their colcred
neip the best help In the world, and that
1t Is both efficient and steady The tobacco
area of the United States is increasing. We
are producing better tobacco than ever be-
fore. and our shipments of cigarettes to
forelsn countries are enormous. We now
send them by the million to China and
Japan, and American cigarettes are smoked
| In every part of the world
FRANK G. CARPENTER.