Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-09-29
CIGARETTES AND TINY PIPES
PUFFED EVERYWHERE.
BY BOTH MEN AND WOMEN
Tobacco Made Fluffy-Workmen Press
Stemmed Leaves into Solid Blocks
and Slice Them With Knives
Profitable Monopoly by the Govern
ment.

around the streets and watching the
different phases of Japanese life that
are all around him, but of which he
forms no part, he being the only in
congruous factor in the makeup of a
picture otherwise entirely Japanese.
This applies to other cities, also, but
seems to be somewhat more strongly
emphasized in Kyoto.
The Japanese are inordinate con-
sumers of tobacco, which they grow and
manufacture themselves, although
large trade has sprung up in imported
American cigarettes. Some sections
of Japan have the reputation of raising
finer quality of tobacco than others,
although it seemed to me that the
native article used in their little pipes
was all of about the same rank-rank
indeed-but as long as it was tobacco
it filled the bill. In some sections of
Japan both sexes smoke tobacco rolled
up in camellia leaves, instead of us
ing the customary pipe with the l!lli-
putian bowl. The same kind of to-
bacco is used, whether smoked in the
pipe or the camellia leaf and is fine IN
texture, almost fluffy in appearance.
wondered how this article was manu-
featured, but had my curiosity satisfied
in one of my rambles, when | came up
on tobacco mandatory, which,
like most shops, was all open to the
street, that side of the mandatory
fronting on the street being used for
the retail trade of the establishment,
which was quite large as regarded the
number of customers, but not in the
total number of sales. The passers-
by fling down a copper coin and the
boy in charge with equal rapidity filings
out small paper package of the fine
tobacco, and this is continued all day.
The leaves of tobacco are made into
roll of certain size, having been
previously stemmed. Then a number
of these rolls are put in press and are
pressed fiat by long lever, which the
operator presses down until he can not
press it any more, and then fastens the
lever down to continue the pressure
while he is occupied with his muscle
trying dance, in which, however, he
does not remove his feet from the floor.
He takes a number of these fat pack
ages of tobacco leaves from the press
and inserts about fifteen of thea up
one on top of the other. Then, by
turning quite large wheel attached
to a screw, he presses these packages
of leaves until they become almost as
solid as a piece of wood Then the
real manufacture begin, for there is a
sharp knife (Which he has to sharpen
after each operation) attached to a
lever, the end of which is grasped in
his hands at about the height of his
waist, and after a few motions of the
knife which cuts off the uneven ends of
the tobacco, which small pieces are
carefully preserved and put into the
middle of subsequent packages OF
leaves, he has a smooth, hard surface
against the knife blade, and he begins
to jump up and down with great
rapidity, not moving his feet, the end
of the lever on which is the knife be-
ing grasped in both hands. Every
time he lowers his body he, of course,
slides the knife over the surface of the
block of tobacco leaves and cuts off
an infinitely small shaving of the
block. Then the wooden lever which
has been thus bent down springs back
into place and carries the knife up
with It and another drop of his body
carries the knife down again, and so
it goes on.
To see three or four men thus
jumping up and down rapidly strikes
one at first as being ludicrous, until
you reflect that these poor fellows
keep up this dance from morning until
late at night, week In and week out,
and it takes a great many ups and
downs to slice up one block of tobac-
co. The marvel is, how human muscle
can stand this monotonous strain, but
the work goes on continuously.
When the knife releases the paper
thin slice of tobacco leaves from the
pressure, it springs out and results in
a large, loaflike shape of the fluffy to-
bacco when the end of the block is
reached. With the greatest skill and
deftness this is arranged in small sec
tons on trays, which are piled up and
ultimately taken by woman who
holds balance aloft in her left hand
while with her right she deity puts
just the proper number of these sec
tons on the scales. weighs out the
exact quantity and it is then put up in
paper packages and becomes the fin
ished article for the solace, in homeo-
pathic, though frequent, pipefus OF
the japanese consumers Of both sexes.
Nothing is wasted, the dust and small
fragments all going back into the
packages of tobacco leaves, to be
shaved into the manufactured article.
AS ! meandered around among these
human jumping jacks, an occasional