Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1906-03-23
A CIGAR SMOKING MA
CHINE.
DEVICE TO TEST VALUE OF VA
RIoUs KINDS OF LEAF.
Department Of Agriculture Conduct
ing Interesting Experiments with
View to Developing Plants Especial
Iy Suited for Cigar Manufacture.

a job that will tax to the utmost the
attachments of the scientists who
have been assigned to it, writes the
Washington correspondent of the
New York Post. The endeavor is
nothing less than the propagation of
a. superlative domestic tobacco, which
may be grown In Texas, Ohio, Connec-
tlcut, or South Carolina. and made UP
into cigars that the poor in purse may
smoke without being guilty of a mis-
demeanor. Unwilling to endanger
the health and lives of the experts
engaged in the inquiry, an inventive
genius in the department has con-
trived cigar smoking machine, in
which the consumption of the expert
mental cigars may be observed with
out personal risk. Comparative rec
ords of the various grades of tobacco
can now be made with absolute safe
ty. Representatives Longworth and
Grosvenor of Ohio have borne wit
ness on the floor of the house concern
ing the quality and dangers of Phil
1ppine cigars. By the presentation of
a box of one hundred Manila cigars
to his colleague, Mr. Vreeland, Mr..
Grosvenor converted the New York
representative to his manner of think
ing. Mr.. Vreeland still has ninety
nine of the cigars to present to doubt
ers.
The cigar smoking machine at the
department of agriculture consists of
cir Ia rrInr %,.I~1 l., 4
lengths arranged with openings into
which cigars are placed, one above the
other, so that when burning each one
is subject to the same external condi-
tons The other end of each tube
runs into a bottle containing dilute
sulphuric acid, which takes up obnox-
ious fumes from the outlet At some
little distance is an aspirator which
automatically fills with water When
filled a syphon begins to draw off the
water. A check valve is provided to
prevent air from escaping while the
aspirator is filling. This prevents
back draft upon the cigars which the
machine is smoking" The syphon
attachment is so arranged as to re-
quire thirty seconds for filling the re-
ceptacle and ten second for emptying
it. This results in Stimulating, very
accurately, the human tobacco smok-
er's habit, making a ten-second draw
through the cigar and half minute
intermission between the puffs.
These experiments have been con-
Quoted under direction of Prof. B. T.
Galloway, chief of the bureau of
plant industry, while the machine it.
self is the work of Dr. w. w. Garner,
an assistant in plant breeding in that
| bureau. He conceived the idea of
employing the regular flow of small
stream of water through connecting
tubes by which operation air would
be drawn through the cigars Just as
is done by smoker. In the develop
ment of this plan he noted every de-
tail effecting the three component |
parts of cigar-filler, binder and
wrapper-and determined to discover
by scientific means Just what infiu-
ence each has on cigars value to
the smoker. To make complete rec
ord of his work DR. Garner studies
not only the rapidity of burning, but
the character of the ash and the even
ness of the progress of combustion.
Each cigar is labeled and numbered,
and the report of the Investigations
gives every detail of the characteris- |
tics it has developed in the test.
One series of experiments recently |
completed was made with twelve CT |
gars, all alike in their outside cover
of wrapper and binder. and with the |
filler alone, respectively, of Cuban.
Texas, Ohio and South Carolina to- |
bacco. All had the same test. The |
Cuban filler produced an even burn
on each of the three cigars, while the |
others were erratic. the last-named |
producing the most uneven burn. |
Through the arrangement of the |
tubes in graduated lengths, the heat |
arising from one burning cigar cannot |
affect the combustion of the cigar in /
any other tube
Another test was made at the same |
time to discover the shape of the ash |
and its texture, and to keep the rec
ord of this photographs were taken
before the cigar butts were removed |
from the smoking machine
Speaking of the experiments, DR..
Galloway said:
TYPES of tobacco vary greatly on I
the same soil. This is especially true
of wrapper tobacco In order to de-
termine definitely the quality Of leaf
to grow to obtain the same type in
succeeding years we have all the
strains marked by numbers, and keep
a record of the. period of growth, the I
results of handling in barns, where it
is cured by the sweating process, the
fermentation which gives it its aroma.
and all such items of interest to the
tobacco producer and scientist. AS
the final test we make use of this
machine. which smokes five cigars at
time. watch accurately the burn of
each specimen. and If it is good. save
the seed of the plant listed under
that particular number, put 1t out
next year, and develop that strain I'M
der the best conditions.
IF there is too much lime in the
soil it results in producing a tobacco
which would be distinguished in the
finished cigar by scaling ash Then
again some wrappers will not burn at
all. These we call asbestos wrappers,
and of course they are not kept for
further growing, but are cast aside
in favor of the plant which has shown
better characteristics When we ina
"a thoroughly first-class ash we trac
back to its ancestry, and grow all
can of that type the next season. tt
we keep repeating from year to We
until we get the best kind of tobao
for cigarmaking purposes"
do Won find any .hlacIx sheen,