El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-01-19
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> MOLASSES IN THE TOBACCO. ::
. That Is Why Smokers Tongue ::
Is Burned Occasionally.
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"Say, I'll have to drop this brand of
smoking 1t nearly burns the tongue
off me- What's the matter with it?''
said the smoker.
ITS been made up with a little bit
too much molasses," said the tobacco
mist THE tobacco intended for win
ter sale always has a little more mo-
lasses in it than summer tobacco.
They've several reasons for adding
molasses tc tobacco he continued,
coming back to the end Of the coun-
ter I'm the first place, If the leaf
wasn't made just the least bit sticky
fine powder that would choke up your
pipe, especially in winter, when tobac-
co gets extremely dry.
$50 when they add little molasseS
to the cut leaf they make a thin. sticky
film over 1t. This keeps the tobacco
in good shape and the molasses locks
the nicotine in the body of the leaf.
Nicotine you know, will evaporate
and be lost if the tobacco is exposed
long enough. Then when the nicotine
is gone you might as well smoke the
cabbage leaf the comic papers talk so
much about for all the satisfaction you
get.
Plug tobacco is simply leaf glued
together with molasses and then press
ed into block. If you'll take a plug
of smoking and put it in damp place
outside somewhere and then come
back after a week or two to look at
it you'll see a pile of square cut leaves,
perhaps five or six inches high. This
is because the tobacco will have lost
its molasses glue, not from the mo-
lasses having been washed off the leaf,
but from its having fermented into
vinegar.
THE film of molasses keeps the leaf
moist and pliable. This is because of,
the sugar crystals in it. If you've
ever noticed salt in wet weather you'll
often have seen how it gathered the
wet. The sugar crystals act exactly
like the crystals of salt, but to a less
degree.
when you fellows that smoke pipes
say that tobacco burns your tongue
you're away off. The tobacco hasn't a
thing to do with it, and your tongue
isn't being burnt, it's being scalded.'
From the moisture in the tobacco?"
asked the customer.
Partly" said the tobacconist, but
mostly from moisture you'd not think
was in the tobacco. There's a great
deal of water in the little sugar crys-
tails over and above what you'd expect
they might collect from the air
when you melt this sugar in your
pipe each crystal dissovles first in a
little pool of water, and makes mate
rial for steam, in addition to the free
water in the tobacco that you can feel
with your fingers.
This hot steam makes a regular
steam heating system between the
bowl of your pipe and your tongue,
and while you think your tongue is
being burnt you're actually getting
it parboiled.''
Has all tobacco molasses in it?" the
customer asked.
NO, said the tobacconist. The
very cheap tobacco smoked by the ma
tives Of Cuba, Porto Rico, Mexico and
those countries. in the form of cigarets,
hasn't any molasses in ii. Molasses
isn't needed once the manufacturers
have their leaf made up in the form
of cigarets, because they use very
heavy paper cylinder, with the ends
tucked In This keeps the leaf from
falling out, even if it's crushed a little
through the thick paper.
You'll get % of those cigarets for
about cents. The working men
smoke them all the time, because
they're too lazy even TO roll their own
cigarets. The coolest pipe smoke Won
ever had will be yours If you'll only
go TO the bother of buying few
punches of those cigarets and emptv
ing the tobacco into a jar