The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1910-06-22
MoLASSES IN THE TOBACCO.
That Is Why the Smokers Tongue Is
Burned Occasionally.


Burned Occasionally.
"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 little bit
too much molasses," said the tobac-
conist. "The tobacco intended for win
ter Gale always has little more mo-
lasses in it than summer tobacco.
They've several reasons for adding
molasses to tobacco" he continued,
coming back to the end of the count
er. "In the first place, If the leaf
wasn't made just the least bit sticky
it would be apt to crumble to a very
fine powder that would choke up your
pipe, especially in winter, when to-
bacco gets extremely dry.
$50 when they add little molass-
es to the cut leaf they make a thin,
sticky film over it. This keeps the
tobacco in good shape and the mo-
lasses locks the nicotine in the body of
the leaf.
Nicotine, you know, will evapor-
ate and be lost Il the tobacco is ex-
posed long enough. Then when the
nicotine is gone you might as well
smoke the cabbage leaf the comic pa
pers talk SO much about for all the
satisfaction you get.
Plug tobacco Is simply leaf glued
together with molasses and then
pressed into block. If you'll take
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 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 molasses having been washed off
the leaf, but from it's having ferment-
ed 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 Of
ten have seen how it gathered the
wet. The sugar crystals acts exactly
like the crystals of salt, but to q 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 tobac-
COZ" asked the customer.
Partly" sa.u 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 cry
stalls over and above what you'd ex-
pect they might collect from the air.
When you melt this sugar in your
pipe each crystal dissolves first in
little pool of water, and makes mate
rial for steam, in addition to the free
water in the tobacco that you can't
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
1t parboiied."
Has all tobacco molasses in it?"
the customer asked.
NO" said the tobacconist. "The
very cheap tobacco smoked by the
natives of Cuba, Porto Rico, Mexico,
and those countries, in the form of
cigarettes, hasn't any molasses in it.
Molasses isn't needed once the manu-
facturers have their leaf made up in
the form of cigarettes, because they
us a very hearv ~ape~ rvlinder. with
the ends tucked In. This keeps the
lear from failing vut, even II it's
crushed little through the thick pa
per.
You'll get rs of those cigarettes
for about two cents. The working.
men smoke them all the time because
they're too lazy even to roll their own
cigarettes. The coolest pipe smoke
you ever had will be yours if you'll
only go to the bother of buying a few
punches of those cigarettes and
emptying the tobacco into a Jar
Naw Y0rlr Sun