468 TOBACCO LEAF. 



has wrapped 1000 five-inch, handmade cigars, and four 

 or five pounds finest quality domestic seedleaf, but a less 

 amount is required to wrap form-made cigars. An 

 experienced manufacturer estimates as a fair average 

 four pounds wrappers, nine pounds binders and twelve 

 pounds fillers to make 1000 cigars of ordinary size and 

 good quality ; another says five, eight and twelve pounds 

 respectively, and still another, seven, seven and eleven 

 pounds. 



Machinery has already invaded the field of cigar 

 manufacture. At present, however, only about 12 per 

 cent of the cigar factories of the United States are suffi- 

 ciently large to profitably employ the most modern 

 method of machinery. In Europe, still fewer factories 

 are of sufficient size to warrant the investment necessary 

 in a machine plant, except in the Kegie countries. The 

 history of the development of the application of ma- 

 chinery to cigar making is full of interest. The suction 

 roller table has, to a certain extent, revolutionized cigar 

 manufacture, and, at the present time, it is claimed that 

 about one-fifth of the cigars made in the United States 

 are rolled upon it. Many of the cheap cigars are made 

 in the larger factories, either throughout or in part, by 

 machinery. One of the most useful and most common 

 is the stripping machine, which contains a small round 

 knife that cuts the stem out clean, without tearing the 

 leaf. Space forbids a detailed description of the various 

 machines employed. Even the details of cigar making by 

 hand, vary with different workmen and in different fac- 

 tories, but the bulk of the cigars consumed in the United 

 States are still made by hand or form. Cigar makers 

 are thoroughly organized and obtain excellent wages. 

 The handmade method of cigar manufacture is about as 

 follows : 



Casing. When the manufacturer opens the one or 

 more cases, or bales, of tobacco he has purchased to carry 



