THE MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO. 471 



that are not booked sometimes get too dry for use, when 

 they are moistened, and also often treated with a flavor- 

 ing preparation. 



Preparing for Work. The workman sits at a table, 

 which contains a drawer for waste, and on which is 

 placed a rack for holding the cigars he makes ; he has 

 also, attached to his table, a "board" of some hard 

 material, on which he rolls his cigars, a stationary knife 

 (tuck cutter) for cutting them off the desired length, a 

 box of gum tragacanth colored with licorice to make 

 it of the color of tobacco, with which he pastes the ends 

 of tobacco around the tip or head of the cigar, and a 

 smaller knife to cut the leaf. At his side is a box of 

 fillers. On the table at the left is a pad of wrappers, 

 unbound, and covered over with a damp cloth, and in 

 front a pad of binders. He is now ready to go to work. 



The Making of Handmade Cigars. The work- 

 man takes a wrapper leaf from under the cloth at his 

 left, spreads it out on his board, and cuts it into one, 

 two or three wrappers (remember, that what is now called 

 the leaf is but half of the original leaf, since the middle 

 stem has been taken out). If this leaf (that is, half 

 leaf) is very fine, he can, perhaps, cut three wrappers, 

 but generally this is not done, as the veins are likely to 

 get too thick as you get down to the butt of the leaf, 

 and it will not do to have the thick veins show on the 

 cigar covering. Sometimes, in large factories, the Su- 

 matra is divided into three parts, No. 1, 2 and 3. If 

 the workman gets a pad marked No. 1, he knows he is 

 expected to get one wrapper out of each leaf ; No. 2 re- 

 quires two wrappers, and from No. 3 he is expected to 

 cut three wrappers. The wrapper being cut into, say, 

 two pieces, the workman lays them to one side, throwing 

 what is left into his drawer. Next, he takes a binder, 

 lays it on the board, breaks it into a large and small 

 piece, throws the bits not wanted into the drawer, then 



