472 TOBACCO LEAF. 



takes the larger piece and smooths it out, lays the 

 smaller piece on top of it for the inside lining, gathers 

 up a handful of fillers, which he makes of the right 

 thickness and nearly the right length, then puts this 

 filler bunch inside the binder and rolls it up smoothly 

 by hand. If the filler is not put into the binder straight, 

 the binder will roll up twisted and the cigar will smoke 

 one-sided. When the binder is rolled up over the filler, 

 then the wrapper is rolled on, tucking it well in at the 

 beginning, and rounding it to a more or less pointed tip 

 or head, which is pasted together with the gum traga- 

 canth, cutting the head neatly around with the hand knife. 

 In some factories, a thimble is used to more perfectly 

 and neatly shape the head. Then the cigar is set under 

 the stationary knife, or tuck cutter, and cut off the de- 

 sired length at the butt or tuck, the name being derived 

 from the careful tucking in of the wrapper at this place. 

 This cutter contains a movable contrivance for measur- 

 ing the desired length of cigar, which varies from three 

 to seven inches. The cigar is now finished and set in 

 the rack, head front. 



Form Cigars. These are made the same as the 

 handmade, except that the bunch of fillers is not so 

 thick, and is put into a wooden form of any desired 

 shape, which varies from a Perfecto shape, which is 

 pointed at both ends, to a straight cigar, of even thick- 

 ness all the way through. These molds usually hold 

 twenty bunches. When the mold is filled, it is placed 

 under a press for seven or eight hours, or longer, when 

 the bunches are ready to be taken out and covered with 

 the wrapper. These form cigars are usually of an infe- 

 rior grade to the handmade, and do not require such 

 expert workmanship. Of course, high-grade cigars can 

 be made with the form, but the smoker generally gets 

 more for his money in the handmade, in which the 

 filler bunch is more solid, causing the cigar to be filled 



