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The World's Commercial Products 



SORTING TURKISH CIGARETTE TOBACCO 



performed with great care to 

 allow of the full development 

 of the enzjories. 



The harvested leaves, 

 then, either on the stalks or 

 picked separately and strung 

 on strings, are brought to 

 the curing barn, where they 

 are placed on sticks, sup- 

 ported by cross-beams in the 

 upper part of the barn. 

 There are several methods 

 of curing. The method em- 

 ployed for the production of 

 the greater part of the 

 tobacco for Europe is " fire 

 cured." By this method the 

 stalks are allowed to hang 

 for four or five days until the 

 leaves become a rich yellow 

 colour, when small fires are 

 lighted on the floor of the barn. The temperature is not allowed to rise above 90°, and then 

 during about a week it is gradually increased to 150°, when the fires are allowed to burn 

 out. The leaves are not yet dry, however, and the fires are again lighted and the process 

 repeated until the drying is complete. The tobacco is then stripped from the stalk and 

 the leaves, after being sorted into grades, are neatly tied into bundles or " hands," containing 

 from six to twenty leaves. The hands are made into piles and covered with canvas. 



" Flue curing " is adopted for producing the bright yellow tobacco, and great skill in 

 regulating the temperature is necessary. In this method the fires are lighted outside the barn 

 and the heat carried through the building by large air-pipes, so that the smoke and fumes 

 do not come into contact with the leaves. In the first stage the temperature is maintained 

 at about 90° ; the leaves turn a fine yellow colour, and enzymes are formed. Then the 

 temperature is raised to 120°, which " fixes " the colour, and at the same time kills the enzymes, 

 thus allowing of but little subsequent fermentation. The leaves are then finally dried at 135°, 

 when they are graded and stored in bulk. From the nature of the curing it is obvious 

 that this class of tobacco is incapable of undergoing a regular fermentation process as in the 

 case of ' other tobaccos, since the enzymes are destroyed. It is practically ready for the 

 manufacturers, as soon as it leaves the curing barn, though, like all tobaccos, it improves with 

 age. "Air curing" is resorted to for cigar leaf and some varieties of smoking tobacco. 

 The leaves are hung in well- ventilated barns for as long as six weeks, and the process 

 depends upon the satisfactory regulation of the temperature by means of the numerous 

 ventilators. " Sun curing," in the open air, is now seldom employed. The fermentation 

 process is usually not. carried out by the planter but by the leaf dealers. In a very 

 commonly adopted method a quantity -of leaf weighing from two to three hundred pounds 

 is packed in a wooden case, and subjected to a considerable pressure by means of levers 

 or screws. By this means the air is excluded from the leaf, but the moisture and juices resulting 



from the pressure escape through openings in the sides of the case. 



■ ■ ■ ' ' 



; " Fermentation 



Tlfe fermentation is allowed to go on at a constant temperature for several weeks, when 

 the leaf is ready for shipment to the manufacturer. Within recent years the system known 



