Worthless tobacco was too often included in these 

 shipments. This abuse of good trading practice finally 

 brought action from the General Assembly. An "Act to 

 regulate Curing and Packing of Tobacco, and prevent 

 Fraud therein," passed in 1753, curbed the careless or 

 dishonest trader. Official packers were, thereafter, 

 elected in tobacco-producing towns. The improved qual- 

 ity of export leaf which resulted helped to maintain the 

 small overseas markets and benefited domestic buyers. 

 Sound, cured tobacco was accepted in payment of taxes 

 in a number of communities. 



T 



lie local '*cliaw" 



Along with the use of tobacco in pipes and, to a lesser 

 degree, as snuff, chewing became fairly popular in 

 Connecticut, particularly in its seaports. Virginia leaf 

 was then being manufactured into cheap plug tobacco. 

 As a home industry, Connecticut farmers and their wives 

 concocted their own form of "chaw." Their 18th century 

 name for this plug was "fudgeon," a term that suggests 

 the leaf was heavily sauced with a sugary syrup. 



T 



he great importation 



The assumed first entry of cigars into Connecticut 

 gave rise to an account that became a respected tradition 

 among the natives of Connecticut. Its importance may 

 be gauged by the persistence with which the incident is 

 repeated in local and general histories. The event took 

 place shortly before the Seven Years' War had reached 

 its conclusion in Europe, November 1762. England's 



24 



