manufacture. 55 



Tobacco for the Pipe. 



A hogshead of tobacco being opened, the leaf 

 is dug out piecemeal by the aid of an iron instru- 

 ment ; for the tobacco in this condition is one 

 entire solid mass ; and indeed without the aid 

 of moisture it would be impossible to separate 

 the leaves. This moistening is technically called 

 " liquoring." 



The various kinds called Shag, Returns, Bird's- 

 eye, are merely different preparations from the 

 Virginian tobacco. Shag has evidently derived 

 its name from its appearance, husky or torn^ as 

 Pope says : — 



" So the rougli rock had sJiagg'd Ulysses' hands." 



Returns is made of the lightest-coloured leaf, 

 selected from the hogshead, after being turned 

 out— hence its name ; and Bird's-eye is so called 

 because a portion of the stalk is cut up with it, 

 the small discs of stalk bearing a fancied resem- 

 blance to the eye of a bird. 



The cutting of the leaves into those fine 

 threads or shreds which constitute common 

 smoking-tobacco is effected by machinery acting 



