N, 



ovel sales; novel brand 



A pattern of selling new to Kentucky began in 1906 

 when Charles Bohmer of Virginia opened the first 

 "loose-leaf" auction warehouse at Lexington. ( Leaves, 

 though "loose," were tied in "hands.") This method of 

 selling at auction had been practiced in Virginia since 

 early in tlie 19th century. Kentucky growers of Burley 

 thought the system a fair one and it developed steadily. 

 Farmers of dark tobacco in the western section of the 

 state were less willing to abandon the traditional hogs- 

 head selling. But within a reasonable number of years 

 they too accepted loose-leaf auctions, by then the pro- 

 cedure in all tobacco-growing states except those pro- 

 ducing cigar-leaf types. 



For a while Louisville was the center of loose-leaf 

 sales. Then Lexington took its place as the major Burley 

 auction market. In 1913 a "revolution" occurred in the 

 tobacco industry when the first modem blended ciga- 

 rette was marketed and heavily promoted. Before that, 

 cigarettes produced in the States were almost entirely 

 of aromatic leaf, the "Turkish" type, though a few made 

 from flue-cured tobaccos or some containing Burley were 

 also available. 



What particularly interested the farmers of Kentucky 

 was the considerable quantity of Burley (sweetened as 

 heavily as plug had been) in the new cigarette. The 

 blended cigarette quickly won popular approval. All 

 domestic manufacturers converted to the modern style 

 to meet a growing consumer demand, the cigarette be- 

 came the dominant form in which tobacco was used — 

 and Burley had a broadened outlet. 



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