THE CUBA REVIEW 



Pinar del Rio and Havana. In Santa Clara Province, the number of grades taken out 

 is somewhat less, as the wrapper from this district is utilized at home and does 

 not, therefore, require as minute classifying as does the wrapper of western Cuba 

 which is used both at home and abroad, and, when used at home, is almost entirely 

 consumed in the manufacture of cigars for export. 



The process of classification is simple to the initiated. The bundles of tobacco 

 made up by the planter are taken from the piles where the buyer has stored them, 

 usually in a part of the building utilized as the classification house, and carried to a 

 long table at one end of the house. Here the bands with which they are tied are cut, 

 the tobacco spread out in thin layers on the table, and sprinkled Avith either clear 

 water or with a "betun" made by soaking tobacco stems in water for a certain length 

 of time. The sprinkling is done with sponges moistened in the liquid, or, in the more 

 progressive houses, the spray is produced by a small spraying pump such as is in use 

 for spraying vegetables by the growers of the north. After one side of the layer of 

 tobacco is sprayed, it is turned and the other side similarly treated, after which the 

 bund]^e is remade, tied loosely together, and stood on end for a few hours to allow the 

 leaves to become uniformly moist and surplus moisture to drain off. From here the 

 bundles are then delivered to a group of women and children who strip the' leaves from 

 the stems, the latter being thrown away to be used later on for fertilizer, and the 

 former being made into bundles to be stored for the night and delivered to the classi- 

 fiers the following day. These are seated in rows extending the full length of the 

 house, enough space being assigned each worker to allow his placing each leaf in its 

 separate pile. In the ordinary classification, these classifiers are required to separate 

 out all leaves that may serve as wrapper, placing these together in ore pile, only the 

 filler and lower grade leaves being separated into their final classes. The piles of 

 .wrapper leaves are handled by special workers of experience who subdivide them into 

 their final grades. After classification, eath grade of tobacco is doiie up in small 

 bundles, called "hands," each hand of filler being given a certain weight, and each 

 hand of wrapper being made up of a certain number of leaves, depending upon the 

 perfection of the grade, the larger number of leaves being assigned to the lower grades 

 of leaf. In western Cuba the weight assigned to each hand of filler is so ad.iusted as 

 to make the final bale, consisting of .320 hands, weigh about 110 to 112 lbs. net, while 

 in Santa Clara Province, the weight is so fixed as to make the bales weigh from 150 

 to 160 lbs. net. These hands are collected from the classifiers and plneed carefully 

 in small compartments made for this purpose, where they remain, carefully protected 

 from the air, till sufficient tobacco has collected to justify lialing. Preparation for 

 this step is made by taking the tobacco from each compartment and sprinkling it 

 agnin, either lightly or heavily, with clear water or "betun," depending upon its 

 condition and quality, and placing it in piles covered with blankets or other air- 

 excluding material, where it is allowed to remain till it has passed through a sweat, 

 and the heat therefrom is beginning to subside. This period covers from two to ten 

 davs, the latter being required only for very heavy grades of filler. The wrapper is 

 usually baled without the addition of liquid, as every effort is made to preserve 

 a light-colored leaf, the effect of moisture and heating on light tobacco being to 

 darken its color. 



Nature has be?n very kind to the Cuban in supplying him with natural wrap- 

 ping in which to market his tobacco. The lower part of the leaf of the royal palm Is 

 composed of a heavy yet fiexible sheet of tough, fibrous material which practically 

 encircles the trunk of the tree at its junction with the leaf. As the leaves reach 

 maturity, this sheet, called the "boot" of the palm, loosens and falls off, .and these are 

 collected, serving a multitude of purposes in the rural Cuban economy. The larger 

 sized leaves are reserved for packing tobacco, they forming the one material used for 

 this, thus distinguishing Cuban tobacco from that of any other country. When the 

 classified tobacco is ready for baling, the piles in which it is found are opened up, and 



