THE MOLDS OF CIGARS AND THEIR PREVENTION. & 



LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS. 



Cigars on which mold had developed were obtained from several 

 sources and submitted to examination. Two forms of mold seemed 

 to be present — one, of most common occurrence, a small organism 

 of grayish or whitish appearance, usually thinly scattered over the 

 cigars, but most abundant and frequent at the head of the cigar, 

 and the other a larger organism, occurring usually near the head 

 of the cigar in rather sharply defined patches of a dazzling white 

 color. The latter organism was much less frequently seen. 



It being evident that the factories offered favorable conditions for 

 retaining spores of molds when once introduced, it was clear that 

 general treatment looking toward the eradication of these organisms 

 was out of the question, assuming that it was practicable to prevent 

 the entrance of new infections on tobacco leaf and other materials 

 brought in. The most serious localized sources of trouble were there- 

 fore sought. 



PASTE USED. 



Gum tragacanth is used in small quantity to fasten the wrapper 

 of the cigar in place. The wrapper is rolled tightly on the cigar, 

 the rolling proceeding from the open end toward the head, the last 

 portion of the wrapper remaining free being a small flap of leaf 

 which serves to finish off the head. This small flap receives a little 

 paste on the under surface and is then carefully brought into place. 

 The cigar is then usually rolled with some pressure between the 

 •hand and the board or table at which the cigar maker works, thus 

 giving it the desired regularity of form. Thus, a little paste is 

 always found at the head of the cigar, and if an excess has been 

 applied, especially if the paste is rather thin, a portion is liable to 

 be squeezed out on to the board or table at which the maker works, 

 and the cigars may receive a more or less extensive smear of paste 

 over the surface of the wrapper. 



The paste as usually made up contains about 10 parts by weight 

 of gum tragacanth to 90 parts of water. A large stock is gener- 

 ally made in one container, sometimes only enough to last for the 

 day and sometimes enough to last for a longer period. An in- 

 spection of the paste pots in several factories showed that while 

 some were in fairly clean condition the sides of others were thor- 

 oughly covered with molds, indicating that in some cases little 

 attention was paid to cleanliness regarding this feature. 



An inspection of the wrapper leaf in no case showed visible mold, 

 although it is a matter of common observation that when tobacco 

 leaves are kept sufficiently moist in a closed space they can be made 

 to mold* 



