The smoker has the advantage and satisfaction 
of knowing that not only does he get the benefit 
of improved scientific knowledge and sanitary 
conditions by which anything that might be 
harmful or undesirable is removed, but that 
handling the leaf in large quantities effects 
great economics and procures for him the bene- 
fit of choicest selected grades at a reduced cost. 
It may be said here incidentally that leaves 
of the very best tobaccos which are defective 
merely in size, or color, etc., are put through 
exactly the same processes as the choicer 
quality leaves, and are used in the manufacture 
of the popular priced machine-made “little 
cigars” and “cheroots.” 
It will be necessary now to digress for a 
short time and consider what happens during 
the process of fermentation. 
FERMENTATION OF TOBACCO 
The fermenting of tobacco leaf has for its 
principal objects, (1) the removal of acrid 
matters, (2) the fixing of the color, and (3) 
the production of flavor. Fermentation can 
only take place under suitable conditions of heat 
and moisture, and is essentially a chemical pro- 
cess during which certain organic compounds 
stored in the plant are split up and others 
formed. 
79 
