THE CUTATRE OF TOBAfCO. 03 



as a " cai'i'otte." Each oanotte weighs a pound or a little over. Great 

 care is taken that the outside, or wrappei- leaves, of the carrotte l>e 

 smooth and piesentable. Eighty carrottes ai'e then made into a bale, 

 which is pressed into shape in a press and is covered first with c-anvas 

 and then with the inside bark of a Cuban tree, Only the best grade- 

 of goods are made into carrottes. The second grade, or damaged leaf, 

 is given a thorough second sweat and stemmed, smoothed, and 

 liattened out, and made into what is known as a "book of fillers." 

 In stemming, not all of the mid-rib is removed, but a piece about two 

 inches long is allowed to lemain in the tip of the leaf. These books 

 are then made into Cuban bales. 



h'lugjThe Sumatia tobacco is made into " hands " of aViout foi-ty leaves, 

 each leaf being folded. These hands are packed into bales, being 

 spread out fan-shaped and carefully flattened as packed. The fillers 

 are made into Cuban " carinttes " and the broken leaves inti> " books.'" 

 The bales aie flat and are covered with matting, as is done in 

 Sumatra. 



Each bale en- package of tobacco should be carefully laljelled as to 

 grade, weight, time of packing, and the name of the seller, so that any 

 errors may be traced out and corrected and the reputatif^n of the 

 packer established. 



The bales of the best wi-appers, where no feinientation is desired, 

 are placed in a cool I'oom. If furthei' fermentation is wished, as in 

 the case of the fillers, they are placed in a warm room. The wrappier 

 bales should be stood on end and reversed eveiy other day foi' se'S'eral 

 weeks. They may then be piled one upon anothei'. The filler bales 

 may be piled at once and theii- position reveised at least once a week. 

 The wi-appei'S will be in condition to manufactuie in three months 

 after baling, and the filler's in six months. 



Ageing. — After a toViacco has Ijeen cured, it must go through a 

 process of ageing before it is fit for- consumption. Fermented 

 tobaccos require less ageing than the ordinary unfermented tobaccos. 

 Smoking tobaccos are allowed to age for at least two years l^efore 

 being manufactured, and often the process is continued foi- foui' or 

 five yeais. After five years there is likely to lie a slight loss rather 

 than any improvement in equality. Ageing may be described as 

 pai'tially a process of slow fermentation and partially an oxidation of 

 the leaf contents without the agency of enzymns. Ageing certainly 

 softens and mellows a tobacco, taking away its rawiress and bitterness 

 as well as disagieeable odours, and impi'oving the aroma as well as 

 the buiiiing qualities of the leaf. No tobacco, and particularly no 

 tobacco from a disti-ict that is trying to obtain i-ecognition, should lie 

 marketed before it has developed the qualities that come with age. 



.S<"iME OF THE Chemistry or Curing A>rD Fermextation". 



During the fermentation of tubacco there is a loss of as high as 

 fifteen per cent, in weight. Part of this is due tti the loss of moisture 

 and a pai't to the loss of solid matter through the decompositii ■n 

 of diffeient products and the development of gases. The presence ot 

 ammonia is easily detected liy the odoui- in the fermentation loom. 

 This is produced as a result of chemical changes in the tc^bacco. 



