no The Soverane Herbe 



leaves are then bunched together into 'hands' of 

 half a dozen each, and packed together in rows until 

 sufficiently dry for export. 



The process of fermentation continues slowly in 

 the leaf for some time, even when dry. It is this full 

 development of the properties of the leaf that leads 

 to the storing and seasoning of cigars. It should be 

 noted, however, that only good tobacco improves 

 with age ; bad tobacco deteriorates. 



When dry the ' hands ' are packed for export. In 

 America they are first blended, all the brands being 

 the result of more or less blending of various growths. 

 The hogsheads, or serons, in which the tobacco is 

 packed stand 4J feet high and hold 1,000 pounds. 

 The ' hands ' of tobacco are laid in alternate rows, 

 and when the seron is a quarter full the mass is 

 pressed down by hydraulic power, the barrel finally 

 containing a mass so compact that crowbars and 

 mallets are needed to split off the tobacco in wedges. 



In the early days of smoking, tobacco was grown 

 in England for home consumption. Early in the 

 seventeenth century a considerable trade in English 

 tobacco — a weak brand known as mundungus — was 

 done with Turkey. In 162 1, however, James I. pro- 

 hibited its culture in England, not merely to check 

 the practice of smoking but also to increase the 

 revenue from the import duty on tobacco. Charles I. 

 maintained the prohibition, but the law was a dead 

 letter during the Commonwealth. Tobacco was 

 grown so largely in Gloucestershire that in 1655 the 

 county hangman complained of unemployment, men 

 being so busy cultivating tobacco that they had no 



