32 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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is completed the leaves are put 

 into heaps and left to "sweat" 

 for several days. After that they 

 are placed in bales of about ioo 

 pounds each and shipped to the 

 storage warehouse. There they 

 ferment and undergo a further 

 curing. This process continues 

 from one to two years, according 

 to the grade of the leaves, before 

 they are regarded as fit to be 

 rolled into cigars. 



From storage the tobacco goes 

 to the cigar factory. Here the 

 bales are opened up and sprayed 

 with clear water and allowed to 

 stand until each leaf becomes 

 moist and pliable. After this the 

 leaves intended for fillers, are 

 placed in hogsheads for further 

 curing, which requires from two 

 to six weeks, depending on the 

 grade of the tobacco. 



The wrapper leaves are selected 

 with great care. The cheese- 

 cloth under which they were 

 grown kept out insect enemies 

 and protected them from heavy 

 rains. Any leaf that has a hole 

 through it is retired to the hum- 

 bler rank of filler material. 



The cigar-makers are employed 

 on piece-work basis, getting an 

 agreed sum for every hundred 

 cigars made. Each man is given an 

 allotment of tobacco sufficient to 

 make a given number of finished 

 "smokes." Hundreds of these 

 workmen occupy a single room. 



PROFESSIONAL READERS HIRED 



In order to get something out 

 of life beyond the mere drudgery 

 of rolling fine cigars for fastidious 

 smokers, the cigar-makers club to- 

 gether and employ a reader. This 

 gentleman is usually a bland sort 

 of fellow, with a musical, soothing 

 voice. He has a little perch about 

 five feet above the heads of the 

 workmen, in the center of the 

 room. 



In the morning he reads the 

 daily papers. Then he passes to 

 the comic weeklies, of which Ha- 

 vana has a full quota ; from these 

 he turns to the cheap fiction of the 



