TOBACCO SHRINKAGE AND LOSSES IN WEIGHT 



11 



which are humidified by means of fine sprays of water or five steam, 

 the tobacco absorbs the desired amount of moisture (fig. 5). 



After the tobacco has gone through the redrier, it is packed in 

 hogsheads for storage or shipment. Hogsheads about 48 inches in 

 diameter and 54 inches in depth are used in packing flue-cured tobacco 

 for domestic trade, and 48 inches in diameter and 48 inches in depth 

 in packing for export trade. The packing is usually done in the 

 following way: A hogshead is placed on a round dolly or truck con- 

 veniently near the rear end of the redrying machine. As the tobacco 

 emerges from the redrier, it is removed from the sticks and placed in 

 layers with the heads or butts of the hands outward until the hogs- 

 head is filled. Then an especially made open cylinder of the same 

 diameter is placed above the filled hogshead and the process of pack- 

 ing is continued until this also is filled. The dolly, together with the 

 filled hogshead and cylinder, is then rolled under a hydraulic press. 



Figure 5.— Type of machine used in redrying tobacco. 



The tobacco is compressed through the cylinder and into the hogshead 

 and a head is nailed in place. This operation is called prizing. The 

 average net weight of a hogshead of flue-cured tobacco is about 1,000 

 pounds, ranging from 900 to 1,100 pounds. The weight of an empty 

 hogshead ranges from 135 to 150 pounds. A tobacco-prizing opera- 

 tion (in type 22) is illustrated in figure 6. 



In the process of assorting, handling, redrying, and packing there 

 is an average loss in weight, due to the shaking off of dirt and sand 

 particles which adhered to the tobacco leaves, of about 2 percent. 

 This dirt and sand loss is negligible in the handling of the upper 

 leaves and better quality tobacco, but runs above 2 percent in the 

 handling of "first primings" and low-grade lugs. Buyers whose 

 purchases consist mainly of lower-grade tobaccos may have a dirt 

 and sand loss of 5 to 6 percent. Some firms buy sweepings and loose 

 leaves raked up from the curing barn and warehouse floors and run 

 them over a wire screen for cleaning prior to redrying. Such pur- 



