AMERICAN TOBACCO TYPES, USES, AND MARKETS 15 
Varieties of tobacco grown in the fire-cured districts differ from 
those planted elsewhere. The characteristic features are the very 
broad, dark-green leaves which are gummy to the touch, and heavily 
drooping. Figure 6 illustrates a field of fire-cured tobacco, type 21, 
near Farmville, Va., and figure 7 shows a typical field of type 22 
during harvesting. 
The principal domestic use of fire-cured tobacco today is in the 
manufacture of snuff, the consumption of which is relatively stable. 
The trend of consumption was upward until 1929 when total manu- 
factures of snuff amounted to 41,127,000 pounds. Since then, manu- 
factures, which are roughly equivalent to consumption, have been 
from 36 to 41 million pounds annually with an average of approxi- 
mately 37.6 million pounds. (See table 35.) 
Some fire-cured tobacco is used in the manufacture of Toscani type 
cigars, for consumption by Italians or persons of Italian extraction. 
This outlet was of more importance in past years when the number of 
recently arrived Italians was larger. Toscani cigars are long and 
slender, and taper from the center towards the ends. In use they are 
cut in two in the middle, making two short cigars. Thoroughly 
soaked tobacco is used, and after being rolled the cigars are dried. 
The cigars are very strong. The younger generation of Italian 
parentage tends to shift to cigarettes, and as the older generation is 
dying out the consumption of Toseani cigars in this country is de- 
creasing. Some fire-cured tobacco also is used with One Sucker in 
the manufacture of Black Fat (see p. 32). Fine grades are used for 
plug wrappers, and lower grades are used to some extent in plug 
fillers. A small quantity goes into the manufacture of smoking 
tobacco. 
A further domestic use for tobacco, in which the fire-cured types 
predominate, is in the manufacture of tobacco byproducts such as 
nicotine sulfate and tobacco extract. This byproducts business 
accounts for several million pounds of tobacco and many million 
pounds of tobacco stems annually. 
In foreign countries the uses of fire-cured tobacco are similar to 
these, but more attention is given to cigars and smoking mixtures 
(16). In some countries tobacco is manufactured into ‘‘roll,’”’ a 
form common in Puerto Rico but unknown in continental United 
States. Roll consists of a rope of tobacco which is cut into convenient 
lengths for sale. Its nearest counterpart here is twist tobacco, made 
usually of Burley or dark air-cured tobacco. Puerto Rican roll is 
made of cigar-type tobacco grown near the coast and so affected by 
the salt air as to be unsuitable for cigar-manufacturing purposes (6). 
Both domestic and foreign outlets for fire-cured tobacco have dimin- 
ished strikingly in the last 20 years, as a result of shifts in consuming 
habits which are discussed under Outlets for American Tobacco, 
Measures of Tobacco Consumption, and Effect of Tobacco-consuming 
Habits on Geography of Tobacco Production, beginning on page 89. 
In consequence of this decline in consumption the trend of produc- 
tion of fire-cured tobacco has been downward since 1920. 
Tables 4, 5, and 6 give statistics of fire-cured tobacco. 
