AMERICAN TOBACCO TYPES, USES, AND MARKETS 13 
FirE-CuRED 
Tobacco that is cured in the heat and smoke of open fires is called 
fire-cured or dark fired. Fire-curing of tobacco was an outgrowth of ° 
air-curing, although even in air-curing it was often necessary, in the 
early days as now, to apply artificial heat to protect the green tobacco 
from the effects of dampness in rainy or muggy weather. 
According to Robert (23, p. 7), ““Fire-curing on a large scale was an 
innovation of the eighteenth century but was by no means universal 
then.’”’ Wood was the usual fuel but before the Civil War charcoal 
was much used in sections that later turned to flue-curing. The de- 
mand in Virginia became centered on light colored or “‘bright”’ grades 
of leaf. The change from air-curing to fire-curing was directed at 
meeting this demand, and for the purpose tight barns were used, 
coupled with wood for firmg that would give off much heat and a 
minimum of smoke. The tobacco was first wilted, usually in out-of- 
door racks. Some growers followed the practice of crowding the 
tobacco together compactly in the barn for 2 or 3 days until it wilted 
and commenced to yellow. Before building the fires the tobacco was 
separated or spread out again on the sticks. A moderate temperature 
was maintained until the tobacco was killed, after which the tempera- 
ture was stepped up rapidly. The object usually was to cure the 
tobacco within 5 to 7 days, sometimes less. This is substantially the 
practice in the Virginia fire-cured district today. 
In contrast with the above, the fire-curing technique employed in 
Kentucky and Tennessee is to subject the tobacco to a maximum 
amount of smoke and very moderate temperatures. A smouldering 
fire of sawdust is often employed, and firing may continue for as long 
as 60 days. This method of ‘soft’? curing results in tobacco of very 
dark color, rich in gum and the odor of smoke, whereas the fire-cured 
tobacco of Virginia is of lighter colors and less impregnated with smoke. 
Four types of fire-cured tobacco are recognized: Virginia dark, 
U.S. type 21, produced mainly in the counties along the upper James 
and lower Appomattox Rivers in Virginia from Bedford eastward close 
to Petersburg; Clarksville, Hopkinsville, and Springfield, or, as it is 
more often referred to, Eastern fire-cured, U. S. type 22, produced 
east of the Tennessee River around Hopkinsville, Ky., and Clarksville 
and Springfield, Tenn.; Western fire-cured, U. 8S. type 23, produced 
west of the Tennessee River from Paducah, Ky., southward to Henry 
and Weakley Counties, Tenn.; and Northern fire-cured, or as it was 
formerly known, Henderson stemming, U. S. type 24, produced in 
several counties lying near the Ohio River to the south and west of 
Henderson, Ky. That portion of Kentucky and Tennessee producing 
fire-cured and dark air-cured tobacco has been known for generations 
as the Black Patch. That part of the Black Patch lying west of the 
Tennessee River was a part of the Jackson Purchase, commonly 
referred to as the Purchase, and comprises most of the type 23 district. 
