124 CIRCULAR 249, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Several marketing systems for tobacco prevail in the United States, 
but the auction marketing system applies to approximately 90 percent 
of the tobacco produced. Under the auction system tobacco is dis- 
played on floors of large warehouses with ample skylights. The 
tobacco is placed in baskets or broad trays that contain from a few 
pounds up to several hundred pounds. The rate of sale varies from 
250 lots per hour in the fire-cured districts to 500 or more lots per 
hour in the flue-cured and Burley districts. Cigar tobacco and a 
small percentage of the fire-cured tobacco are sold at the farm to 
buyers who look over the tobacco and purchase it at stipulated prices 
subject to further inspection on delivery. Delivery is made to the 
factories or packing houses of the purchasers. Some tobacco is sold 
through cooperative marketing associations, of which there are several. 
Most of these employ the facilities of the auction marketing system. 
Usually they are financed from Government sources. The tobacco is 
offered for public sale on the auction floors and inspected by official 
graders of the Agricultural Marketing Administration of the United 
States Department of Agriculture. Lots that fail to sell at prescribed 
minimum prices according to grade are delivered to the association 
for packing and later private sale. 
Practically all tobacco goes through a process of aging that covers a 
period of from 2 to 3 years. This aging process is characterized by 
seasonal fermentations or sweats that effect chemical changes in the 
tobacco, during which some loss of weight occurs. The chemical 
changes represent an extension of the curing process that takes place 
between the time of harvesting and the sale of the tobacco by the 
grower. During this process much of the nicotine is eliminated. 
This, together with other changes, mellows the tobacco and renders 
it suitable for use. 
The ordinary domestic outlets for tobacco are in the manufacture 
of cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, snuff, and pipe tobacco. A 
small quantity of leaf tobacco, together with large quantities of stems, 
scraps, cuttings, and clippings, is used in tobacco byproducts, such as 
nicotine sulfate, tobacco extract, and filler in the preparation of 
mixed fertilizers. The cigarette industry represents the most im- 
portant domestic outlet, more than half of the tobacco used in 
domestic consumption being in the form of cigarettes. 
From 35 to 45 percent of the annual production of American tobacco 
is exported. The most important class of tobacco exported is flue- 
cured. The exports of fire-cured tobacco, which in earlier years were 
very important, are now second in importance but represent a com- 
paratively small percentage of the total. Shifts in the class of tobacco 
exported, like those in domestic consumption, have been caused by 
changes in forms of tobacco consumption. 
There are four measures of tobacco consumption, each measure 
having its own particular uses, characteristics, and limitations. 
They are: 
Supply and Disappearance.—This measure is presented by official 
statistics of the Department of Agriculture showing the production 
and stocks of individual types or classes of tobacco with a supplemental 
figure showing the annual disappearance from that supply into con- 
sumption or export channels. 
Quantities of tobacco used in Manufacturing —These statistics are 
collected and published by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and 
