CHANGES IN CIGAR LEAF TOBACCO ACREAGE 



by 



Johnny D. Braden, Agricultural Economist 



Commodity Economics Division 



Economic Research Service 



INTRODUCTION 



Production of cigar leaf tobacco in the United 

 States began during the late 1600's in the Connecticut 

 Valley and in sections of Pennsylvania — areas 

 outside the southern tobacco plantation districts. But 

 it took more than two centuries to produce a good 

 quality cigar leaf tobacco and for it to become a 

 sizable crop. In the early 1800's, the Connecticut 

 Valley was the chief district for production of cigar 

 tobacco and also the center of U.S. cigar production 



CO. 1 



As settlers moved west, they spread production to 

 areas where cigar tobacco became a cash crop on 

 general livestock and crop farms. Varieties and 

 cultural practices were improved, and best adapted 

 lands were planted. Eventually, three classes of U.S. 



'Italicized numbers in parentheses refer to items in 

 Literature Cited at the end of this report. 



cigar tobaccos were recognized— filler, binder, and 

 wrapper — depending on their major use in cigars. 

 Each type, however, has secondary uses. 



Connecticut Valley production fell off in the late 

 1800's as preferences shifted to imports from 

 Sumatra. However, around 1900, U.S. farmers 

 erected cotton cloth tents for shade to achieve the 

 desired leaf qualities for cigar wrappers, and soon, 

 the Connecticut Vallev became known as "Tobacco 

 Valley". 



Today, cigar tobacco production is reported in local 

 areas of seven States — Connecticut, Massachusetts, 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia, and 

 Florida (fig. 1). At one time, production of cigar filler 

 and binder was reported in New York, Indiana, 

 Minnesota, Georgia, and Florida, but this output is 

 now too minor to report by the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture in crop estimates (6). 



PRODUCTION TRENDS 



Cigar tobacco is grown in well-defined areas where 

 the soil, climate, and cultural practices yield a 

 product with qualities desired by manufacturers and 

 exporters. In 1971, U.S. growers produced about 

 37,000 acres of cigar tobacco, or 4.4 percent of the total 

 U.S. tobacco acreage. Farm value amounted to $68.5 

 million and provided income to about 15,000 farm 

 families. 



During the heyday of cigar sales in the 1920's, 

 about 180,000 acres of cigar tobacco were produced, 

 accounting for 9 percent of U.S. tobacco acreage. By 

 the late 1940's, cigar acreage appeared to stabilize 

 around 100,000 acres. However, during 1950-71, 

 harvested acreage declined by almost two-thirds. 

 Yields increased slightly, but production fell as 

 acreage declined. 



Production of cigar binder tobacco in the 

 Connecticut Valley dropped rather sharply in the 



mid-1950's, following the introduction of 

 reconstituted sheet tobacco for cigar binder. 2 By the 

 late 1960's, use of reconstituted sheet tobacco as 

 wrapper along with the trend toward smaller size 

 cigars began to reduce production of shade-grown 

 tobacco. In recent years, filler tobacco has also lagged 

 because of competition from relatively low-priced 

 imports. 



In 1951, growers first approved Federal marketing 

 quotas (acreage allotments) for filler and binder 

 tobaccos grown principally in Ohio. Wisconsin, 

 Connecticut, and Massachusetts (types 42-44 and 51- 

 55). Since then, however, growers have increasingly 



^Reconstituted sheet tobacco is manufactured by grinding 

 tobacco into a fine powder, mixing with a cohesive agent, 

 and rolling into a flat sheet of uniform thickness and 

 quality. 



