UNITED STATES STANDARD TOBACCO SIZES 



INTRODUCTION 



The factor of length has always been considered 

 of more or Less importance in the commercial grades 

 of tobacco. To meet the requirements of manufac- 

 turers, tobacco is sized : that is. it is assorted as to 

 length each year by fanners, packers, and dealers at 

 a cost of thousands of dollars. 



At the present time, there is no standard or uni- 

 form system of tobacco sizes in use in the United 

 States ; in fact, a ureat many different systems are in 

 use. Frequently several distinct systems are in use 

 in a single county. This multiplicity of systems and 

 lack of uniformity has resulted in confusion, has 

 added materially to the handling costs, and has made 

 it difficult to obtain a uniform packing of tobacco. 



The accuracy with which tobacco needs to be sized 

 varies materially with the different types and with 

 the quality of the tobacco within a particular type. 

 In the grading of some types of tobacco, the length of 

 leaf is of major importance ; in otheV types, it is 

 ' of minor importance as compared with other grade 

 factors. In some cases in which the length is of 

 considerable importance, the trade has used sn<-h 

 elastic terms as " long." " medium." and " short." 

 This loose manner of expressing the length of leaf is 

 unsatisfactory, as the length so stated depends en- 

 tirely upon individual opinion. 



Although such indefinite terms are unsatisfactory, 

 any standard of linear measure, such as the standard 

 inch, is also unsuitable for expressing the length of 

 tobacco. The standard inch is too definite : it does 

 not provide for any range or variation in the length 

 of a lot of tobacco, and therefore is impractical for 

 commercial purposes. A standard of measurement 

 that has some elasticity is needed for tobacco, one 

 that permits of a range in length within certain fixed 

 limits. 



With this need in view, the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has prepared standard tobacco 



(1) 



