The tobacco is moved from the auction floor to the "receiving room" of 

 the redrying plants where the individual sheets or baskets are arranged ac- 

 cording to grades or blends of grades. 



In the flue-cured area , where all tobacco is sold in loose-leaf form, 

 the usual procedure is to empty the contents of each sheet onto a moving con- 

 veyor belt which passes a row of workers who physically inspect the tobacco 

 and remove damaged or out-of -grade leaves, and foreign matter. After passing 

 this "picking" line the tobacco is either fed directly into the redryer or 

 routed through thresher separators that separate the leaf tissue from the mid- 

 rib or stem of the leaf before entering the redryer. Most flue-cured tobacco 

 is stemmed prior to redrying. 



In the stemming operation the leaf is fed onto a rotating toothed cylin- 

 der which passes through stationary combs thus stripping or shredding the leaf 

 tissue from the stem. Separation is accomplished by air currents which al- 

 low the heavier stems to fall to the bottom. The stemmed leaf is referred to 

 as "strips." Another variation is played on this basic theme. Some manufac- 

 turers, and most dealers, will "tip" the leaves before threshing. The tangled 

 leaves are oriented on the belt, insofar as possible, with the tips against an 

 adjustable tipping board so that rotary knives can cut off the upper one-third 

 or tip portion of the leaf. These tips bypass the thresher and rejoin the 

 stemmed lower portion at the entrance to the redryer. More labor is needed 

 for this operation but thresher capacity is greatly increased and the overall 

 yield is greater than whole leaf threshing. 



The strips and tips enter the redrying machine on a conveyor belt. There 

 are three separate compartments within the redryer: (1) In the first com- 

 partment all moisture is removed by heated air; (2) the second compartment is 

 a cooling chamber to preoare the tobacco to receive moisture; (3) a controlled 

 and uniform amount of moisture is added to the leaf in the third compartment. 

 The entire passage can take from 30 to 45 minutes with temperatures reaching 

 160 F and final moisture contents varying less than 1 percent. Upon leaving 

 the redrver the tobacco is immediately placed in hogsheads and packed under 

 pressure. 



Burley tobacco is marketed in bundles or "hands" and the redrying proce- 

 dure reouires different techniques. As in flue-cured, most burley is now 

 packed in strips. After leaving the receiving room the bundles are inspected 

 and placed on a belt against the tipping board and the bundles are broken af- 

 ter tipping. Hands from several baskets are mixed to produce a more uniform 

 blend. The rest of the process is identical to flue-cured. 



If the tobacco is not being stemmed the bundles are left intact and the 

 hands placed on metal rods along a "hanging-line" for blending and inspection. 

 From here the filled rods are placed on a chain conveyor for the trip through 

 the redrver. 



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