156 



contained mostly carpa or that a tripa matula could not be depended 

 on to yield 90 o/o of tripa a large number of leaves would be exposed 

 to the air unnecessarily, and this exposure means loss of aroma. The 

 work of classing and making manitas must, therefore, be so arranged 

 that the leaves are exposed as little as possible. 



A broad table is erected in one of the rooms around which the work- 

 men are seated ; those on one side take each a tripa matula and those 

 on the other take the carpa ; the former when classing and making 

 up, put out the carpa and the latter the tripa ; these being gathered 

 every few minutes by the man at the end of the table who makes them 

 up. A few fonque leaves will also turn up and must be relegated to 

 that despised pilon at the other end of the house. In making up the 

 manitas all the leaves must be placed so that the bases are even and 

 that the surface or face of each leaf is turned in towards the centre; 

 they should be neatly rounded off and tied with a strip of thatch-heart. 

 As they are finished they are quickly packed away cl sely in a small 

 improvised pilon, carpa on one side and tripa on the other; and at the 

 ond of the day, carpa and tripa are weighed off separately and stacked 

 neatly side by side in rows, with the heads of the second row of mani- 

 tas covering about \ of the width of the first, in press No. 1, 

 which is now empty, as the whole of the dry tobacco has been fer- 

 mented. 



If the matulas after having undergone the long slow fermentatiou 

 have become somewhat dry on the press being opened for classing, they 

 should be treated in the following manner : — 



Without disturbing a leaf, the surface of the tobacco in the press 

 should be lightly sprayed with a mixture made up of one ounce of 

 essence of peppermint to one gallon of water, then covered with one 

 thickness of corn-bag mat, and over this Gruinea-grass (that has lain 

 spread out in the shade for one day) packed closely to the depth of 

 about three or four inches Two days after, on the removal of the 

 grass, the tobacco will be in excellent condition for handling and 

 classing. The peppermint counteracts the smell of the grass, and if, 

 as the tobacco is taken out and a fresh surface exposed, it is found to 

 be dry, it will be necessary to allow the grass to remain, spraying 

 lightly as before with the mixture at the end of each day until the 

 whole is classed. Some cigar manufacturers who use native wrappers 

 in preference to Sumatra, insist o i the carpa leaves being classed in 

 their various colours : — 



claro light yellow 



Colorado claro brownish yellow 



Colorado brown 



Colorado maduro darker brown 



maduro dark 



but as the use of the Sumatra wrapper is rapidly gaining ground the 

 classing by calour will soon be unknown in Jamaica. The native 

 wrapper being used as the binder" (Ouban ''capoti"), which is the 

 layer of tobacco between the "filler" of the cigar and the wrapper. 



