twenty-four hours, are piled between plates in an hydraulic press, and subjected to great pressure for a month or six weeks, during which time a slow fermentation takes place, and a considerable exudation of juice results from the severe pressure. The juice is collected for use as a sheep-dip.
Cake or plug tobacco is made by enveloping the desired amount of fillers within covering leaves of a fine bright colour. The packages Cake Tobacco. are placed in moulds, and submitted to powerful pressure in an hydraulic press, by which they are moulded into solid cakes. Both cake and roll tobacco are equally used for smoking and chewing; for the latter purpose the cake is frequently sweetened with liquorice, and sold as honey-dew or sweet Cavendish.
For cigar-making the finest and most delicately flavoured qualities of tobacco are generally selected. A cigar consists of a core or Cigars. central mass of fillers enveloped in an inner and an outer cover, the former the binder and the latter the wrapper. The fillers or inner contents of the cigar must be of uniform quality, and so packed and distributed in a longitudinal direction that the tobacco may burn uniformly and the smoke can be freely drawn from end to end. For the binder whole leaf of the same quality as the fillers is used, but for the wrapper only selected leaves of the finest quality and colour, free from all injury, are employed. The covers are carefully cut to the proper size and shape with a sharp knife, and, after being damped and smoothed out are placed together in a pile. In making cigars by the hand, the operator rolls together a sufficient quantity of material to form the filling of one cigar, and experience enables him or her to select very uniform quantities. This quantity is wrapped in the inner cover, an oblong piece of leaf the length of the cigar to be made, and of width sufficient to enclose the whole material. The cigar is then rolled in the hand to consolidate the tobacco and bring it into proper shape, after which it is wrapped in the outer cover, a shaped piece made to enclose the whole in a spiral manner, beginning at the thick end of the cigar and working down to the pointed end, where it is dexterously finished by twisting to a fine point between the fingers. The finished cigars are either spread out in the sunlight to be dried, or exposed to a gentle heat. They are then sorted into qualities according to their colour, packed in boxes, in which they are stored for sale. Machinery is now employed for forming and moulding the nllings of the cheaper grades of cigars.
Havana cigars are, as regards form, classification, method of putting up and nomenclature, the models followed by manufacturers of all classes of the goods. Genuine (“legitimas”) Havana cigars are such only as are made in the island; and the cigars made in Europe and elsewhere from genuine Cuban tobacco are classed as “Havanas” Other brands of home manufacture contain some proportion of Cuban tobacco; and very good cigars may be made in which the name only of that highly-prized leaf is em loyed. When we come to the inferior classes of cigars, it can only [tie said that they may be made from any kind of leaf, the more ambitious imitations being treated with various sauces designed to give them a Havana flavour. The highest class of Cuban-made cigars, called “vegueras,” are prepared from the very finest Vuelta Abajo leaf, rolled when it is just half dry, and consequently never damped with water at all. Next come the “regalias,” similarly made of the best Vuelta Abajo tobacco; and it is only the lower qualities, “ordinary regalias,” which are commonly found in commerce, the finer, and the “vegueras,” being exceedingly high-priced. The cigars, when dry, are carefully sorted according to strength, which is estimated by their colour, and classed in a scale of increasing strength as clam, colorado clara, maduro and oscuro. They are pressed into the cigar boxes for sale, and branded with the name or trade mark of their makers, Cheroots differ from ordinary cigars only in shape, being either in the form of a truncated cone, or of uniform thickness throughout, but always having both ends open and sharply cut across. Cheroots come principally from Mani a, but there are now lar e quantities imported into the United Kingdom from the East Indies and Burma.
Cigarettes consist of small rolls of fine cut tobacco wrapped in a covering of thin tough paper specially made for such use. Originality Cigarettes. cigarettes were entirely prepared by the smoker himself; but now they are very largely made by automatic machinery. The machines cut the paper, gum its edge, measure out the proper quantity of tobacco, wrap it up, make the gummed edge adhere, and cut the ends. In other machines a roll of narrow paper, in width equal to the circumference of the cigarette, is converted into a long tube, filled with tobacco, and automatically cut off into proper lengths. Such machines can make several hundred cigarettes per hour. The best cigarettes, however, are made by hand; the tobacco leaves are selected and hand-cut, and the paper tubes are filled by hand.
The manufacture of snuff is the most complex, tedious and difficult undertaking of the tobacco manufacture, but it is now of but little Snuff. mportance. The tobacco best suited for snuff-mak1ng is thick fleshy leaf of a dark colour, but scraps and waste pieces resulting from the preparation of smoking mixtures and cigars, and the midribs of leaves are largely used. The material is moistened with a solution of common salt and placed in very large heaps to ferment for some weeks. Various favouring materials, such as liquorice, tonka beans (Dipteryx odorala) and other ingredients are added, the natures of which are often trade secrets. The mass is dried, ground, and allowed to ferment again, the process being repeated if necessary. The peculiar properties of snuff are dependent on the presence of free nicotine, free ammonia and the aromatic principles developed during fermentation.
Fiscal Restrictions.
In nearly all civilized countries the cultivation of tobacco and its manufacture are conducted under state supervision and form an important source of public revenue. In some, for instance, France, Austria-Hungary and Italy, the cultivation is a state monopoly, and in other countries the crop is subject to heavy excise duties. Since the time of Charles II. the growth of tobacco in Great Britain has been practically prohibited, the original enactment to that effect having been passed to encourage trade with the young colony of Virginia. In 1886 experiments were conducted, under certain restrictions, and the plant was grown in Norfolk, Kent and other counties with sufficient success to prove the entire practicability of raising tobacco as a commercial crop in England. In more recent years tobacco has been grown in Ireland, but up to 1910 it had been found impracticable to obtain from the government sufficient relaxation from fiscal restrictions to encourage the home cultivation, though in 1907 the prospect of licences being issued was held out.
Statistics.
The following table, taken from the Year Book of the U.S. Department of A agriculture, 1906, indicates the crops of tobacco in 1905 in the regions mentioned, so far as figures are available. 1905.
| 1905. | ||
| North America | 721,492,000 | lb |
| South America | 108,575,000 | " |
| Europe | 630,133,000 | " |
| Asia | 600,161,000 | " |
| Africa | 23,346,000 | " |
| Australia and Fiji | 1,486,000 | " |
| Total 2,175,193,000 lb. | ||
The estimated value of the world's annual crop is approximately £40,000,000.
Consumption of Tobacco.—The comparative consumption of tobacco in various countries is best appreciated by expressing it in pounds per head, and the following figures are taken from Bartholomew's Atlas of The World's Commerce: Belgium 6.21 lb, United States 5.40 lb, Germany 3.44 lb, Austria 3.02 lb, Australasia 2.20 lb, Canada 2.54 lb, Hungary 2.42 lb, France 2.16 lb, United Kingdom 1.95 lb, Russia 1.10 lb.
The literature of tobacco is very extensive. William Bragge of Birmingham published in 1880 a revised bibliography of the subject, Bibliotheca nicotiana, extending to 248 quarto pages. From such a mass of authorities it would be vain here to make selections, but mention may be made of Fairholt's capital gossiping work, Tobacco, its History and Associations (2nd ed., 1876). As modern standard works there may also be quoted Tiedemann's Geschichte des Tabaks (1856) and Wagner's Tabakcultur, Tabak- und Cigarren-Fabrication (1884). In the foregoing account various passages from the article by J. Paton and W. Dittmar, in the 9th ed. of the Ency. Brit., have been utilized. (W. G. F.)
TOBAGO, an island in the British West Indies, 20 m. N.E. of
Trinidad, in 11° 15" N. and 60° 40' W. Pop. 18,751. It is
26 m. long and 712 m. broad, and has an area of 114 sq. m. or
73,313 acres, of which about 10,000 are under cultivation. It
consists of a single mountain mass (volcanic in origin), 18 m.
in length, and rising in the centre to a height of 1800 ft. A
great part of the island is clothed with dense forest, in which
many valuable hardwood trees are found. The higher lands
form part of what is known as the “Rain Preserve,” where,
in order to attract and preserve the rainfall, the trees are never
allowed to be felled. The average temperature is 81° F. and the
yearly rainfall is 66 in. The rainy season lasts from June
to December, with a short interval in September. The valleys
are particularly adapted to horse- and sheep-farming, which
are growing industries. The soil is fertile and produces rubber,
cotton, sugar, coffee, cocoa, tobacco and nutmegs, all of which are
exported; pimento (allspice) grows wild in the greatest profusion.
The schools are conducted by various denominations, assisted by
government grants. The island is divided into seven parishes.
Scarborough (pop. 769), the capital, is on the south coast, 8 m.
from its south-western point. It stands at the foot of a hill
425 ft. high, on which is situated Fort King George, now without
a garrison. There is a lighthouse at Baedlet Point. Tobago,
properly Tobaco, was discovered in 1498 by Columbus, who
