History of Cigar Making hand Tools

[El Presidente]

 

Good read when you have the time 👍

http://cigarhistory.info/Cigarmaking/Cigarmaking_tools_II.html

 

http://cigarhistory.info/Cigarmaking/Cigarmaking_tools_II_files/droppedImage.jpg

Man’s first murder weapon, first hunting tool and first cigar making tool were the same...a rock.

     An early 1800’s chronicler of cigar manufacture wrote: “The outside of the cigar is made of one or two leaves, beaten flat by small smooth stones. They are filled with smaller pieces, rolled, and cemented on the edges with a pink paste.” 

    This seems a rather brutal approach, and must have resulted in a great deal of damaged tobacco, yet, amazingly, rocks were still reported as being used in some southeast Asian cheroot factories as late as 1890.  Neither report detailed exactly why and how rocks were used. The best supposition is that it was to flatten the midribs.

http://cigarhistory.info/Cigarmaking/Cigarmaking_tools_II_files/0141.jpg

This 1827 British satire (left) is the earliest depiction of cigar rollers of which I am aware, and shows them working without tools as the natives of the New World did for centuries.

Of course, a print created by a British artist who had most likely never been to the Caribbean is of questionable historic accuracy, and can be considered suggestive only.

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