Ageing:  Generally applied only to cigarette tobaccos; a mild state of fermentation, usuallycarried out in hogsheads or cases in compressed conditions for several years with a moisture content of 10-13%.

Auction:  A warehouse sale where tobacco farmers sell their leaf to the highest bidder.  The bidders are buyers for manufacturers, dealers, exporters as well as independent dealers or speculators.

Blend:  The combination of different classes and types of tobacco to produce a desiredflavor, aroma or burn.  The blend of most cigarettes and smoking tobaccos is kept secret.

Bulk Curing:  A curing process employed mainly in Canada and the US for flue-cured tobacco.  Leaf is suspended in the curing atmosphere (loose armfuls all oriented in the same
direction and held in position by a series of racks).  Humidity and temperature control are
made precise through the use of forced draft which passes the heated air in a vertical plane
through the tightly packed leaves in a completely closed system.

Burley:  An air cured tobacco. Burley tobacco is grown in rich limestone soils, primarily inKentucky and Tennessee.  It is light brown to reddish in color and has a somewhat greater
filling power than flue-cured tobacco.  Burley is light in body and neutral in flavor with a
low sugar content and high alkaloid content.  Burley smoke is more basic (pH) than flue-
cured tobacco.

Case:  The condition of tobacco with regard to its moisture content.  Tobacco in properkeeping condition is "in case."  When it is too wet, it is in "high case."

Cigarette Class:  A designation of cigarette type/size for tax purposes, as defined by the USDepartment of Treasury.  Class A cigarettes are those finished cigarettes weighing less than 3 pounds per 1000; they are also called small cigarettes, Class B cigarettes are those finished cigarettes weighing more than three pounds per 1000; they are also called large cigarettes. Similar classes exist for little, small and regular cigars.

Curing:  The drying process for newly harvested tobacco.

Air Curing is performed in widely ventilated barns under natural atmosphericconditions with little or no artificial heat; it takes about 3-12 weeks.  Light air-cured tobacco is very thin to medium in boy, light tan shaded toward reddish brown in color and mild in flavor.  Flue-Cured is performed in small, tightly constructed barns with artificial heatbeginning at 90 degrees Fahrenheit and ending around 170 degrees Fahrenheit;
it takes 5-7 days.  The name comes from the metal flue used in the heatingapparatus.  Flue-cured tobacco is yellow to reddish-orange in color, thin to medium in body and mild in flavor.   Fire Curing is performed in ventilated barns with open fires allowing thesmoke to come in contact with the tobacco; it is alternated with air curing.  Fire-cured tobacco is light to dark brown in color, medium to heavy in body  and strong in flavor.   Sun Curing is performed on racks in the sunshine for set daily periods over 4weeks, depending on the weather.  Sun-cured tobacco looks similar to air-cured tobacco.  Flue-Cured Tobacco:  Commonly called bright or Virginia tobacco, it is lemon or orange-yellow in color and possesses a sweet aroma and slightly acidic taste.  It is high in sugar content and low to average in nitrogenous materials, acids and nicotine.  It blends well with
burley and Maryland tobaccos because its sugar content smooth and neutralizes the smoke.

Grading:  The sorting of cured leaves into uniform lots according to body, color and degreeof damage or spotting.

Green River:  A type of dark air-cured tobacco produced principally in the Green Riversection of Kentucky (Owensboro and Henderson), it is of the one-sucker type and is commonly used in the production of chewing tobacco, though to some extent it is used for snuff and smoking tobaccos.

Green Weight:  The weight of tobacco prior to redrying.

Harvesting:  Harvesting of domestic tobaccos is done either by stalk cutting (cutting thestems of the plant near the ground) or priming (picking individual leaves from the plant as they ripen.)

Hogshead:  A large round wooden cask used for storing and ageing tobacco.  The Englishstandardized it as 63 gallons in 1423, but the capacity varies.  A hogshead of tobacco usually measures 48 inches in length and diameter and contains approximately 1000 pounds of tobacco.

Maryland Tobacco:  A light air-cured tobacco, Maryland is similar to burley but somewhatmilder and lighter in taste.  It is low in carbohydrates and nicotine and average in nitrogenous materials and nonvolatile acids.

One-Sucker:  Common name for a type of air-cured tobacco produced mainly in northernTennessee, south central Kentucky and southern Indiana.  One-sucker dark air-cured type is used in the manufacture of chewing tobacco.

Perique:  Type 72 tobacco grown only in St. James Parish, Louisiana.  It is noted for itspleasing aroma and is sued especially in fancy pipe tobacco blends. Perique is produced by aunique process of packing the dried leaves in casks under great pressure for about nine months.  Annual production averages 250,000 pounds, a large portion of which is exported.

Plant Bed:  The small area on which tobacco seed is grown similar in function to the coldframe.

Pool:  An organization of farmers created for the purpose of pooling and marketing theirtobacco in an orderly and profitable manner.  The grower cooperatives which administer the federal price support system are pools.

Price Support:  A program that leads farmers the support price for tobacco that fails to sellfor 1-cent or more higher than the support price.  The support price is by grade and is administered by grower cooperative associations.

Priming:  Removing ripened leaves from the tobacco plant.

Redrying:  The process of preparing tobacco for storage in cases or hogsheads, redryinginvolves the removing moisture below a critical level from the tobacco, following by an application of uniform moisture content throughout the leaf.

Sidestream Smoke:  The smoke that does not issue from the mouth end of a cigarette butrather from the burning end, through the paper, etc.  In a free smoking situation, it is all of the smoke issuing from any part of the cigarette except that which is drawn through the mouth end during puffing.

Strip:  A tobacco leaf with the midrib removed.

This page (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/pitt/ag/tobacco/tobterms.html) was created by Mitch Smith on November 16, 1998 and updated on April 15, 1999.