W.E. Knollenberg created Knollenberg’s Tables in 1896 because, “In the process of manufacture, in determining the cost of the various kinds of tobacco, none is more uncertain nor important than the cost per thousand of wrappers and binders.” But how could you know the amount of wrapper and binder needed per thousand cigars without creating a thousand cigars? That’s where Knollenberg’s Tables comes in!
It’s a book of tables that tells cigar makers the weight of leaf required to make 1,000 cigars, assuming they’ve made a different quantity of cigars. Let’s say 50 cigars were made, using 4 oz. of a particular kind of tobacco. Consult Knollenberg’s Tables, and he’s done the arithmetic for you to know that you will need 5 lbs. of that same tobacco to create 1,000 cigars:
The book goes on with tables like this – it is intended as a tool for cigar makers, where the arithmetic is already done and double-checked. Knollenberg was very confident in his math, and you can imagine how having a book like this would save a cigar maker time and effort in computation, not to mention cutting down potential errors.
Knollenberg’s Tables for the Use of Cigar Manufacturers and Cigar Makers is in the public domain and can be read for free at Hathi Trust.