The Supply and Distribution of Connecticut Valley Cigar Leaf Tobacco is a 1919 bulletin written by Samuel DeVault and published by the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. America used to study the tobacco plant and tobacco industry with depth, and that study led to bulletins like this one.

DeVault’s booklet begins with a history of tobacco in the Connecticut Valley, where it was grown just after settlement of the area, starting in about 1640. It started as a modest crop: “In no period prior to 1801 did the annual production of tobacco exceed 20,000 pounds.”1 The fortunes of the Connecticut tobacco crop turned when it was recognized as being excellent for cigars; production ramped up.

The first American-made cigar, according to DeVault, was rolled by Mrs. Prout in South Windsor, Connecticut in 1801. She worked with other farmers’ wives in the area to roll and sell their “Windsor Particulars” and “Long Nines” out of wagons, so the story goes.2 I find other documentation of this same story, though it’s far from a conclusive account. We know Israel Putnam brought cigars into America in the 1760s and became popular. It does not seem likely that nobody else would have rolled any cigars in the country within that 40-year span. Either way, Connecticut tobacco’s use in cigars became a force. DeVault notes that between 1850 and 1860, they produced “Clear New England” cigars (a similar concept to “Clear Havana” – a cigar made of all Cuban tobacco, but made in the USA).

By 1918, Connecticut was producing 37,500,000 pounds of tobacco annually. 8 states produced more in that year (Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and South Carolina). In 1917, about 25% of the tobacco crop acreage was broadleaf, 20% was shade grown, and 55% was Havana seed. The leaf was mostly intended to be for wrapper and binder.3

Photograph of the Connecticut Valley

The booklet covers the cultivation of tobacco plants, the costs associated with growing, and the returns that farmers could expect. It also covers the processes of harvesting, curing, and selling tobacco. It goes into depth on each of these topics.

The Supply and Distribution of Connecticut Valley Cigar Leaf Tobacco can be read for free on Google Books.

  1. Samuel DeVault, The Supply and Distribution of Connecticut Valley Cigar Leaf Tobacco, 1919, pg. 143 [↩]
  2. Samuel DeVault, The Supply and Distribution of Connecticut Valley Cigar Leaf Tobacco, 1919, pg. 144 [↩]
  3. Samuel DeVault, The Supply and Distribution of Connecticut Valley Cigar Leaf Tobacco, 1919, pgs. 147-154 [↩]