Processed Binders for Cigars: The Effect on the Market for Binder-Type Tobacco

Report Summary: The shift in cigar binders from natural leaf to binders made of ground tobacco processed into sheets will affect the prices received by growers, the kinds of tobacco they grow, and the way cured tobacco is handled by both growers and purchasers. Continuance of the rapid growth in use of processed binders could reduce somewhat the total amount of money received by growers for binder-type tobaccos. But there are offsetting factors: 1. That part of the binder-type tobaccos that is sold directly for scrap chewing tobacco would continue to be used for the same purposes. The reduction in price for binder types, therefore, would not apply to all the crop of those types. 2. Cigars with processed binders appear to be quite popular, and if cigar smoking should be increased because of that factor, the total of tobacco used in cigars would be increased. 3. The extreme care that must be taken to raise binder-type tobacco of the high grades required for cigar binders, including the careful handling in harvesting, curing, and preparing for market, would no longer be necessary, with a consequent reduction in the growers' production costs. 4. This development will affect the relative advantage of different areas and growers in producing the tobacco. Those who adapt their production and marketing practices to lower their costs will be in the best position to take advantage of the changed situation.