I just watched the video on the rollers. I couldn't help but notice that no one wears any kind of gloves during the process and many of their hands were stained by the tobacco. Do you guys know if the people handling the tobacco have health problems associated with it? Obviously they have quite long term exposure to it. Just curious.
Rollers Heath Problems?
- Thread starter cbsmokin
- Start date
chupacabrah
Gorilla
I bet with no gloves they get a lot of nicotine sickness....
RaiderinKS
Lowland Gorilla
Lots of tobacco handlers have health problems later on in life. I dont recall the exact types of problems, but yes, handling without gloves is very bad for your health.
If I could roll cigars, and get my wife to move to nicaragua, you can bet I'd be there
Scott
Maybe if your wife was into rolling... and was Nicaraguan... and, I'm seeing a hammock here somewhere... :ss
I cropped tobacco for 2 years in my teens on a family farm. The green tobacco oozed an extremely sticky juice that stained everything and left an almost impossible to remove glue on your nails and arm hairs. The tobacco was wet in the mornings and I got sick nearly every morning, sometimes throwing up. The old wives tale was to smoke and the nicotine wouldn't bother you as much. I was 12-13 and was smoking like a fish and still got sick. Just couldn't tell the parents or the other old folks they were full of shit, they didn't know I smoked. Saw an episode of 20/20 years ago that many workers in Va end up in the emergency room from the sickness. The Dr. said water made it worse, i.e when it rained or in the mornings. I already knew all that. Never had a problem with dried tobacco, though. It will still stain, but just didn't handle it as much.
BTW, got paid $20/day, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., middle of the summer. No other kids in the 7th grade made $100/week. My buddy and I were rich, but sick a lot. It was a right of passage in my area in the early 80s.
BTW, got paid $20/day, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., middle of the summer. No other kids in the 7th grade made $100/week. My buddy and I were rich, but sick a lot. It was a right of passage in my area in the early 80s.
I've worked in Burley, fire-cured Dark Fired, and air-cured Dark Fired. In stripping the tobacco leaves after curing (leaves left on the stalk when harvested, and the entire plant hung on curing sticks, with these types), the only reason I ever saw anyone wear gloves was to keep the hands clean, especially with fire-cured Dark fire. Fire Cured will have quite a finish to it, and will leave the hands VERY stained and sticky. The others are not so bad, but will still stain and leave sticky residue. Same thing with baling the tied leaves or baled leaves, or when putting the tied hands on the sale baskets at the auction house floors.
Never saw or heard of any instances of nicotine sickness at that end of the leaf process. With air-cured Dark Fired AND Burley, the curing sticks with the stalks/leaves (usually 5-6 stalks/plants per stick), dirt/dust and possibly some mold could be an issue, and I always hated stripping these two, or even taking it out of the barn to go to the stripping shed, even if it had been damp and the tobacco was in good "order".
But in the field, especially during the suckering process and the topping process, and even into the time to harvest by cutting the stalk at the base of the plant, I saw and heard of people having a rough time with it, because of the nicotine. It seemed to be worse during suckering and topping, before the plant was ripe for harvest. Several farmers told me that the plant stalk and leaves and suckers had a lot of nicotine on the surface at this point of the plants' life. One of my roommates got sick twice doing this type work, and ended up in a hospital one of those times, because of the nicotine. Even gloves did not help, because the plants are so large at this stage that you are brushing against leaves all day. Lots of guys wore gloves anyway, because of all the sticky gum that gets on your hands and arms while working in it, plus splinters from the sticks that the plants are hung on.
Cigar tobacco is handled differently, so I couldn't say about it. The torcedors also handle individual leaves a lot more than would happen with the types of tobacco I dealt with also, even classers in the stripping shed.
I can see where water would have made it worse, also, as it gets it into "solution" and easier to get all over the skin. Another problem with working in wet tobacco in the field is that if it has been sprayed fairly recently, the water makes it easier to get those chemicals on the worker. I once got nailed by this when we cut a field right after a summer rain that had been sprayed a week earlier. Later that night at my night job, I broke out head to toe, and had to see a doc for a shot. Also, with a lot of Burley around here, they cut and place plants on the stick, and then just leave the sticks out in the field for up to 3-4 days, to let the plants wilt and be easier to put up in curing barns (also lose some weight). If they get wet, mold can start, as well as plant decomposition. I helped put some wet Burley up in a curing barn once, and it made all of us sick from the methane fumes. I hate Burley!!!
I worked for over 7 seasons in the stuff, and it payed for college, but it was the hardest physical labor I've ever done, especially harvest. Also very enjoyable.
Never saw or heard of any instances of nicotine sickness at that end of the leaf process. With air-cured Dark Fired AND Burley, the curing sticks with the stalks/leaves (usually 5-6 stalks/plants per stick), dirt/dust and possibly some mold could be an issue, and I always hated stripping these two, or even taking it out of the barn to go to the stripping shed, even if it had been damp and the tobacco was in good "order".
But in the field, especially during the suckering process and the topping process, and even into the time to harvest by cutting the stalk at the base of the plant, I saw and heard of people having a rough time with it, because of the nicotine. It seemed to be worse during suckering and topping, before the plant was ripe for harvest. Several farmers told me that the plant stalk and leaves and suckers had a lot of nicotine on the surface at this point of the plants' life. One of my roommates got sick twice doing this type work, and ended up in a hospital one of those times, because of the nicotine. Even gloves did not help, because the plants are so large at this stage that you are brushing against leaves all day. Lots of guys wore gloves anyway, because of all the sticky gum that gets on your hands and arms while working in it, plus splinters from the sticks that the plants are hung on.
Cigar tobacco is handled differently, so I couldn't say about it. The torcedors also handle individual leaves a lot more than would happen with the types of tobacco I dealt with also, even classers in the stripping shed.
I can see where water would have made it worse, also, as it gets it into "solution" and easier to get all over the skin. Another problem with working in wet tobacco in the field is that if it has been sprayed fairly recently, the water makes it easier to get those chemicals on the worker. I once got nailed by this when we cut a field right after a summer rain that had been sprayed a week earlier. Later that night at my night job, I broke out head to toe, and had to see a doc for a shot. Also, with a lot of Burley around here, they cut and place plants on the stick, and then just leave the sticks out in the field for up to 3-4 days, to let the plants wilt and be easier to put up in curing barns (also lose some weight). If they get wet, mold can start, as well as plant decomposition. I helped put some wet Burley up in a curing barn once, and it made all of us sick from the methane fumes. I hate Burley!!!
I worked for over 7 seasons in the stuff, and it payed for college, but it was the hardest physical labor I've ever done, especially harvest. Also very enjoyable.
I am really hating this thread. I dont like feeling guilty for smoking and I know that agricultural workers dont have pension or health plans and some do it all their lives. The rollers are I bet in the same position. I have never seriously thought about this. I am also thinking about quitting.
Don't know if they have any health problems,,but I sure do hope they wash their hands after taking a dump..
Jerry in Minnesota.
King James
Where's The Rum?
A question along the same lines but from a different angle, looking at the consumer getting sick. I'm not really worried about it and am in no place to tell people to change the system, but with so many hands touching the cigars we get is there any sanitation to keep the consumer from contracting something that could be on the rollers hands? Maybe a good system is already in place, I just don't know of it.
Tobacco will kill most bugs that get on it I supsect. It's a pretty toxic plant in many ways. That and other than the very end that goes in your mouth the rest is sterilized by fire before you get any of it. If there were any serious production process health issues that the companies would be liable for as opposed to inherent health issues of tobacco that they are not repsonsible for they would be addressed rather quickly. My :2
King James
Where's The Rum?
I'm sure you are just giving me a bit of a hard time for my question but I didn't mean it in any negative way. Just was unaware what is done to keep not only the rollers, but consumers safe from any sort of illness or infection.