Tobacco baskets

Zach's Grandpa

Old Mossy Horns
Saw the post in classified and was wondering how many remember when we tied tobacco in bundles and put it back on a stick? It was put on those baskets at the tobacco warehouse. That was my job after school in the fall, put the bundles on a stick and pack it down. Days of long ago and gone forever along with the people from that era.
 

jbaldwin

Six Pointer
We had rough hanging heavier sticks and then was bundled with a wrapped leaf on top and went on what grand dad said was finishing stick. Take to warehouse and remove finishing sticks and get it laid out nicely for buyers to come by...
 

spinnerbaitor48

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
We tied it on sticks and hung it in the barn..flue cured...then put on pallets or wrapped in burlap sheets to take to the tobacco warehouses for auction....my first paid job was at Jr battles tobacco warehouse in Mullins SC...I think I was paid $3 hr....my uncle was the county agent, so he had connections to get that job for me.....i hated having to turn the leaves when they came in damp with sand all over them before they went to auction.....remember buyers coming in limos for the auctions....
 

specialk

Twelve Pointer
Warehouses....xmas in september...$$$$....they would sweep the floor and toss the scraps over in the pile at the end of the auctions...
 

bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I picked and hauled to the curing barn. Always amazed me to watch the leaves being tied to the sticks so the older guys could carry them up to hang. Those women could tie a double side of leaves on a 4 or so foot hanging stick in seconds.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Started at 8 years old. Priming and tying. Teenage years were spent on another friend's family farm, doing everything from planting to racking.

Those wire racks are unforgiving. Didn't know I was bleeding on the tobacco, until my friend's dad started yelling at me for bleeding on the tobacco.
 

Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
went on what grand dad said was finishing stick.
We called them "grading sticks", and we used a "sticking horse" in the pack house special made to hold the sticks before packing it down prior to taking it to market. A lot of our grading sticks were hand shaped and were handed down through the family for several generations. Packing it down seemed to sweeten it up and make it more fragrant.
 

Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
I was the one sweeping the floor..hehe....would pair 2 push brooms and start at one end and go until it was done....I didn't mind the work, but it let me know I wanted to better myself, which was what my parents and uncle wanted to teach me .....
Most of the floor sweepings from the warehouses up in Lumberton were sold to Brown and Williamson as I recall.
 

jbaldwin

Six Pointer
We called them "grading sticks", and we used a "sticking horse" in the pack house special made to hold the sticks before packing it down prior to taking it to market. A lot of our grading sticks were hand shaped and were handed down through the family for several generations. Packing it down seemed to sweeten it up and make it more fragrant.
Yes heard them called grading sticks as well. Only person allowed to wrap the leaf on the bundle was my grandmother because her method was the most uniform. I worked at Columbus county warehouse in the early 70's unloading trucks coming in and all bundle seems to come in OVER WEIGHT. I think 555lbs was the limit. Push hand carts to positions and line up for buyers and auctioneer
 

Deerherder

Ten Pointer
When i first used the wire racks and shoved them thru the leaves, i bet my grandad was rolling in his grave at what we were doing to them leaves...

My first “job” was picking up the leaves that fell from the racks as they were moved from trailer to barn. A much simpler time for me. 10 years old & all I cared about was being around the farm & what sodas my “uncle” the farm manager would have in the cooler at break time.
 

Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
Put it in the pit dug under the pack house or strip room ...
My great uncle had a pit that he'd let us use if necessary. Occasionally we'd run late getting it ready for market and the South Carolina markets were slowing down and we'd have to take it up to Fuquay-Varina or maybe Virginia to get it on a sale. I never got to go on those trips due to school.
 

Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
My first “job” was picking up the leaves that fell from the racks as they were moved from trailer to barn. A much simpler time for me. 10 years old & all I cared about was being around the farm & what sodas my “uncle” the farm manager would have in the cooler at break time.
You got off lighter than some of us. At least your folks let you be a kid for a while.

I can remember suckering at 5 years old, by 6 I was dragging crates back and forth to the field with those big mules my Dad owned, and around 9 or 10 was dragging double crates with the tractor once my leg got strong enough to shove in and hold the clutch on that Allis-Chalmers. At 11 I had migrated to a full time cropper's position and was now one of the men. I was the only boy in the family big enough to work those jobs, and my poor brother who was 11 years younger than me experienced the same responsibility as soon as I left home to go into the service.

I'm not complaining about the work, it helped me develop a work ethic second to none, and provided a heck of a lot of good memories; those were special times.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
My great uncle had a pit that he'd let us use if necessary. Occasionally we'd run late getting it ready for market and the South Carolina markets were slowing down and we'd have to take it up to Fuquay-Varina or maybe Virginia to get it on a sale. I never got to go on those trips due to school.

Im way too young to have had any business in any of this. Both of my parents did.

My maternal great grandparents moved from Granville County to just south of Fuquay-Varina to escape the Granville Wilt.

He had tobacco wearhouses in a few different areas. I know they had them in Fuquay-Varina and Fayetteville and maybe Kinston.

Knott was the last name.
 

waymoe1

Ten Pointer
Love reading this stuff, really wish we could go back to a simple time. We have a old tobacco barn on the farm with 1955 wrote in the cement door way and you can still go in there and smell all the cured tobacco. One of my favorite smells, and the hum of the barns running at night.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
As a side question…..wonder how many of the old gas burners have been installed in cookers over the years and how many hogs have been cooked with those same burners that came out of defunct tobacco barns?
 

QuietButDeadly

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I think we called them stripping sticks and they were definitely kept separate from the others that were rough. And we never had a basement to hang the tobacco in to get it in order so we could strip and tie it for the market. We used a garden sprayer to mist the leaves and stacked it back in a pile on the original sticks to let it soften up for a couple of days before we stripped it. When the tobacco was green, you handled one stick at a time. After it was cured, 2 sticks at a time. And when the stripping sticks were full, they were heavy.

I liked looking at all of the different styles and sizes of the tied hands at the market. Also the various styles used to pack the tied hands on the baskets. Not sure if it got them a higher bid or not but some folks had it down to an art form for sure.

Tobacco was a side crop for us as we only had a little over an acre allotment but I am glad I got to experience the old way of doing things from the plant bed to the market. Our curing barn was wood fired.
 

Zach's Grandpa

Old Mossy Horns
How many remember their parents or grandparents curing with wood? I was probably twelve or thirteen when my Dad converted to oil burners, then a few years later he went to the gas burners.
 
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