View E of a tobacco drying barn at Le Duet farmhouse outside St Vivien de Monségur, near La Réole, Bordeaux, France.
View E of a tobacco drying barn at Le Duet farmhouse outside St Vivien de Monségur, near La Réole, Bordeaux, France. Adjustable side vents allowed the hanging tobacco leaves to be air-cured over a period of four to eight weeks. Flue-cured leaves are dried more quickly using indirect heat from stove pipes. France is the fifth largest tobacco producer in Europe. Introduced to France 1556 by monk André Thevet who brought seeds back from Brazil. First used as herbal cure (inc. migrane) and hunger suppressant by the poor. It was grown in gardens, for export, and in the French colonies. After 1663, following customs duties on imports, more was grown at home. Snuff taking was popularised by Louis X1V. Cigarettes became popular with soldiers in the Napoleonic wars, but commercially produced cigarettes not manufactured in France until 1843. During the Crimea War roll your owns became popular with soldiers, but in 1881 James Bonsack invented machine that could produce 12000 a day. By 1950 tobacco was cultivated in 55 French Departments, In 2006, following stiff EU legislation, there was a dramatic cut in production but there are still 2,270 French growers producing 17,000 tonnes of tobacco. It is of a poor quality & mainly exported to the third world.
Size: 4977px × 3788px
Location: Le Duet, St Vivien de Monségur, La Réole, Bordeaux, Gironde, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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