A Hogshead of Tobacco

A receipt for one Hogshead of Tobacco 

sold by Stephen Nance

                 

A tobacco hogshead was a wooden barrel into which farmers packed cured tobacco leaves and was used in American colonial times to transport and store tobacco. Since the average hogshead weighed over one thousand pounds, animal power was used to transport the hogheads over the rural roads to warehouses.  Because of the challenges involved, warehouse operators sought river and port locations so farmers could float hogsheads on flat boats. Similarly, buyers could use boats to send out hogsheads they had purchased.  A very large wooden barrel, the standardized hogshead measured 48 inches (1,219 mm) long and 30 inches (762 mm) in diameter at the head. Fully packed with tobacco, it weighed about 1,000 pounds (500 kg).
                                            

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