Havana cigar

“ With hardly any exception, all the other brands of any renown—the Flor de Cuba, Corona, Villa y Villa, Flor de J. S. Murias, Pedro Murias—are in the hands of the Spaniards. It is a curious fact that hitherto no American firm has risen to exceptional renown among the cigar manufacturers of the world, although the neighbouring isle of Key West has lately sprung into prominence as a tobacco land of much promise, and several important firms have been established there with a fair measure of success. The true Havana cigar is made in Havana only. ”

“ The tobacco used in the making of the Havana cigarettes is bought from the cigar factors, but only from those who have the most assured reputation. It consists of the leaves left from the making of cigars. The necessity of securing the best grades of tobacco cannot be overestimated. The judgment of the cigarette smoker is formed solely from the sense of taste. He is totally unaffected by sight, which in the cigar enables a clever workman to so roll bad tobacco that we are predisposed in favor of an inferior article. ”

“ Select a firm, well-made cigar—one that contains a good quantity of fillers—avoiding, however, in Havana cigars, one made too nicely, as it is sometimes the case that superior external appearance is made to cover defects in the more important qualities.
Such a selection will insure a cigar of good quality; one that will hold fire and last the length of time appropriate to its size. A cigar should not be chosen simply because it is made well, and neither because its outside appearance (wrapper) is fine, both in color and quality of leaf; rather depend upon the manufacture of the brand. ”

“ How would you feel, my smoking brother, [Pg 263] to be able to enjoy a delicious Havana cigar, to roll it between your lips and inhale the perfume of its smoke, all for the price of three cents or perhaps a nickel? The Americans are quietly acquiring as great an acreage as possible of the tobacco lands of Cuba. ”

“ All Cuban tobacco is not good, by any means. The tobacco from the Vuelta de Arriba is not so good as that from the Vuelta de Abajo, and yet there is but little difference in their geographical position. And in the Vuelta de Abajo, a short distance makes a difference in the quality of the tobacco. Some vegos are celebrated for their good crops, while others, perhaps not a hundred yards away, do not produce good crops at all. There are many poor cigars made in Cuba, as all who have ever been there know, and all over the island the Havana cigar is deemed the best. ”

“ Of cigar tobaccos the most valuable qualities in the world are cultivated in the north-west portions of the island of Cuba. The district of Vuelta Abajo is the source of the highest quality, after which comes the produce of Partidas and Vuelta Arriba. A large portion of the tobacco is made into cigars in the island, but considerable quantities are also exported to Europe and the United States for mixing with commoner qualities to give Havana character to the home-made cigars. ”

“ It is evident, therefore, that the manufacture of this luxury is a business of great magnitude, irrespective of the other forms of tobacco used; and if we remember that the duty obtained from tobacco of all kinds puts nearly nine millions per annum into the national exchequer, it becomes possible to realise how much the comfort and happiness of a large number of Her Majesty’s subjects depend on the products of the tobacco crop.
An Havana cigar of a good brand is deservedly looked upon as the crême de la crême of cigars ”

“ In Cuba, where cigars are plentiful, the usual custom is, when you ask for a light, even if the party be a stranger, to pull out your case and offer him a cigar, by way of recognizing the civility in stopping to accommodate you. The Spaniards are naturally a polite people, and the stranger stepping into the Louvre and other public places of resort in Havana, is struck at once with the marked contrast in this respect to familiar gatherings elsewhere. In no place is a cigar more enjoyable than in Havana. ”

“ In Havana, and, indeed, in all parts of the island, green or freshly-made cigars are preferred, and the most esteemed cigar-cases are made of carefully prepared bladders, in which the cigars are rolled to prevent the evaporation of the moisture.
"When a Cuban gentleman gives a cigar to a friend, he does not, as we do, open his case, and offer it to him to choose from but he examines its contents carefully and critically, selects the one he thinks the best and offers it. ”

“ The choicest product is obtained in only a few localities of limited area. It sometimes happens that the products of two plantations almost side by side, and similarly situated, are very unlike in character and quality.
TOBACCO
The choicest cigar-tobacco is grown on the Vuelta Abajo district in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba; another very choice Cuban leaf is known as Partidos. Cuban-made cigars of fine quality are commercially "Havana" cigars, although tobacco from Manila and Porto Rico is apt to be largely used in their manufacture. ”

“ Some of the large firms, such as Bock & Co., employ from three to five thousand hands, almost all Spaniards and Cubans, white labour being preferred, on account of the delicate processes through which the tobacco has to pass before it is converted into a cigar. Although there are certainly more than a hundred cigar manufacturers in Havana, only two or three of the factories are really worth visiting. ”

“ And the cigar need not consist entirely of Havana tobacco. A cigar of choice flavor is made of a mixture of tobaccos—Havana “filler” and “binder,” with, say, a “Connecticut seed” or Sumatra wrapper.
The manufacture of cigars has without doubt aided largely in building up the business of Key West. One authority says that there are two hundred factories, employing five thousand operatives, and transacting a business amounting to seven millions of dollars annually. ”

“ To the traveler in Havana, this is easy enough, as he can there buy sample boxes from any of the factories and of any of the brands. There are, in addition to these hundreds of other cigar factories, some of which, such as Cabargos, Figaros, Luetanos, Victorias, etc., are first-class, three or four at least in whose cigars every smoker may have perfect confidence, the brands of which are known all over the world. ”

“ The slave and his master, the maid and her mistress, boy and man,—all, all smoke; and it is really odd that vessels don't scent Havana far out at sea before they heave in sight of its headlands. [Pg 172] No true Havanese ever moves a foot without his portable armory of cigars, as indispensable to him as is his quiver to the wild Indian, and he would feel equally lost without it. Some one has facetiously said that the cigar ought to be the national emblem of Cuba. ”

“ I remember once, at a very charming dinner party, being quite astonished—for it was shortly after my arrival in Havana—to find myself and the host the only cigar smokers. The rest of our number, some six or seven, all Cubans, took to their accustomed cigarette with a unanimity which has always led me to believe that my good host himself felt called upon by his sense of politeness to do violence to his own preference.
In connection with the manufacture of cigarettes, nothing strikes one with more astonishment than the many industries which form accessories to a factory. ”

“ The remaining laborers are employed in assorting and packing the cigars for market. Only the choicest tobacco is used in this factory—each first-class cigar made here being warranted equal to any Havana brand. Thirty-five thousand cigars are manufactured daily, consuming thirty thousand pounds of tobacco monthly. The most amusing sight of all is to see these workmen drink water: it is contained in a kind of earthenware vessel which they call a “monkey-jug,” made from a porous earth obtained in Cuba, and shaped something like our American gallon-jug, only the orifice is on the side. ”

“ A lady once confessed to the writer that she had all unwittingly followed in the wake of a smoker whose cigar [vii] shed on the air a fragrance so delicate that for a time it was quite irresistible. Doubtless many another could, if so minded tell of a similar experience. A good cigar indeed—Havana or Cuban leaf for preference—is an inspiration. A meerschaum pipe when ‘mellow, rich and ripe’ is a treasure; but cigarettes are becoming, if they have not already become, a nuisance.
Grateful memories of the weed are enshrined in the literature of every language ”

“ Havana cigars are such only as are made in the island; and the cigars made in Europe and elsewhere from genuine Cuban tobacco are classed as "Havanas." Other brands of home manufacture contain some proportion of Cuban tobacco; and very good cigars may be made in which the name only of that highly-prized leaf is employed. When we come to the inferior classes of cigars, it can only be said that they may be made from any kind of leaf, the more ambitious imitations being treated with various sauces designed to give them a Havana flavour. ”

“ In both Manilla and Havana the custom of smoking is universal and one rarely meets with any of the male sex without a cigar between his lips.
A writer speaking of the universality of the custom says:
"In Havana, the custom of smoking is a universal one. There, young and old indulge freely in the use of the weed, dividing their attention pretty equally between the cigar and the cigarette. Even the ladies of the better class in many instances indulge ”

“ The best of the Manilla cigars rarely get to the United States; and when they do, the price is so high that they cannot compete with cigars from other countries. Besides, they seem to lose their flavor in the long voyage over the sea, and perhaps this is the reason why Havana cigars seem to be lacking in the proper taste when brought to Japan or China.
"The tobacco-crop of the Philippines pays a tribute of a million dollars every year to the Spanish Government, which is the principal revenue they derive from their possessions in the East. ”

“ It is the opium in the best Havanas which enslaves the smokers more than the tobacco. Those cigars, also American manufactured cigars, are dipped in a solution of opium. It is said that twenty thousand dollars’ worth of opium is used annually in one cigar manufactory in Havana. ”

“ The tobacco is so neatly put up that were it not for the accompanying book, one would almost fancy it to be a package of the most delicate French chocolate. As illustration of the consumption of cigarettes it may be of interest to state that three million cigarettes are made in the Honoradez factory each year, while it is estimated that in their manufacture over six million dollars is annually expended in the city of Havana alone. The Cuban, indeed, is much more of a cigarette than a cigar smoker; the cigarette is his constant companion. ”

“ We prefer the "Cubas," made from a good quality of leaf grown near Trinidad, Puerto-Principe, and other cities east of Havana. The peculiar flavor of Yara cigars is owing to the character of the soil, rather than to any artificial process employed in manufacturing. In moistening Havana leaf Catalan wine is used, and other flavoring extracts. This may (and does) change the condition and quality of the tobacco, but even with this treatment, the flavor of Yara tobacco would be unlike that of Havana leaf.
MANILLA CIGARS.
Manilla Cigar and Cheroot. ”

“ Having the same climate as Havana, the best climate in the world for tobacco curing, and the cigars being made by Cubans, who are the best cigar-makers in the world, Key West turns out just as good cigars as can be produced anywhere—provided always that tobacco of the first quality is used. ”

“ In America, a specially-prepared brown paper, saturated with the juice expressed from tobacco-stems and other refuse, is most extensively used, not only for the “wrappers” of cigars, but also for “filling.” Various ground woods, starches, meals, and pigments are introduced into snuff.
A New York paper mentions that a great quantity of brown straw paper lately reached Havana, which was to be employed in the manufacture of Havana cigars. Straw paper impregnated with the juice of tobacco stalks is wound up with the leaf in such a way that it is often impossible to detect the adulteration. ”

“ The Spaniards have always been great lovers of their minute rolls, and with (p. 299) them, no other method of burning tobacco appears so delicate or refined. Especially is this true among the ladies, who prefer "Seville cigarettes" to all others. Many smokers make their own cigarettes, sometimes using Havana tobacco, and sometimes making them of two or more kinds. An excellent cigar is made by using equal parts of Virginia and Perique tobacco, or equal parts of Havana and Perique. A fine flavored cigarette is also made from Yara and Havana tobacco, equal parts of each being used. ”

“ Porto Rican leaf possesses many of the qualities of good Havana leaf, and like the latter is used in cigar manufacture. The annual production is about 120,000 bales. The U. S. imports from 4 to 5 million lbs. annually. Further particulars regarding Cuban and Porto Rican leaf will be given in the chapters concerning cigars.
Mexico produces a tobacco, large as to leaf, dark in color, with heavy body and coarse veins. The tobacco is very strong in flavor. The best grades approach the Cuban tobacco in quality and are imported and used as substitutes for it. The U. S. importation is small. ”