CHAPTER IX._Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce

CIGARS.

"The poet may sing of the leaf of the rose,

And call it the purest and sweetest that blows;

But of all the leaves that ever were tried,

Give me the tobacco leaf rolled up and dried."

The smoking of cigars is now considered the best as it is the most

fashionable mode of using the weed. The word cigar is from the Spanish

_cigarro_, and signifies a cylindrical roll of tobacco leaves, made of

short pieces or shreds of the leaves divested of the stem and wound

about with a binder, and enveloped in a portion of the leaf known by

the name of wrapper--acute at one end and truncated at the other. In

the East Indies a sort of cigar called _cheroot_ is also made with

both ends truncated. The smoking of tobacco in the form of cigars is

doubtless the most general as well as the most ancient mode of its

use. When Columbus landed in Hispaniola, the sailors saw the natives

smoking the leaves of a plant, "the perfume of which was fragrant and

grateful." But while cigars are of very ancient origin in the West

Indies, they were not generally known in Europe until the beginning of

the Nineteenth Century. In fact, of all the various works on

gastronomy and the pleasures of the table, written and published from

1800 to 1815, not one speaks of this now indispensable adjunct of a

good dinner. Even Britlat-Savarin, in his _Physiologie du Gout_,

entirely ignores tobacco and all its distractions and charms. Benzo

gives the following account of the manufacture of a cigar in

Hispaniola:--

"They take a leafe from the stalks of their great bastard

corn (which we commonly called Turkie--wheat) together with

one of these tobacco-leaves and fold them up together like a

coffin of paper, such as grocers make to put spices in, or

like a small organ-pipe. Then putting one end of the same

coffin to the fire, and holding the other end in their

mouths, they draw their breath to them. When the fire hath

once taken at the pipe's end, they draw forth so much smoke

that they have their mouth, nose, throat, and head full of

it; and, as if they tooke a singular delight therein they

never leave supping and drinking till they can sup no more,

and thereby loose their breath and their feeling."

Sahagun, in his "History of New Spain," speaks of the natives as using

the leaves of tobacco rolled into cigars, which they ignite and smoke

in tubes of tortoise-shell or silver. The following article from the

_New York Times_ contains much valuable information in regard to

cigars, especially Havanas:

[Illustration: Cigars.]

"It is perfectly safe to say that there is more money spent

every day in New York for cigars than for bread," (doubted.)

"From the fine gentlemen, who buy their cigars at

Delmonico's, or get them direct from the importers, down to

the little barefoot boys in the streets, who buy theirs from

the Chinamen at the corners or pick up the stumps that are

thrown away, all smoke. In some countries pipes and

cigarettes are made to do duty by the poorer classes, but in

New York cigars seem to be almost invariably preferred. Now,

while there is nothing better, in the way of something to

smoke, than a first-class Havana cigar, there is nothing

nastier than some of the cheap abominations made in that

shape in New York. To the truth of this last proposition,

anyone will readily testify who has ever been so unfortunate

as to have had to ride from Harlem to New York in a late

smoking-car, with half a dozen roughs smoking cheap cigars

on board.

"The cigars sold in this market may be divided into three

classes--the imported, those made of imported tobacco, and

those made of domestic tobacco. These may be again

classified under many different heads, as there are many

kinds and grades of each. The cheapest cigars in New York

are dispensed by dilapidated Chinamen, who have little

stands about the streets and markets. These are certainly

the vilest cigars made anywhere in the world, and are sold

from one to five cents each. Next in order come the common

domestic cigars. They are sold at five cents each, or six

for twenty-five cents, and are of the kind kept at the cheap

refreshment stalls, lager beer saloons, and low groggeries.

After these are the more pretentious home-made cigars,

manufactured of selected domestic tobacco, which are sold

all over the city, and in the making of which Havana

'fillers' are supposed to be used. A filler, be it known, in

technical parlance means that portion of the tobacco of

which the inside of the cigar is made. Price, ten to fifteen

cents. Then comes the best class of cigars in which domestic

tobacco is used, those which are made with clear Havana

fillers and Connecticut wrappers. Fifteen cents is the

price, and many are palmed off on the unwise for the real

imported article. Cigars made wholly of imported Cuban

tobacco come next on the list. Some of them are excellent,

and compare favorably with many of the imported. They bring

from fifteen to fifty cents each at the cigar stores. Last

in line, but best of all, is the genuine, imported Havana

cigar. Few and rare are they, and great is the price of the

higher grades thereof.

"There are some places in New York where an imported cigar

of a reasonable size may be bought for fifteen cents, but

they are few and far between. Twenty or twenty-five cents is

the price usually charged, and from that to a dollar. All

the cigars made in the United States are invariably put up

in imitation Havana boxes, with imitation Havana labels and

brands. It is doubtful, however, whether this transparent

device deceives anybody, for in accordance with the United

States Internal Revenue laws, all boxes of cigars

manufactured in the United States must not only bear the

manufacturer's label, giving his full name and place of

business, and the number of his manufactory, but they must

also bear the United States inspector's brand. Before the

present law was in force, and the duties on tobacco were

low, this scheme may have been profitable. But why the

practice is still adhered to by the manufacturers is hard to

imagine, for the boxes now used, being made of imported

cedar, must be very costly, and must materially increase the

price of cigars. Only those of the very poorest quality are

packed in white wooden boxes.

[Illustration: Cigar-holders.]

"Some people seem to smoke not because they like it, but

only to be in the fashion. Some days ago the writer of this

article happened to be in a cigar-store, when two

well-dressed young men came in and asked for some ten cent

cigars. The clerk handed out the box, and after a critical

inspection the purchaser asked: "Are these medium?' 'Yes,

sir,' said the clerk. 'Then I'll take a dollar's worth.'

After they had gone the writer asked the clerk what they

meant by 'medium.' He said he didn't exactly know, but

supposed they wanted to know whether the cigars were between

strong and mild. 'I told them they were,' said he, 'because

I thought they would buy if I said so, but they are all

alike.' And in this connection it is very singular that

although the Island of Cuba is so near to the United States

and so many cigars are imported into this city, so little is

known about the different sizes and brands of cigars,

excepting, of course, by those in the business. It is a

common thing here to see a man ask in a cigar store for a

_Flor del Fumar_, a _Figaro_, or an _Espanola_. By this he

means a cigar of a certain size, and does not seem to know

that these are not the names which designate the size, but

are the names of the manufactories. In Havana, were a man to

ask for a _Flor del Fumar_, the dealer would ask him what

size he wanted.

"Every box of cigars packed in Havana has, at least, six

distinctive works on it. First is the brand, which is burned

in the upper side of the lid of the box, with an iron made

for the purpose; second the label, this bears the name and

address of the manufactory; third, the mark designating the

size and shape of the cigars, this is usually put on with a

stencil; there are not so very many regular sizes, or

_vitolas_, made in Havana as might be imagined, a list of

them may prove interesting. These are: Damos, Entre Actos,

Opera, Concha, Regalia de Concha, Londres, Londres de Corte,

Regalia de Londres, Regalia Britanica, Regalia del Rey,

Regalia de la Reina, Reina Victoria, Panetelos, Trabucos,

Embajadores, Especiales, Imperiales, Brevos, Prensados,

Cilindrados, Millar Vegueros. The _Damos_ (Dames) as their

name indicates, are meant for the ladies, and are the

smallest made. The _Cozadores_ (huntsmen) are the longest,

and the _Trabucos_ (blunderbusses) the fattest. The

_Prensados_ (pressed) are flat, and _Cilindrados_

(cylindrical) are so called because, when green, they are

put in bundles of twenty-five, and tightly rolled in strong

tissue paper, which is twisted at each end of the roll. When

the cigars are dry the paper is taken off, and the bunch

retains the cylindrical shape given it. The _Brevos_ (figs)

are also tied up while green, and tightly pressed. This

makes them stick together something like figs, hence their

name. The _Vegueros_ (plantation) take their name from the

fact that they are supposed to be made like those made on

the plantations, but they are not made in the same way.

"In the _Vegos_ (plantations) the _veguero_, or planter,

makes his cigar of a single leaf of tobacco, which he

carries ready moistened for the purpose, by rolling it on

his knee. Besides the above, some fancy sizes have been

adopted of late years, but they are made by only a few of

the larger manufacturers in Havana. Fourth is the color

mark, which is also put on in stencil. Fifth, the class

mark. All the round cigars made in Havana are separated into

three classes: _Primera_, or first; _Segunda_, or second;

and _Tercera_, or third. Some manufacturers never mark any

of their cigars as of the third class, not because they do

not make them, but because they think they sell better

without the mark. They make the first class _Flor_, the

second _Primera_, and the third _Segunda_. Others mark all

their cigars as of the first class, and indicate the classes

by the color of the labels, and in this way none but the

wholesale purchaser knows the secret. Sixth, the last, is

the mark denoting the number of cigars in the box. This is

stenciled on the side in Arabic numerals.

"A theory has obtained that cigars made in Havana, by reason

of some inexplicable climatic influence, are better than

those made in New York, even should they be made of tobacco

from the same plantation. This may be so, but it is doubtful

whether this was ever fairly tested, or, indeed, whether it

was ever tested at all. The truth is that all the best

tobacco grown in the island of Cuba is bought up by the

heavy manufacturers in Havana. The crops of the best

plantations are contracted for in advance, and the

old-established firms buy from the same _vegos_ year after

year. Hence it is why their cigars are so uniform in

quality. 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. 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. And there

is a great deal more in the choice of a cigar, by selecting

it on account of its outside appearance, than one not

accustomed to it would suppose. A wrapper which has that

which the Cubans call _calidad_ makes the cigar much

stronger than one which does not possess it. That is to say,

that the wrapper which has _calidad_ contains more essential

oil, is denoted by an abundance of small pustules on the

surface of the leaf, and by a general rich, oily appearance.

As a proof of the foregoing proposition, it is only

necessary to know how cigars are made. A lot of tobacco is

worked up into say 50,000. After they are all made, they are

turned over to be assorted, according to color and class,

and are packed and marked. The fillers are all alike, it is

the wrappers that make the difference. To assort the colors

a very, correct eye is required, and those who do this part

of the work make better wages than those who make the

cigars.

"The value of cigars does not increase in direct ratio with

their size, for owing to the difficulty in getting good

wrappers for the larger kinds, the expense of their

manufacture is much increased. Upon one occasion, in Havana,

a manufacturer received an order for a thousand cigars

intended for the Queen of Spain's husband, Don Francisco de

Asis, which he agreed to make for $1,000. They were

delivered in due time, and packed in a richly-mounted cedar

chest, were sent to the royal recipient. They were

magnificent cigars, of the cazadores size, all of the same

color, and so smoothly made as to look as if they had been

turned out of hard wood instead of rolled tobacco. They were

placed on exhibition for a few days before they were sent to

Spain, and a gentleman who saw them, wishing to make a

present to some dignitary, asked the manufacturer to make

him a like number at the same price. To his surprise, the

order was refused. The manufacturer said he could not do it

for the money. His explanation was that it was not the

actual cost of the tobacco and labor of making them, but it

was on account of the trouble and expense met with in

selecting the wrappers. He said he had to pick over

thousands of bales before he could secure a sufficient

number of the proper length, color, and fineness.

"Some two years ago there was a story of a Cuban

cigar-dealer in Broadway, who selected cigars for his more

favored customers by ear. It was said that he put the cigar

to his ear, and listened intently for a moment, and by the

cracking of the tobacco was enabled to judge of its quality.

This was a good advertising dodge, but in practice it was

all nonsense. None but that wily Cuban ever heard of such a

mode of trying a cigar. In the Island of Cuba that which we

call a cigar is called a _tabaco_ (a tobacco) and when it is

required to discriminate between the manufactured and

unmanufactured article it is called _tabaco torcido_, or

rolled tobacco. This, however, is only necessary when used

in the plural. In Mexico a cigar is called a _puro_, and in

Peru[62] and some of the other Spanish American countries it

is called a _cigarro puro_, in contradistinction to the

_cigarro de papel_, or cigarette. Cigarettes in Cuba are

called _cigarros_, and their consumption is enormous.

Strange as it may appear, there are some confirmed smokers

in Cuba who never use cigars at all, but confine themselves

to cigarettes. To the New Yorker it looks curious to see a

great, bearded man smoking a tiny cigarette; and, indeed

were he to smoke his cigarette as the New Yorker would smoke

his cigar, it would be labor lost, so far as getting any

effect of the tobacco was concerned. But the cigarette

smoker inhales the greater part of the smoke, it goes

directly into his lungs, and into contact with a large

surface of mucous membrane, and, indeed, with the blood

itself. Were the New York cigar-makers to smoke a cigarette

in the same way it would make him so giddy that he would be

compelled to give it up long before it was consumed. That

the smoke does go into the lungs is proved by the fact that

a cigarette smoker can inhale the smoke and exhale it again

after drinking a glass of water."

[Footnote 62: Ballaert says that the consumption of

cigars in Peru is enormous. "An old fisherman on being

asked how he amused himself when not at his labors

replied, 'Why I smoke; and as I have consumed 40 paper

cigars a day for the last 50 years, which cost me one

rial each will you have the goodness to tell me how many

I have smoked, and how much I have expended for

tobacco?'"]

[Illustration: Life in Mexico.]

All tobacco grown upon the island of Cuba is not of the finest

quality; the majority of it is far inferior to the best Mexican coast

tobacco. The value of the tobacco lands of this last mentioned country

has not been fully developed. The variety of soil, exposure, climate,

and atmospheric influences are greater than can possibly be in Cuba,

and when the best is discovered, combining all the requisites, which

undoubtedly will be the case with an increased culture of the plant,

it will be found to be equal to the Vuelta Abogo of Cuba, and much

more extensive. The subject of tobacco lands, evidently, is not well

understood in Mexico, as it must be, from great experience, in Cuba.

All of these varieties of lands and circumstances exist in Mexico, and

it is safe to predict that, at some day, this country will stand

pre-eminent over all others in this industry.

We extract the following from the _Tobacco Leaf_ in regard to

cigar-making in Cuba:--

"The rule is that a cigar-maker devotes all his ingenuity

and diligence to one class of goods. For example, one

workman makes only _Londres_; another only _Regalias_;

another only _Milores Communes_; and so on. In the Cuban's

factory the operatives are allowed to smoke as many cigars

as they like when at work; and to take home with them, when

they leave work in the evening, five cigars each. The

immigration of Chinese laborers into Cuba has modified, and

must further modify, the labor market there. In the

cigarette factories at Havana, Chinese workmen are almost

exclusively employed. Though objectionable for many of their

moral habits, these workmen are nevertheless docile,

ingenious, laborious, and contented."

A writer, alluding to the manufacture of cigars, says:--

"The colors or strengths are _Amarillo Claro_, bright

yellow; _Amarillo Obscuro_, dark yellow; _Claro_, bright;

_Colorado Claro_, bright red; _Colorado_, red; _Colorado

Obscuro_, dark red; _Colorado Maduro_, red-ripe or mellow;

_Maduro_, ripe or mellow; _Maduro Obscuro_, dark ripe or

mellow; _Pajizo Claro_, bright straw-colored; _Pajizo_,

straw-colored; _Pajizo Obscuro_, dark straw-colored;

_Fuerte_, strong or heavy; _Entre Fuerte_, rather strong or

heavy; _Flajo_, light. Then there are the indications of the

qualities:--Superfine; _Firo_, not quite so fine; _Flor_,

finest or firsts; _Superior_, next, or seconds; _Buenos_,

next, or thirds. The cigar has a notable history. First has

to be determined the part of the plant from which it is

taken; then the part of the leaf from which it is taken, the

tobacco being best which is furthest away from the root or

middle of the leaf. One elaborate process follows another

for the perfection of a work of art--for as such we must

regard a cigar."

Hazard, in his admirable work on Cuba, devotes considerable space to

cigars, their manufacture, varieties, and use, in which he speaks of

the various brands as follows:--

"The brands known as '_Yara Mayau_,' and the '_Guisa_,' are

perhaps the most celebrated made upon the Island. Of the

'_Yara_,' which has some considerable reputation,

particularly in the London market, I confess I cannot speak

favorably. Cigars that I smoked made from this leaf, and

which are much smoked in the vicinity of Santiago de Cuba, I

found had a peculiar saline taste which was very unpleasant,

as also a slight degree of bitterness; many smokers,

however, become very fond of this flavor. When I state that

in Havana alone there are over one hundred and twenty-five

manufacturers of cigars, it will readily be understood there

must be a great many inferior cigars made even in Cuba.

Havana may be called the 'City of cigars,' from its

reputation and the immense number of factories there are in

it for the manufacture of cigars, from the smallest shop

opening on the street, employing three or four hands to the

immense _fabricos_ erected expressly for this purpose, and

employing five or six hundred.

[Illustration: Cuban cigar shop.]

"Let not any one imagine, then, that because he is in Havana

he will get no poor cigars, for a greater mistake can not be

made, for just as vile trash can there be purchased as any

where; and it appeared to me that in buying, from time to

time in different _fabricos_, a few cigars it was rarely I

found a really good one. It behooves, then, every lover of a

good cigar to make himself familiar with the best makers and

brands, and to purchase those, and those only, that suit

his taste. 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. These are: _Cabaños_, _Uppmann_

and _Partagas_; for whose brands, perhaps, one pays

something more, but has always the satisfaction of finding

them good. To the kindness of the gentlemen connected with

some of these factories I am indebted for most of the

information in this article, and particularly to Señor Don

Avulmo G. del Valle, the present proprietor of the Cabaños

Factory, who was good enough to show me through his

establishment, carefully explaining to me its peculiarities.

As the process of manufacture and description of grades and

qualities are the same with all the best makers, I give here

a detailed history of this factory and its products.

"The factory for Cabaños cigars has been established

seventy-two years the founder of it being Don Francisco

Cabaños, his son, Don de P. Cabaños, succeeding him, to whom

has succeeded his son-in-law, Señor del Valle, the present

proprietor and director of the factory. When it was founded,

the cigars were sold to the public in bundles of twenty,

only amounting to a total number per year, of four or five

hundred thousand cigars, the sales of which kept constantly

increasing until 1826, when there were sold two millions. At

this period the demand for exportation commenced, increasing

each year until 1848, when the number sold amounted to three

and a half millions. At this time, the present director came

in charge, and increased the sale to eight millions per

year, until, in 1866, the total sales by this one house

only, amounted to the enormous number of sixteen million

cigars, which went to different parts of the world. The

tobacco manipulated in this factory is, with some few

exceptions, that grown upon plantations in the Vuelta Abojo,

with the proprietors of which Señor del Valle has a special

contract for their product. The most noted of these places

are known as '_La Lena_,' '_San Juan aj Martin_,' '_Los

Pilotos_,' '_Rio Hondo_.' The firm also own three _vegas_,

as do also Partagas, Uppmann, and others, in a greater or

less degree. The amount raised upon these _vegas_ in

connection with the Cabaños Factory, amounts to five

thousand bales, of from first to eighth quality, leaving

the most inferior qualities, which amount to about one

thousand bales, for exportation, the factory not using such

common grades. It is a custom of the manufacturers to keep a

supply of the best qualities always on hand from year to

year, in order that, should the tobacco crop, in any one

year, be bad, the reputation of the house can be maintained

by using the good tobacco in the store. The factory is a

large stone building, opposite the Canipo de Moste, in which

all the operations connected with cigar making are carried

on (excepting the manufacture of boxes) by over five hundred

operatives, all males. The following is the process of

manufacture:

"Arrived at the factory, the tobacco bales, carefully packed

and wrapped in palm leaves, are kept in a cool, dark, place

on the first floor, being divided off into classes according

to quality and value, which latter varies from twenty to

four hundred dollars per bale of two hundred pounds. When

wanted, the bales are opened, the _manojas_ and _gabillos_

are separated, and the latter carried in their dry state to

the moistening room. Here are a number of men whose business

it is to place the leaves, for the purpose of moistening and

softening them, into large barrels in which is a solution of

saltpetre in water; this done, the water is poured off, and

other workmen spread out the leaves with their hands upon

the edges of the barrels, ridding them as much as possible,

of any surplus water; after which, the leaves, from being

moistened, unfold very easily, and, with care, without

tearing. The stem is then taken out, the process being known

as _disbalillar_. These stems, with the refuse of other

tobacco, are sometime used as filling for the commonest kind

of cigars. The filling is known as _tripa_, the very best

being selected, like the leaf, for the best cigars. Now

comes the maker, and supplying himself with a handful of

leaf (_copa_) for wrappers, and a lot of the _tripa_ for

filling or really making the body of the cigar itself he

carries it to a little table, and spreading the wrapper upon

the table, cuts with a short knife the different portions of

the leaf. This is a very nice operation, requiring skill,

knowledge, and experience; for it is in this operation that

the different qualities of tobacco are separated, the

outside of the leaf being generally the best; next that,

another quality; and that portion adjoining the stem the

worst.

[Illustration: Tobacco leaf.]

"The general sorting of the tobacco is done by hands of

great experience and judgment, who are the highest in

consideration in the factories, some of them receiving

large pay; thus for instance, the official _escojedor_, or

chooser, gets from five to seven dollars (gold) per day, and

the _torcedores_, or twisters, from two to four, the workmen

being paid so much per thousand cigars, generally from two

to four dollars. To show how very careful the maker must be

in cutting out the leaf to make the most of it: Mr. del

Valle was explaining to me the process of manufacture, and

directed the maker to cut the leaf. This the man did drawing

his knife in the manner denoted by the dotted lines in the

engraving. This it appears was not making the most of the

fine part of the leaf, for Mr. del Valle, annoyed, took the

knife himself, and after rating the maker soundly for his

carelessness, showed him how to cut it properly, as defined

by the black line, the difference being, as far as I could

judge, a slight inequality of color between the two parts.

The manufacture of the cigar is very simple. The cigar

maker, being seated before a low work table, which has

raised ledges on every side except that nearest him, takes a

leaf of tobacco, spreads it out smoothly before him, and

cuts it as in the drawing. He then lays a few fragments of

tobacco (_tripa_) in the centre or a leaf strip and rolls

the whole into the shape of a cigar, and taking then a

wrapper, rolls it spirally around the cigar. If the workman

is skillful, he makes it of just the right length and size,

without any trimming of the knife. The cigars are assorted,

counted, and done up in bundles of generally twenty-five

each, and then packed in the boxes, ready for market, under

their different names of _Londres_, _Regalias_, etc. These

names are generally understood to have the same meaning

throughout the trade, the '_Vegueros_,' for instance, being

the plantation cigars, made at the _regas_, and much

esteemed by smokers, though they are rarely to be met with

for sale, or, if so, at an exhorbitant price. The '_Regalia

Imperial_,' the finest and best, is nearly seven inches

long, the price varying from one hundred and fifty to three

hundred dollars per thousand (gold). The '_Regalia_' is not

so large but fine, the '_Trabuco_,' short and thick; the

'_Londres_,' the most convenient in shape, and most smoked

in this country and England; the '_Dama_' the small sized

one used by ladies(?) or by men between acts of the opera

(_entr' operas_). There are also other names which each

factory has for some particular kinds. Artificial flavors

are given to cigars, when some particular taste is to be

satisfied, by the use of flavoring extracts. Each of the

above names has different qualities, as:

_Londres_ '_superfine_' the very best of that size (delicious).

" '_fino_,' not quite so fine.

" '_flor_,' finest, or firsts.

" '_superior_,' next, or seconds.

" '_buenos_,' next, or thirds.

Again, these different qualities have different colors,

known as: '_maduro_,' strongest; '_oscuro_,' strong (dark);

'_colorado_,' medium; '_claro_,' mild; '_Brevors_,' means

pressed. Thus, supposing one wanted a good cigar to suit his

taste, he would perhaps order: 'Partagas' (maker), 'londres'

(size), 'flor' (quality), 'Colorado' or 'oscuro' (strength),

and he would get a good cigar, nice size, best quality, not

too strong, or too mild.

"I must confess to a weakness for the Uppmann cigars, which

I have found, without exception, to be good, and which have

a fine reputation throughout the West Indies. A millionaire

need not want a better cigar to smoke than their '_Londres

superfine_,' at sixty dollars (gold) per thousand, in

Havana, or their '_Cazadores_,' at fifty dollars. Partagas

cigars of course, every one knows are good; and he keeps

generally pretty well sold up, but fills orders as they come

in. For a new experience, one of his '_Regalio Reyno flor_,'

is something to try, even if they do cost out there

eighty-five dollars, gold.

"In all the factories they make about the following rates:

For every order of ten thousand, costing fifty dollars per

thousand, five per cent. discount is allowed. Less than five

thousand will pay five dollars extra. I should, perhaps,

mention that no distinction is made to dealers, the only

advantage they have over the private buyer is, that they are

enabled to get the discount for large lots. The absurd

notion so prevalent with us, that the Cubans only smoke

their cigars green, is an error, since the leaf is entirely

dried in the sun before being touched by the manufacturer.

The Cubans are very particular indeed to preserve the aroma

and fragrance of the cigars, by keeping them in wrappers of

oiled and soft silks; it is, in fact, quite a sight to see

with what ceremony some of these are produced at gentlemen's

tables, with much unction, like the ushering in of old wine.

My chapter on cigars would be incomplete did I fail to note

the beautiful and courteous way in which all Cubans no

matter of what position, whether the exquisite at the club,

or the _portero_ at the door, ask you for a light. 'Do me

the favor Señor?' and you present your cigar, the lighted

end towards the speaker. He takes the cigar delicately

between his thumb and fore-finger, lights his own, and then,

with a quick, graceful motion, turns yours in his fingers,

presenting you, with another wave, the mouth end, makes you

a hand salute, utters his _gracios_, and leaves you studying

out the 'motions' and thinking what a charming thing is

national politeness."

In the selection of leaves for the manufacture of cigars in the

factories only the large fine ones are used for _Regalias_,

_Imperiales_, or _Medios Regalias_; and also for _Cazadores_,

_Panetelos_, _Imperiales_, _Caballeros_, and so on; the smaller fine

leaves for _Panetelos_ and _Londres_; the dark inferior leaves for

_Canones_. The commonest tobacco goes to form the _Milores Communes_;

the worst is converted into cigars which are generally pressed flat,

and known as _Prinsados_. For the smallest kind of _Londres_ and for

_Damos_, a proportionally small leaf is employed.

In Cuba and Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands, is found one of the

largest factories for cigars in the world. In Manilla there are three

factories where 7,000 families and 1,200 males are employed: one in

Cavite, in which 5,000 operatives, mostly females, are engaged; and

one in Malabar, which gives employment to about 2,000 more, also

females. The tobacco is worked into both cigars and cheroots both of

which have a variety of shapes. 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; though not to so great an extent as

is commonly reported."

"Smoking in Cuba" says an American writer, "is like the

habit of making shoes in Lynn, Massachusetts, everybody

smokes!--in the house, and by the way; in the cars, and on

horseback; everywhere, and at all times. You meet whole

regiments of youngsters, from six to eight years of age,

with black beaver hats, tail-coats, and canes, each with a

cigar, nearly his own size, in his mouth. You feel like

putting the miniature dandies into the water of the next

fountain basin, which shallow as it is, would fully, suffice

to drown the largest of them."

[Illustration: Wenches smoking.]

You have a right to accost any one smoking in the street, however much

may be his superiority or inferiority to yourself, and to ask a light

for your cigar; even negroes hatless and shirtless, thus address

well-dickied gentlemen, and _vice versa_. Refuse to take a cigar with

a Cuban, and you refuse his friendship. The negroes cannot work at all

without their quota of cigars; "and looking out of the windows of a

room in that magnificent hotel '_El Telegrafo_,' the writer remembers

to have caught a glimpse more than once of the negro women at work in

the laundry, every one of whom held a long cigar in her mouth, and

puffed incessantly as the clothes were manipulated upon the

washboards." In Havana, as throughout Cuba, there is a cigar

etiquette, to infringe any of the rules of which is construed as an

insult. It is, for instance considered a breach of etiquette when you

are asked for a light to hand your cigar without first knocking off

the ashes. A greater breach, however, is to pass the cigar handed for

you to obtain a light from, to a third party for a similar purpose;

the rule is to hand back the cigar with as graceful a wave as you can

command, and then if necessary, pass your own cigar to the third

party.

[Illustration: A moonlight reverie in Havana.]

The insult direct in cigar etiquette is for the party to whom you

apply for a light, to pass on and leave you with the remains of his

cigar, or to intimate to you, by word or action, that he has no

further use for it, and that you can throw it away. 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. Seated upon the roof of one of the large hotels in that city

in a bright moonlight night, within hearing of the dreamy roll on the

beach: the regular throb of the sea, lulling one into quietness; the

sigh of the summer breeze a lullaby to the senses; while a

high-flavored prime cigar, as it wastes and floats away in air, is

the fairy wand which opens the enchanted gates of Reverie and

Imagination.

What need of a friend under such soothing circumstances? What need of

the jolly _camarade_ of former days to sigh back sigh for sigh, puff

for puff, and wander in gentle reminiscences over the Lesbian

labyrinth of the past, when Julia was most kind, or Cynthia, darling

girl, delighted in the perfume of a capital havana? Here, in this

quaint old city by the sea, is the place for dreams and reveries and

the utter rendering of one's self up--to a good cigar. Is it not a

place for reverie? Has not one with this most respectable weed, this

prime _havana_, the concomitants of a thousand reveries? Will not one

puff of that narcotic breath drowse deep all watching dragons, and

make for him the sleeping beauties of his will? And, _presto_, there

they are! and, oh! ye houris of the South, with what a smile and

glance between the azure puffs! Well let me not forget myself. With a

sterner morality he sees how the bending Bedouin fashions his pipe in

the moistened ground; he sees the slender Indian reed with the flat

bowls of Lahore and Oude, the pipe of the Anglo-eyed celestial, the

red clay of Bengal, and the glittering gilded cups in which the

dark-skinned races of Siam, the Malacca Isles, and the Philippines,

love to enshrine their dreamy opium-haunted spirits of the weed. He

sees how in the squatter's hut the old squaw sits by her hunter lord,

and puffs at the corn-cob sweetness, and how by lonely ways the

traveler rests and thinks of home, and in the blue smoke greets once

more the faces of the loved, perhaps forever gone. He sees how the

Esquimaux, with his hollow Walrus-tooth, makes bearable the stifling

squalor of his den; or, sterner and graver still, some item of

historic lore mingles rudely with his dreams, and elbows sharply the

airy spirits of his smoke-engendered thoughts. Softly tremble in the

delicate blue mist and the azure spirals from his old Virginia

clay--the domes of a sea-bathed city. Loftily pierce the tall white

minarets into the quivering heavens, while the solemn cypress throws

its shade below. Before him, silent-paced as in a dream, files the

weird array of Arab camels, bowing their long necks tufted with

crimson braids, and measuring the brown sands of the desert with

ghost-like tread. 'Tis the moon of Egypt and the waters of the Nile;

'tis the palm-bough waves for him; and women, free-limbed, with

flashing eyes, and antique water-vases on their heads, move past him

from the low-rimmed shadowy wells. And he sees them there and smiles.

[Illustration: By the sea.]

He sees on beach by the sea the summer idler sitting beneath the

jutting rock, gazing far out upon the sea, yet ignoring the white

sails that pass up and down before him, as well as the open volume

upon his knee, while his thoughts float outward and upward with the

graceful wreaths of smoke that encircle his head; and if of a

practical turn, he listlessly wonders why, if his own delightful land

furnishes some twentieth of the whole Tobacco produce of the world,

and does honor to her native weed by being its mightiest consumer,

why, in the name of all disasters, the product is so dear--ay, doubly

dear? And thus as his pipe burns low, a hundred other statistics;

then, knocking out his whitened ashes on the floor, he reads sedately

(his pipe being out) that the "Tobacco plant furnishes ashes to the

amount of one-fourth of its bulk, being a much greater proportion than

that of any other vegetable product," and, moreover, that "Tobacco

exhausts the soil at the ratio of fourteen tons of wheat to one of

Tobacco!" Oh, base insinuation! But, as he relights his pipe, and the

graceful vapor circles in fresh buoyancy and grace before him, he

only, in his contented mind, retains that one supreme expression--"_One

ton of Tobacco!_" Ah,

"Think of it, picture it

Now, if you can!"

From "A Paper of Tobacco,"[63] we extract the following humorous

description of Yankee cigar smokers, which to a certain extent is true

to life, but like most of the articles descriptive of American life by

English Authors, who travel in America and write _a book_ afterwards,

it is exaggerated or overdrawn:

[Footnote 63: London, 1839.]

[Illustration: An American smoker.]

"The Americans, who pride themselves on being the

fastest-going people on the 'versal globe'--who build

steamers that can out-paddle the sea-serpent and breed

horses that can trot faster than an ostrich can run--are,

undoubtedly, entitled to take precedence of all nations as

consumers of the weed. The sedentary Turk, who smokes from

morn to night, does not, on an average, get through so much

tobacco per annum, as a right slick, active, go-ahead

Yankee, who thinks nothing, 'upon his own relation,' of

felling a wagon-load of timber before breakfast, or of

cutting down a couple of acres corn before dinner. The

Americans, it is to be observed, generally smoke cigars; and

tobacco in this form burns very fast away in the open air,

more especially when the consumer is rapidly locomotive,

whether upon his own legs, the back of a horse, the top of a

coach, the deck of a steamboat, or in an open railway

carriage. The habit of chewing tobacco is also prevalent

in 'the States,' nor is it, as in Great Britain and Ireland,

almost entirely confined to the poorer classes. Members of

the House of Representatives and of the Senate, doctors,

judges, barristers, and attorneys chew tobacco almost as

generally as the laboring classes in the old country. Even

in a court of justice, more especially in the Western

States, it is no unusual thing to see judge, jury, and the

gentlemen of the bar, all chewing and spitting as liberally

as the crew of a homeward-bound West Indiaman. It must

indeed be confessed that Brother Jonathan loves tobacco 'not

wisely but too well,' and that the habits which are induced

by his manner of using it are far from 'elegant.' The truth

is, he neither smokes nor chews like a gentleman; he lives

in a land of liberty, and takes his tobacco when and where

he pleases. He spits as freely as he smokes and chews--upon

the carpet or in the fire-place--for he is not particular as

to where he squirts his copious saliva, and does not think

with the late Dr. Samuel Parr, that a spitting-box is a

necessary article of household furniture. The free-born

citizen of the States laughs at the aristocratic

restrictions imposed on smoking in England, where, on board

of the numerous steamboats that ply on the Thames,

conveying the pride of the city to Gravesend and Margate, no

smoking is allowed abaft the funnel, and where, in

public-houses ashore, no gentleman is permitted to smoke in

the parlor before two o'clock in the afternoon. A pipe of

tobacco, or a cigar, after a day's hard exercise, whether

mental or bodily, and after the cravings of hunger and

thirst are appeased, may be fairly ranked amongst the most

delightful and most harmless of all earthly luxuries. It

fills the mind with pleasing visions, and the heart with

kindly feelings. A hard-working laborer, smoking by the side

of his hearth at night, presents a perfect picture of quiet

enjoyment. I see him now in my mind's eye. He is seated in

an old high-backed, cushionless arm-chair, but an easy one,

nevertheless, to him, who from dawn till sunset, has been

engaged in ploughing, thrashing, ditching, or mowing. With

one leg thrown over the other, he quietly reclines backward,

and with an expression of perfect mental composure, he gazes

on the smoke that ascends from his pipe. There is a

sentiment-exciting power[64] in the smoke of tobacco when

perceived by the eye, as well as a pleasing sedative effect

when inhaled; and those smokers who have any doubt of the

fact should take a pipe with their eyes closed. A person who

smokes with his eyes shut cannot very well tell whether his

cigar is lighted or not. How soothing is a pipe or a cigar

to a wearied sportsman, on his return to his inn from the

moors! As he sits quietly smoking, he thinks of the absent

friends whom he will gratify with presents of grouse; and,

in a state of perfect contentment with himself and all the

world, he determines to give all his game away. Full of such

kindly feelings, he retires to bed; but, alas, with

day-light, when the effect of the tobacco has subsided, the

old leaven of selfishness prevails, and his good intentions

are abandoned. 'Mary,' said an old Cumberland farmer to his

daughter, when she was once asking him to buy her a new

beaver, 'why dost thou always tease me about such things

when I'm quietly smoking my pipe?' 'Because ye are always

best-tempered then, feyther,' was the reply. 'I believe,

lass, thou's reet,' rejoined the farmer; 'for when I was a

lad, I remember that my poor feyther was just the same;

after he had smoked a pipe or twee he wad ha' gi'en his head

away if it had been loose.'"

[Footnote 64: The smoke ascending from the snuff of a

candle could excite a sentimental feeling in the minds

of Wordsworth and Sir George Beaumont, though it seems

to have had no such effect on the mind of

Crabbe.--_Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott._]

The following ode to a Cigar is no doubt familiar to many, yet will

pay a re-perusal:

"And oft, mild friend, to me thou art

A monitor, though still;

Thou speak'st a lesson to my heart

Beyond the preacher's skill.

"Thou'rt like the man of worth, who gives

To goodness every day,

The odor of whose virtues lives

When he has passed away.

"When in the lonely evening hour,

Attended but by thee,

O'er history's varied page I pore,

Man's fate in thine I see.

"Oft, as thy snowy column grows,

Then breaks and falls away,

I trace how mighty realms thus rose,

Thus trembled to decay.

"Awhile, like thee, earth's masters burn,

And smoke and fume around,

And then like thee to ashes turn,

And mingle with the ground.

"Life's but a leaf adroitly rolled,

And time's the wasting breath,

That, late or early, we behold

Gives all to dusty death.

"From beggar's frieze to monarch's robe

One common doom is passed;

Sweet nature's work, the swelling globe,

Must all burn out at last.

"And what is he who smokes thee now?

A little moving heap,

That soon, like thee, to fate must bow,

With thee in dust must sleep.

"But though thy ashes downward go,

Thy essence rolls on high;

Thus, when my body must lie low,

My soul shall cleave the sky."

In Charles Butler's "Story of Count Bismarck's Life," a good anecdote

is told of the Count and his last cigar:--

"'The value of a good cigar,' said Bismarck, as he proceeded

to light an excellent Havana, 'is best understood when it is

the last you possess, and there is no chance of getting

another. At Königgrätz I had only one cigar left in my

pocket, which I carefully guarded during the whole of the

battle as a miser does his treasure. I did not feel

justified in using it. I painted in glowing colors in my

mind the happy hour when I should enjoy it after the

victory. But I had miscalculated my chances.' 'And what was

the cause of your miscalculation?' 'A poor dragoon. He lay

helpless, with both arms crushed, murmuring for something to

refresh him. I felt in my pockets and found I had only gold,

and that would be of no use to him. But, stay, I had still

my treasured cigar! I lighted this for him, and placed it

between his teeth. You should have seen the poor fellow's

grateful smile! I never enjoyed a cigar so much as that one

which I did not smoke.'"

In European cities juveniles offer the smoker, at every street corner,

a "pipe" or a "cigar light." The following description, entitled

"Light, Sir," is from an English journal, and contains much

interesting information on the various modes of lighting pipes and

cigars.

[Illustration: "Light, Sir."]

"''Ere y'are, sir--pipe-light, cigar-light, on'y 'ap'ny a

box--'ave a light, sir.' Every smoker of the larger cities

knows the cry. Every tender-hearted smoker is familiar with

the appeal, by day and by night, and remembers pangs of

regret he has felt when the want of ha'pence or the

repletion of his match-box has prevented his much-besought

response. There is no need now to enlarge upon the

sufferings, the adventures, the dangers of these peripatetic

juvenile trades folk, sparse of clothes and food, and full

of the material which may make or mar a nation; for all

this was done, and even overdone, by the graphic

sensationalists of the London penny dailies when Chancellor

Lowe proposed a tax on matches. We may, upon occasion, feel

for the manufacturers and venders of 'lights,' but more

generally we find ourselves constrained to sympathize with

the purchasers of such contrivances for the ignition of

pipes and cigars. The smoking of tobacco is an art; an art

which, in its proper exercise, requires much care, much

prudence, and not a little skill. This is a proposition

which must, from its very nature, be startling to

non-smokers, and surprising to many smokers. The tobacco

hater (invariably an illogical creature, who hates that

which he knows not) will hold up hands in amazement, and

sniff with the nose in contempt, to whom reply would be

superfluous.

"With the smoker the case is otherwise. A German writer

recently said that the English were better smokers than the

Germans; because, whereas the German smoked incessantly,

without rule, system, or moderation, the English smoked with

care, with slow and appreciative lovingness, and the

determination not to overstep the bounds of rational

enjoyment. Had he known more of English smokers, he would

not have made so wild a statement; and had he known English

women better, he would never have attributed to their sweet

influence the fancied superiority he describes in English as

compared with German smoking. In truth, the art of tobacco

using is nowhere more ignored, nowhere more contemptuously

neglected than in these 'favored isles.' For one man who

smokes with a reason, for a purpose, or by system, you shall

find a thousand who smoke without either; and the result is

that those who smoke have little defense, in the general

way, for their practice, while those who condemn the habit

have far better grounds for their opposition than they have

ever yet been able to explain. To those who do know why they

use tobacco, it is well-nigh incredible that so many of

their fellow-smokers should be ignorant of the properties,

the uses, the abuses, of the weed they burn and the fumes in

which they delight. Yet, even this is not so surprising as

the fact that so few of those who smoke--smoke much, often

and constantly--should be ignorant of, or indifferent to,

the conditions which are necessary to their own adequate

enjoyment of the weed.

"You will see a man light a cigar so carelessly that one

side of the roll will burn rapidly, with prodigious

fumigation and giving out a dark and offensive cloud, while

the other side remains untouched by the fire, only to wither

and crackle and twist into uncouth shapes, until the smoker

flings the cigar away, with an accompaniment of expletives

which attach rather to his own stupidity than to the piece

of tobacco he has so abominably abused. You will see another

with a good pipe, laden with good tobacco, well lit, blowing

incessantly down the mouth-piece and the stem until the

moisture introduced with his breath into the bowl of his

pipe effectually prevents the tobacco from burning, and puts

out the fire; and then you will hear him lament that he

should have paid so good a price for a pipe so bad that it

'fouls' before he has smoked a single hour. You will see

another who, while he talks to his friends, allows his

tobacco to go out every three or four minutes, so that at

length his mouth is sore and his palate nauseated with the

combined fumes of lucifer matches, burnt paper and exhausted

tobacco dust; and he inveighs against the 'cabbage-leaf

which that rascally tobacconist sold him for good Shag or

Cavendish.' Another knows so little of the art of smoking

that he never 'stops' his pipe, and so allows the light dust

of the burnt weed to fly about him in flakes and minute

particles, to the permanent damage of his own and his

neighbors' clothes. But in nothing is the inartistic

character of English smoking so conspicuously exemplified as

in the use of 'lights.' Those who form the great majority of

smokers amongst the English-speaking races seem to consider

that, so long as their pipes are set alight, it matters not

how or from what source the light is obtained. Thus, one

will place his pipe-bowl in a flame of gas, and pull away at

the stem till his tobacco is on fire; another will thrust

the bowl into the midst of a coal fire, and when he sees a

glow in the bowl withdraw it, and contentedly puff away;

another stops an obliging policeman or railway guard, and

ignites his tobacco by hard pulling at the flame of an

oil-lamp; another will stick the end of a choice cigar into

the bowl of a pipe filled with coarsest Shag, thus ruining

the flavor of his 'prime Havana' forever; while yet another

will light lucifer matches, and apply the blazing brimstone

to his pipe or cigar, thus saturating the whole mass with

sulphurous and phosphoretic fumes, to the ruin of the weed

and the injury of his own health.

"How much wiser the West Indian negro, who takes a burning

stick from the wood fire, and tenderly lights his weed

therewith, or joyfully brings a handful of the white-hot

ashes in his thick-skinned palm, that 'massa' may fire his

cigar! Or the travelling peddler or tinker, who, as he sits

by the way-side, patiently wooes the sun with a

'burning-glass' till his tobacco ignites, or uses with equal

prudence and skill the ancient but inimitable tinder-box.

[Illustration: Bringing a light.]

"But this is the age of Fusees. What a name! When, in our

youth, those longitudinal strips of tinder, semi-divided

into innumerable transverse slips, all tipped with harmless,

ignitable matter, first assumed the title, we had little

notion of the atrocities which would come to be dignified by

their name. This was soon after the world had been delighted

by the Congreves, which drove Lucifer to the wall, and

before English and German ingenuity had taught us to find

'death' in the box, as well as 'the pot.' The innocent old

fusee had his faults, certainly. He would not always light;

he had a bad habit of turning back on your finger-nail and

burning its quick when you struck him; and he would

occasionally light up, all by himself, and set fire to fifty

of his fellows in your waist-coast pocket, or the tail of

your best dress-coat. (Those were the days when waist-coats

were gorgeous and tail-coats immense.) But what were these

peccadilloes compared with the sins of the modern

'cigar-light?' 'Fusees,' forsooth! More like bomb-shells,

military mines, torpedoes, and nitroglycerine trains. Who

has not had them explode in his eye, on his cheek, down his

neck, scarring his skin, burning holes in his coats and

trousers, frightening passers-by, and doing all manner of

deep-dyed devilment? Nor is this the worst. Those who will

trust their skins, and their eyes, and their clothes to

'Vesuvians,' 'Flamers,' and the like, are not to be pitied;

for they are more cruel to their tobacco than the fusees are

to them. Our grievance is that so many engines of

destructiveness and offensiveness should be so largely

patronized by smokers, to their own discomfort, the

ruination of their tobacco, the scandalization of gentle and

simple, and the encouragement of vicious manufactures. Now,

we are not going to particularize too closely, for fear of

consequences. In these days, when a man may bring an action

for libel because it has been said of him that he sells bad

soup at a railway station, prudence is the better part of

valor. But, just examine this heterogeneous pile of

'cigar-lights,' which rears its audacious head upon the

table. Here are Palmers, Barbers, Farmers, Lord Lornes,

Tichbornes, Bryants and Moys, Bells and Blacks, Alexandres,

Bismarcks, King Williams, Napoleons, and scores of other

varieties. Some light 'only on the box,' some light

anywhere, some everywhere, and some nowhere. Some are on

wood, some on porcelain, some on glass, some on dire deeds

intent. There are vestas, safety-matches, patent

flint-and-steel contrivances, with silver tubes and

marvellous screws wherewith to put them out when they have

served your turn. Some are excellent, many passable, still

more intolerable. One of these times it may be worth while

to speak of the good ones, but at present we care only to

treat of those that are bad, and that briefly.

"Here's a 'Flamer'--we name no names--everybody seems to

make flamers; and this one deserves his title. We want to

light a peaceful pipe, and he bursts out in a fury like unto

nothing on earth so much as Etna in convulsion, or the

Tuilleries in petroleum blaze. But, if you have any respect

for your tobacco, your lips, your nostrils, or your lungs,

you will let him get rid of his flames before you apply him

to your cigar; and, when you do venture so far, he drops off

the stick and burns a hole in the carpet. Or, if you be

daring enough to take a light from the flamer while he

flames, you spoil your tobacco, foul your mouth, and get a

taste of sulphur-suffocation such as Asmodeus might have

were he to take a whiff of a smoke-and-fire belching chimney

in the Black Country as he flies across that district by

night. Haven't got a light? Glad of it. Try a

Vesuvian-round, black and tipped with blue. There's a

pyrotechnic display for you! Now, in with it, after the

approved style illustrated by the two human hands engaged in

lighting a cigar on the illuminated cover of the box. 'Ugh!'

you say. Just so; you've got a mouthful of choice

abominations, which will cost you much waste of saliva,

several shivers, and the whole piece of tobacco you were

about to enjoy. Here, put that away; take another, light it

quietly with this wax-vesta, or this wooden 'spill,' or this

screw of paper; smoke gently, don't let the fire out, and

you'll be all right. In future, you may be wise enough to

avoid cheap cigar-lights and pipe-lights, even for use in

the streets. Our word upon it--they are far dearer than

those which cost more."

The following description of "Home Made Cigars" is from _All the Year

Round_, and will doubtless be read with interest by many growers of

the weed who may recall similar scenes:

"'Apropos of cigars,' said Wilkins, lighting a second

fragrant Havana with the stump of the first, 'let's go and

see the farmer's establishment for making them. You see that

field of tobacco over yonder? Old Standish raises his own

weed, dries it in the big open sheds behind the barn, cures

it--I don't quite know the whole process--and then has it

made into sixes and short fives, Conchas and Cabanas, like a

Cuban señor. I went over the establishment about a year ago,

and it is worth seeing.'

"We strolled first over to the tobacco field. The weed was

then just at its full ripeness, and the long, flappy,

delicately-furred green leaves bent gracefully over toward

the ground, growing smaller and smaller the higher they were

on the stout stalk. Few foreigners know that even as far

north as New England, in the sunny valleys of Connecticut,

sheltered as they are from the bleak east winds of the

Atlantic and accustomed to a long and steady summer heat,

tobacco is grown in large quantities, flourishes

exuberantly, and is one of the chief sources of profit to

the farmers. It needs a rich warm soil and careful tending;

but it gives in its growth, a sentimental reward to the

cultivator; for it comes up gracefully, rapidly, and

beautifully, and is with some care, one of the most

satisfactory crops to 'handle.' Having gazed at and tasted

the thick leaves, we sauntered behind the barn, and there

saw the long open shed, with beams running parallel from

end to end, where the gathered tobacco leaves were hung to

be thoroughly dried by the sun.

[Illustration: Making cigars.]

"Then Wilkins conducted us for some distance along the river

bank; we jumped into a boat and rowed perhaps half a mile,

landing by the side of a little shop-like building, where we

heard the hum of voices and the commotion of many busy

persons. We entered and found ourselves in a long, low room,

having wide tables ranged along the walls; here, working

rapidly, were rows of chatty country girls, who, as they

worked, laughed and talked, and now and then hummed a verse

of some familiar ballad. Neatly packed piles of the dried

and cured leaf lay upon the table before them.

"Each was armed with knives and cutters, and we watched the

quick transformation of the flat leaves into the smooth and

compact cigars. The tobacco grown upon the farm was, we

discovered, only used as wrappers for the cigars. The good

farmer imported, for the interior filling, a fine tobacco

from Havana. Strips and little pieces of this the girls

placed in the centre of the cigar, wrapping the Connecticut

tobacco in wide strips tightly about it, then pasting each

of the last with some paste in a pot by their side. It

seemed to be done almost in an instant; the Havana slips

were laid down, cut and trimmed, and pressed into shape in

a twinkling; the wrappers were cut as quickly; and, more

rapidly than I can describe it, the cigar was made. These

girls were mostly daughters of neighboring farmers, who

received so much per hundred cigars made; intelligent,

bright-eyed and witty; many of them comely, with rosy cheeks

and ruddy health; educated at the common schools, and able,

their day's work over, to sit down at the piano and rattle

away _ad infinitum_.

"His stock of cigars thus made up, from the first sowing to

the last finishing touch, the good squire (being

Yankee-like, a sort of Jack-of-all-trades,) would have them

put up in gorgeously labeled boxes, carry them to town, and

sell them to retail dealers; not disdaining himself, twice

or thrice a year, to go through the neighboring States with

samples, and acting as his own commercial traveler."

This description, however, may not convey a correct idea of the exact

mode of manufacture to many growers of tobacco in the Connecticut

Valley inasmuch as many planters of the "weed" make the entire cigar

(more particularly for their own use) wrapper, binder and filler

wholly of seed-leaf tobacco, such cigars do not readily sell to the

trade except at inferior prices which admit of but a small profit to

the manufacturer. The following spicy article from the "London

_Figaro_" may be interesting to all smokers as well as guide them in

the selection of a good cigar.

"I am an imaginative person, and 'society' has treated me

shamefully of late--its tangible delights are absent from

me. Allow me, then, to console myself by the 'creations of

smoke,' as Lord Lytton puts it. I am scouted by society

because I am in love. I am told I look:

"As hyenas in love are supposed to look, or

A something between Abelard and old Blücher."

And, moreover, I am an ugly man, but there was only a

fortnight's difference in gaining a woman's love between

John Wilkes and the handsomest man in England, courage,

Jehu! I like idleness, because it shows that one can afford

it; so I am puffing idly--ah! the balmy fragrance of this

mild Havana! 'Oh! the effect of that first note from the

woman one loves!' says one; 'Oh! the kiss on the dimpled

cheek, the sound of the silver voice!' says another; but

what can compare to the dreamy exquisite luxury of a good

cigar? But, heavens, what am I saying? I am in love, and

Julia reads the "_Figaro_!" The paleness of Flaxman's

illustrations spreads over me--please, reader, look upon the

sentiment as sarcastic. I am in a fog of smoke, and am

quaffing claret from the silvered pewter. There's plenty of

it; and no soul can say:

"That in drinking from _that_ beaker

I am sipping like a fly.'

How changed from the long, long days ago, when I was a

connoisseur in Parparillo cigars, brown-paper cigarettes,

and cane cheroots! Then I fondly adored Sir Walter Raleigh

as my earthly idol, for giving me tobacco--when I had the

halfpence to buy it--and delighted in the story, told by

queer Oldys, of Sir Walter's servant extinguishing the

Virginny smoke that issued from his master's lips, by

drenching him with ale. Alas! my idol is shattered by

Hawkins. The Spaniards say, 'The lie that lasts for half an

hour is worth telling.' History has lied for longer, by a

considerable period. Fond even as I was of my brown-papered

cigarettes when baccy failed, I must confess I never reached

the stage attained by Sir Christopher Haydon's chaplain,

William Breedon, parson of Thornton, in Bucks, who was so

given to

"October store and best Virginia,"

that when he had no tobacco (and too much drink) he used to

cut the _bell-ropes_ and smoke them!

"The Polyglot--three parts--my text;

Howbeit--likewise--now to my next."

"On Smoke.--It is a vulgar, ludicrous, and foolish custom to

bite off the nose of a cigar. Don't be a Vandal--you are not

a Sandwich Islander, about to chew your _Kava_. A cigar

should be handled daintily; it is a fragile, graceful

creature--don't mar its beauty. Tear off the twist, and the

pleasure of smoking is at an end! The outer leaf becomes

untwirled. Ere it is half finished, you have a ragged end

between your lips--nasty, foul, and unsightly--through which

the smoke comes in huge clouds to your mouth, instead of

slender streams on the palate. 'How, then,' say you; 'prick

it, or cut it, or what? Tear it not, cut it not; nor yet

puncture it. Don't be frightened of the cigar--thrusting a

half-inch alone into the mouth; but, when you begin, take a

good half of it in the mouth; pull at it lustily for a few

seconds, to open its pores; then draw it out, allowing but

an inch to be held within the lips--believe me, you will

enjoy it a hundred-fold more; and there are but few cigars

that will not allow of their virtue being drawn though their

leaves. Never bite the end off, and never use your cigar

cruelly, by squeezing it, biting it, or re-lighting it.

Cigar-holders, tubes, quills, and such like inventions, we

despise. If you cannot bear the cigar in your mouth--aye,

and enjoy it--you have no business with it: go back to your

brown paper and cane!

"What is the best beverage to imbibe whilst inhaling the

precious weed? Momentous question! Coffee, or claret, says

Jehu. I do not believe in bitter, as an accompanying liquid

to a cigar. The Corporation of Christ-church, years ago,

smoked cigars, and drank with them that then famous

concoction known as 'Ringwood Beer.' What was the result?

The first toast at every civic banquet held for years in

that borough was gravely given out, and bumpered with due

solemnity, as follows:--

'Prosperation to this Corporation.'

Brandy is a perfect antidote to inebriation from beer, so we

are told. The Corporation should have known this, and been

awakened from their long and pleasant dream of

_prosperation_. Brandy I should hardly reckon amongst the

drinks that ought to be with cigars, notwithstanding that

Tennyson has asked:--

'For what delights can equal those

Which stir, with spirits, inner depths? &c.'

Brandy-and-water, gin, whisky, and the likes are only fit

for those who nocturnally lay the foundation for matutinal

'hot coppers,' with the vilest shag in the most odorous of

yards of clay. 'Smoking leads to drinking,' has been a

favorite old woman's saying for time out of mind. How I hate

old women's sayings! A grain--requiring to be picked out

with a pin and microscope--of truth, with a bushel of bunkum

or cant. How is it, that ever since the days of James I, of

'hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain' memory, there

have always been carpers on the injurious effects of

smoking? 'Nicotine!' they say, with a

would-be-taken-for-know-all-about-it-air. Quite so; but, as

recent investigations have proved that, so far as the actual

'poisoning' is concerned, it would take upwards of a

thousand years to kill the most inveterate of healthy

smokers, we have still time to breathe--and 'it please the

pigs.' _Mem._ for pipers--French tobacco contains the

greatest, Turkish the least, per-centage of nicotine.

Havana, two and one-half per cent.

"But an unique old woman of Jehu's acquaintance goes further

still; boldly asserting that 'smoking is well for making

good soldiers, well for making good sailors, well for making

sometimes good lawyers; not so well for making good

Christians.' Oh! ashes of Hawkins and Raleigh, shudder for

the results of 'baccy on degraded human nature.' There must

be a rarity of good Christians, then amongst the parsons;

they are all fond of it. Dean Aldrich was, perhaps, tho

greatest smoker of his day. His excessive attachment to this

habit was the cause of many wagers. Here's one:--At

breakfast, one morning, at the 'Varsity, an undergraduate

laid his companion long odds that the Dean was smoking at

that instant. Away they hastened; and, being admitted to the

Dean's study, stated the occasion of their visit. The Dean

replied, in perfect good humor, to the layer of the bet,

'You see, sir, you have lost your wager; for I am not

smoking, but filling my pipe.' But--my cigar has reached its

last dying speech, and there is but a drop left in the

beaker.

'I'll not leave thee, thou lone drop!

'Twould be mighty unkind,

Since the rest I have swallow'd,

To leave thee behind.'

"Final exhortation. Choose the small, sound, tolerably firm,

and elastic cigar: the dwarf contains stuff within which the

giant hath not. Don't flatter yourself you're smoking

cabbage, if not tobacco--its any odds on rhubarb!

'For me there's nothing new or rare,

Till wine deceives my brain;

And that, I think, 's a reason fair

To fill my pipe again.'"

Charles Lamb, "the gentle Elia" was during a portion of his

lifetime a famous smoker. In a letter to Hazlitt he writes,

"I am so smoky with last night's ten pipes, that I must

leave off." It is said that he smoked only the coarsest and

strongest he could procure. Dr. Parr inquired of him how he

acquired his "prodigious smoking powers." "I toiled after

it, sir," was the reply, "as some men toil after virtue!"

Lamb was constant in his use of tobacco, and among all the

great luminaries of English literature we know of none more

addicted to the use of the pipe. Lamb might often be seen in

his chambers in Mitre Court Building, puffing the coarsest

weed from a long clay pipe, in company with Parr who used

the finest kind of tobacco in a pipe half filled with salt.

It was no easy task to relinquish the use of tobacco and it

cost him many a struggle and much determined effort. In

writing to Wordsworth he says:--"I wish you may think this a

handsome farewell to my 'Friendly Traitress.' Tobacco has

been my evening comfort and my morning curse for these five

years. I have had it in my head to do it (Farewell to

Tobacco) these two years; but tobacco stood in its own light

when it gave me headaches that prevented my singing its

praises."

Lamb's poem is without doubt one of the finest pieces of verse ever

written on tobacco, and seemingly contains both words of praise and

dispraise--the latter however in some sense are insincere.

"May the Babylonish curse

Straight confound my stammering verse

If I can a passage see

In this word-perplexity,

Or a fit expression find,

Or a language to my mind,

(Still the phrase is wide or scant,)

To take leave of thee, GREAT PLANT!

Or in my terms relate

Half my love, or half my hate;

For I hate, yet love thee so,

That whichever thing I show,

The plain truth will seem to be

A constrain'd hyperbole,

And the passion to proceed