"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 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."
Life in Mexico.