Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-11-23
Peculiarities of the Cigar Trade.

Peculiarities of the Cigar Trade.
eyes, our trade has its peculiarities,
said Broadway tobacconist to a I1ib
atae reporter few days ago, 'and dur
ing an experience of forty-six years l
have had chance to become preGty
well acquainted with those peculiariti IS,
too. The public taste in the matter of
cigars changes more rapidly than is
generally supposed. 1t is not very
long time ago when cheroots were all
the rage. A cheroot, you understand,
is cigar cut at both ends. These were
made in all grades from the Havana
down. Then csme the famous 'sspot-
ted" cigar. No one was considered
quite up to the times who did not smoke
those leopard cigars. As it was impos-
sible to obtain enough naturally spotted
tobacco to supply the demand manufac-
turers were obliged to spot the leaves
artifcially. You never see a spotted
cigar nowadays. People wouldn't buy
them if they were offered for sale. The
cigars sold to-day are classed in a gen
eral manner according to color. The
light cigars are supposed by the public
to be mild, and the dark strong. These
distinctions do not always hold true,
however. For, as you well know, alight
wrapper is sometimes used for strong
filling, and vice versa. Still those man.
ufacturers who have acquired a reputa-
ton of making given brand of cigars
usually endeavor to keep the external as
well as the internal characteristic of
these cigars always the same. This en-
ables the customer to know just what he
is going to get when he buys them.'
"When do YOU sell the most cigars,
summer or winter?'' asked the reporter.
Gin the winter. I know that it is gen.
orally supposed that summer is our best
season, but it is not. There are several
reasons for this. In the first place,
many of our regular customers are out
of town during the hot weather, and the
floating trade is not heavy enough to
make up the difference. Then, again,
people don't feel as much like smoking
when the temperature is among the
nineties as they do when it is below the
freezing point. During the heated term
our sales are chiefly confined to the
light, mild-favored cigars. But let the
air become sharp and bracing, and men
begin to ask for dark, strong cigars.'
Chow do prices now compare with
those of twenty or thirty years ago?"
asked the reporter.
"When was boy fair cigars could
be bought two for cent, and the best
home made cigars at four cents each.
Havanas now worth $40 were then sold
at SIG. The best cigars, Havanas, now
sell at 1925 per thousand; mediums
from 500 to 500 per thousand. The
best grades of native tobacco used in
the manufacture of cigars are grown in
Connecticut. There is a wide differ
ence between the tobacco raised in Con-
necticut and that grown in Massachu-
sets, few miles distant. From com
mercial point of view the former is
worth nearlytwice as much as the lat
ter.''
ado your regular customers confine
themselves to the same brands of
cigars?''
s'Oh, no. They smoke one brand
until they get tired of it and then try
another. When l first went into the
cigar business I manufactured my own
goods. One day there dropped into
my store an old sea captain, who, |
have been told, never smoked any but
the very best imported cigars. He pur-
down on stool and proceeded leisurely
to smoke it. He did the same thing for
several days, until 1, feeling somewhat
fine cigars were should find SO much
comfort in smoking cigars of my make,
made bold to speak of it in his pres
ence. well, you see,' he remarked,
with smile, latter have been down
here and smoked several of your cigars,
1 can 60 home and enjoy a really de-
cent cigar When man is well he
may like one brand; when he is out of
sorts or little sick, another pleases him
best"
care not people easily deceived in the
quality of the cigars they smoker" asked
the reporter.
"Perhaps they are in the small cities,
but not here. Broadway smokers can
not be cheated so easily. The most of
them have been brought up on tirst-class
goods, and therefore whenever a dealer
tries to palm off an inferior article they
can tell the difference in minute. They
not only recognize the quality of the
cigars, but can even tell the price of al
most any brand submitted to their in
spection.
"The cigarette business done in this
city is enormous" said the dealer, as he
passed couple of punches to a young
customer. ''One of the leading manu-
facturers can't make them fast enough
to keep up with the orders. Our sales
are confined almost exclusively to young
men and boys. Little fellows not more
than six or seven years of age come in
here to buy cigarettes for themselves.
The average smoker uses two punches
daily. I have known some smokers to
use as many as four punches. ~. 7.
Tribune.
"A highway robber was nearly killed
by dogs in Lebanon County, Pennsyl-
vania, the other night. David j. Nc