The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-02

Poor Quality of the Cigars that Are RetaiIed
in clearinghouse.

Philadelphia Times.
''The greater number CT cigarssmokers in this
country, said a prominent manufacturer of the
article yesterday, ARE totally devoid Of discrlm-
~ination. There are very few men who really
know a good cigar when they get one, anu still
fewer who really care whether or not they get a
good one. Here is an example of what / mean.
IL you 90 into a saloon aud purchase, say a five
cent cigar, you are buying one out of which at
least three profits are being made The saloon
keeper gets it from a dealer, the dealer from a
jobber. and the jobber from the manufacturer.
Now, let us make a little calculation. The
saloon-keeper wants to make some profit, so he
won't pay more than $40 a thousand. That
leaves him a margin OF $40. The dealer. to OBJ
tain a similar profit, pays $50 a Thousand and the
jobber pays $50. Now what do you suppose it
costs a manufacturer to produce that cigarl He
cannot get hands for less than So a thousand,
and if the cigars are to be at all carefully made
he must pay 50. Then he has to pack them in
boxes, tie them with a silk band, ornament his
boxes with labels, brand them. and last, but not
least, buy stamps and pay ready money for
them. Let us say, then, that the cost to the
manufactures is $40 a thousand. That is one
cent for the cigar which the saloon keeper is sell
ing at five. =,
When a man wakes up in the morning with
a terribly 'swelled head, a fearful taste in his
mouth and a horrible nausea. he blames it all on
the 'rotgut' whisky he drank the night before;
he never thinks of the eight or ten saloon
cigars that he smoked.
IF the public were judges of good cigars they
would long ago have found out that they can
obtain really excellent tobacco for FIVE cents. If
you purchase q fve-cent cigar at the store of a
first class manufacturer you will generally get a
good one. AS often as not the very same cigar
is sold by retail dealers and saloon-keepers at
ten scents or three for a quarter. This is
because the manufacturer is selling them from
his store on first profit | will give
you an instance. We will say my fve-cent cigar
that is, the one l seAJhere. 1t is composed of
a filler of pure Havana. with a wrapper which
varies, sometimes Havana seed. sometimes Con-
necticut. or even the best Pennsylvania. A
great deal depends on the wrapper. 1t is that
which gives the flavor and strength to a cigar.
A coarse, new or green wrapper will smoke I'M
satisfactorily, will taste bitter, and will bite or
tear the tongue. My five cent cigars cost me
from $50 to $38 a thousand. l therefore mako
an average of $l5 profit on every thousand / sell.
If saloon-keepers would buy their goods at first
hand they would make a larger profit out of a
far better cigar than they do buying them as at
present and selling an article in every way infe-
rlor.
This brings me back to my first statement.
that few smokers know a bad cigar from a good
onG If they did, do you suppose they would
purchase them in saloons? Why, to get an even
moderately good one they must pay ten cents,
and even then it is probably not as good as a
manufacturers ive-cent cigar. But most
smokers do not smoke because they enjoy the
exquisite flavor and aroma of good tobacco, but
only for the SAX of having something to
smoke In England, where all cigars
are imported. and where to buy even
a bad one you must pay a good price, the
majority OF smokers use the pipe. That
is because tobacco for p~ipe-smoking
is generally pretty good, and a pipe that
has been fairly well-seasoned gives its own
flavor to the tobacco, making it taste good even
if it is only second rate. Over there cigars are
very seldom smoked out of doors, because it is
a known and appreciated fact that to thoroughly
enjoy a cigar you must be at rest. To smoke a
cigar and get all the good out of it that is posi-
bic, you want ease, rest, and comfortable sur
roundings. 1t is a luxury, and wants to be
treated as such. Walking along the street,
especially on a windy day, your cigar burns
too fast and too unevenly for the c~oncomitant
filler and wrapper to affiliate, so to speak, how
ever we'll they may have been chosen. or how
ever ~skilfully they may have been mechanically
united
Il can tell directly I see him light his cigar
whether a man is going to enjoy his smoke, or,
indeed, whether he knows how to do so. l often
smile when | see a mar looking wisely through
a bundle Of cigars and picking out one, under
the fond impression that he is making me think
he is a judge. There is an old story of a man
who went into a store and asked for the best
cigar the dealer had. He was handed a ten-cent
cigar. That didn't satisfy him, he wanted a
more expensive one. He was shown several,
ranging fifteen, twenty, twenty-five and fifty
cents apiece, but he always pretended they were
not good enough, although any of them was an
excellent article, the most expensive being so
only on account of its brand and perhaps its per-
fume or some little matter of that kind. At last
the storekeeper became annoyed and wearied, so
he determined to settle the matter. 7 have a
cigar here which l seldom sell, because / have
only one box left; they are a dollar a cigar and
are very choice
"'Why didn't you bring EN- out beforef said
the customer. Accordingly the dealer handed
him one OF his hve-cent cigars, pocketed the dol
lar and the man went away perfectly satisfied.
/ don't think that is an exaggerated case. know
that in nine cases out of ten where people ask
for a very expensive cigar it is only because they
happen to be flush of money and want to brag of
the big price they have paid for their smoke"
EASTERN NOTIONS OF THE WEST.