, 1888-02-09
ABOUT INFERIOR cleAss.
Ono of the Tricks Which Has Led to the
Present State of Things.

1870 - $3.50 ~ AAaN Low ~ hAN
Present State of Things
Il read a recent article on cheap ci-
gars with interest" said a cigar manu-
facturer to n reporter. II not only manu-
facturc cigars, but l do a retail business
as well. ! don't think that the quality
of the popular cigar is as bad as it has
been pictured"
"Do you think the quality could be
made any worse2'' asked the reporter.
Certainly" said the cigar man. ut
could be made a great deal worse"
Then / should certainly give up the
weed and go back to the cob pipe and
oak leaves of my boyhood delight, said
the reporter.
1.-The fact of the matter is" said the
cigar man, there are a great many peo-
pie who do not know a good cigar when
they get hold Of it. I've tested that
matter to my satisfaction. l rave DELHI
erately retailed a 10 cent cigar for 8
cents, and l have had persons look at
one of these, turn it over, smell it, and
declare it was no good, and insisted upon
the regular old D center. Again, n Gus
toner, after smoking my regular grade
of 3 cent cigar for n long time, was fur
nished some of the 10 cent brand. The
nex time he came in hero he said:
"''Why did you change cigars on me?'
81 gave you n better grade and ]
thought you would prefer it,
"'Well, l don't think there is anything
better about it, and l am sure l don't
prefer it. Give me some of the same
stock 1 have been used to having
"You see, the mans taste is thor
oughly vitiated. He would have made
the same complaint hadI given him a
90 cent cigar. The better the cigar the
worse he would have considered il"
THAT all may be true" replied the
reporter, "but the fact remains that most
of the cigars offered at public prices are
simply stinkers. How do you account
for it,"
1.-THE fact of the matter is said the
dealer, ''my custom is good and l have
to furnish q high grade of cigar. But
there is q class of manufacturers and re-
tailers who cater to what we call tram
sient trade. They are the people WHO.
get rich in a hurry and retire from tho
business. They, the retailers, never
think of giving a man the grade Of cigar
he asks for. They never expect to sec
him again, and unless he investigates his
cigar very closely he will not discover
the inferiority of it until it begins to
burn his tongue. Then he fires it into
the gutter with an imprecation. They
are the men who have no conscience,
who make the money and who arc re-
sponsible for the growl about cheap CT
gars. Where are they2 Everywhere.
"Ihen, again, these transient trade
sellows calculate that when n man has
smoked the first half of n cigar he throws
1t away To clinoh an uncertainty they
have manufactured for them n cigar the
first half of which is filed with first class
tobacco, while the second half is filled
with miserable pickings. When the man
finishes the first half he is in splendid
humor; when he enters on the second
half he finds his tongue beginning to itch,
and the saliva in his mouth to have n
pungent, nauseating taste, which makes
him throw the cigar away. He cannot
understand it, but thinks that it is all
caused by the nicotine which collects in
the second half OF the cigar the nearer it
is burned out.
"Oh, yes; it is n sharp dodge-one of
the trade-and dealers who count almost
entirely OF transient trade work it for all
it is worth. 1t is in n majority of cases
this second half of miserable pickings
which is causing most of the complaints
about the bad quality Of the popular
cigar. Not every mar wakes up inme-
diately TO tho deception, and he pufrs
away on the SECOND half with as much
vigor and satisfaction as he did on tho
first. Sometimes he don't discover it
and sometimes he does, but don't care q
fig. He smokes to be smoking, and a
stinker suits him just as well rs the
choicest brand of Havana would. New
York Evening Sum.