The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-13
SOMETHING ABOUT CIGARS.
How Much Money May be Put Into
Their Manufacture.

Their Manufacture
From the Boston Globe.
It is doubtful how many men who use
cigars know what they are buying, or even,
what particular brand would best suit their
tastes. They buy on, year after year, call
ing for what pleases them; get mad in a
minute if it is suggested to them TO try any
but their favorite, aud could not for the life
of them distinguish the difference if they
were served with another brand under the
same name
Yet there are shrewd buyers-meu who
can't be fooled by the most expert salesman.
How many there are, however, Is not "a
matter for statistical inquiry.
You can put it down as a sure thing
that wealth ana taste for good cigars do
not necessarily 60 together" was the
remark Of a cigar dealer of years of expe-
rience in tirst-class goods to a Globe
reporter who sought information on this
momentous topic. II believe that fully one
half of my ricI patrons buy cheap cigars
that is, cigars sold from 10 to Is cents. That
will hold just as true of the hotel trade,
Now, l can almC st by intuition size up
customer, no matter how well or how poorly
dressed and tell Just about what he wants
to pay for cigar, but l can't guess what
his taste IS, TO save me. Some want light,
oOthO a ual oOllS a WEI, SOtuS d uTJ Cigar.
and few don't care, they say. AS to
sizes, there are all tastes; but Americans,
l think, are running to large sizes. They
want cigar, but, strangely enough, they
want cigar small at both ends, probably
because the small end lights easier.
Now the fact is that those small enders
cost more 10 make than the others-consid-
erably more. A man can't make item as
fast, because when he rolls up the small end
hA haC 70 he No1. 4
tight, and he is likely to squeeze so hard
that the cigar won't draw. don't see, for
myself, why men are willing to pay the
difference in the price when there is so little
difference in any other way.
Then, again, as regards sizes aud shapes.
Foreigners almost always call for a fiat
cigar, and want it dry. That is a queer
thing, that American taste damp cigars.
They seem TO thing that a damp cigar is
stronger and has more delicate, a more
pronounced flavor. Now the fact is lust
otherwise, and you will see why when ] tell
you the reason. The dampness is not caused
artificially, but by the fact that as soon as
cigars are packed in box they begin to
sweat, and it is some five or six weeks be-
fore they begin to dry. Then. when that
dampness is passing off, the real flavor of
the cigar begins to assert itself, and the
cigar is getting to be at its best AS [ SAID
before, the northern people like a damp
cigar, Europeans want dry, and people in
the southern part of the United States pre-
fer a medium dry. Europeans want a fat
cigar, also"
what is the meaning' of those familiar
words 'claro,' 'colorai1, ETC., on every OK
of cigars! suppose most people know, but
| do 1t, ventured the reporter.
mo. don't think every one knows lust
what those words mean. They indicate the
color of the cigar The 'claro' is the light
est, the colorado claro' next lightest. the
colorado medium, the COLORADO moiur4'
dark, and the 'modura,' which really means
ripe, very dark. Flora fina,' ais c mmou
word on cigar boxe,, 81 Enifes the finest
grade, or, literally, fine flower, like the
creme de 10 creme of the F. ench"
''What is the cost to manufacture of the
highest grade of cigars! | am told that
the best cigars sold on earth cost no mlny
cent to make and bring into tlls coun .ry,"
said the reporter.
Il am afraid you have been misinformed,
then, was the tobacconisPs courteous COM
ment. You take, for instance, a tobacco
that costs the manufacturer 81 20 in Ha-
vana, for the finest tobacco for cigars IN tn
world comes from Havana. Let us say that
it works up % pounds to the 100 or 25 TO
the 900. l hat is $50 tor tobacco; $35 a thou
sand for labor makes Sos. The specific duty
of So so pound, and the ad valorem duty
of p per cent. brings the cost to consider
ably over 500. Add this to the cost of
boxes, internal revenue stamp of So, and
other lncidentals, and you see that the bare
cost of making the CT gar is very great. |
am figuring, of course, on a very fine quail
ity of tobacco. But although that is a fac
cigar, what do you think of this?" and he
produced a box Of 200 cigars tnat were
Stunpers They were incloSed in a box of
lacquered wood, encased in a common cigar
wo box, and which opened with key
''Those cigars are a present to me from
Havana" continued the dealer, land cost
5000 to import; in this box they would sell
for $3.50 hundred. They pay for merely
making them at the rate of 500 thousand,
as they are long, and a man can't make
many day, as he has to splice the tobacco
as he holds it in his hand. What do you
think of them?'
''Send 200 TO the Office and l will put it in
my expense accou IT," said the Globe man,
longingly. "Good day."