The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-06
ITALIAN CI9A6S
They ere Terrors, and Nothing Worse
Can Possibly be Smoked.

They ere Terrors, and Nothing Worse
Can Possibly be Smoked.
From the london Cigar and Tobacco World
The deplorable quality of Italian cigars
has long been by-word among smokers.
"Go to Italy. buy cigar and die, is an up
to date adaptation Of a famous quotation.
Even the very best Of them would, on the
first trial, turn the stomach Of an ostrich.
They are long and thin, black and bitter,
and have straw run through them TO
facilitate the draughr. 1t would be impos-
slole to imagine anything worse III the cigar
line. They are SO cheap, too, as to stagger
belief. Italy is a poor country, IN
fortunately, and it is getting poorer every
year. The nation is frugal. and is content
TO indulge itself with pleasures and enter
tainments that are cheap. 1t is true
that in Rome and Florence and Ven
ice, and Milan one nbuy imported cigars;
but the trade In such Injuries Is an exotic.
and is conducted mainly-nay, almost alto
gether-with Foreigners, particularly En-
Rllsh and American tourists, who always
have more money than they know what TO
do with. The native Italians smoke the
native rattail "cigarros," and thank their
king that they are still cheap enough to be
purchasabIe. Fastidious Italians smoke
cigarettse. which they roll themselves. The
very poor in ltaly-the lazzaroni Of Naples,
for instance-smoke very seldom, or not
all, and In their absteution from an indul-
gence which is cheap enough to come within
the means OF even the most poverty-stricken
people Of other countries they are remark
able
The soldiers of the army Of Italy are re-
cruited, like those OF other European ma
TORS, from all classes Of Der citizens. The
bulk OF them, of course, comes from that
class which in every country is the major
ity-namely, the poor. They get the poor
est fare, live the most frugal Of lives, get
triding wages that are generally In arrears,
and yet many young men eagerly join the
army because their lot in the ranks, hard as
il is, Is yet an improvement upon their lot
at home. Cigars in the italian army are
part Of the daily fare. Each soditr has his
allowance. Tue military cigars are infe-
rior even TO those which civilians with
money in their pockets are able to buy, yet
they are eagerly putfed by the soldiers but
it Is q marvel that those who smoke one of
them survive to repeat the experiment.
1t is fact that the "cigarro" of the
italian army. incredibly vile as it is, was
nevertheless adu tere6ed by the government
monopoly under the administration OF Sig.
Magliana, the minister Of finance, Ia 1888.
A fendish ingenuity was exhausted in i'm
parting to cigars which Minister Magliana
furnished substances so foreign TO tobacco,
and 50 undreamed of even by the most dis
honest cigar manufacturers Of other
countries, that his fraud will live forever in
the history of the weed. The Magliani
cigars, SO called in honor Of the finance
minister, as is the custom of Italy,
were made at the beginning Of the
fiscal year. OF 1883. It was
several months afterwards that the
fraud was investigated, and it was then
discovered that, according to a contempt
rary, they contained piece of lime, some
powdered gypsum, quantity of earth,
piece OF wood, and piecs of string. These
delightful authorizations, besides a very lit
tie Of the nasty native tobacco grown in
Italy and some Kentucky hogshead leaf,
were the actual components of Magliani
cigars. A Roman newspaper, commenting
on the report OF the investigating commit
tee, sarcsstically observed that mason with
his trowel was only wanted In conjunction
with dozen such cigars in order to build
6-storied palace, for ell the materials
Vere there