The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-03
CIGARS AND sMoKERs IN CUBA.
Real Havanas at Cents Apiece, and
Others at Dollars.
From 10 Washington star.

heaA haFunns at = Nents Apiece anu
Others at 2 Dollars.
From the Washington Star
have never seen a Havana man smok-
ing in church. It's about the only place
where he does not smoke He smokes
in the street cars, he smokes at the pub
lie dining table. he smokes everywhere.
The presence OF women is not considered
at all When coffee is brought on the ia
BILE the Spanard or Cuban lights his cigar
or cigarette and and begins to send up
clouds of smoke. He never even thinks
of saying 10 the ladies, by your leave"
for the custom of the country is to smoke
everywhere. On the railway trains there
is no smoking compartment for a man
is privileged, and, in fact. expected to
smoke everywhere. If he is not smok-
ing his neghbor will offer him a cigarette.
The driver Of your coach will smoke and
very likely offer you a cheroot. At the
opera the men will walk and smoke be-
tween the acts in the spaces behind the
boxes and balconies. You will see finely
dressed. seemingly well-bred men, with
Ladies in fun evening toilet, entering the
theater, and smoking as they go. You never
see a pipe in Cuba. 1t is the country Of
the cigar and the cigarette. One of the odd
sights to a stranger is that afforded by
the negro women, who smoke big, long,
and black cigars in the street. 1t was
here that the smoking habit which has
spread around the world, had its start,
and the Cubans are still more devoted to
their cigars than any other people. The
cigar industry and the tobacco trade give
employment TO a large portion of the
population of Havana. In every quarter
one will run across small establishments
where from two to ten men are employed
making cigars, and some women and chill
dren engaged in stripping tobacco.
There are many large factories, en-
ploying. some Of them, several hundred
men and women. Some of these facto-
ries make cigarettes as well as cigars
The cigarettes are made out of strong
Cuban tobacco, but have the negative
virtue of being pure, untinctured tobacco.
In every house or office building the
porter, who sits in the entresol, is en-
gagged all day long in rolling cigarettes.
He has little table in front of him. where
the tobacco and paper are sprc d out,
and he is constantly at work In lais way
the porter adds to his income. A vast
quantity of cigarettes are smoked here,
as well as cigars. When the Cuban is not
smoking cigars he is smoking cigarettes.
1t is not to be supposed that all the
cigars made or smoked in Havana are
fine cigars. The best tobacco comes from
one district near Havana, known as
1 Vuelto Abajo, and the quality of that
often varies on different plantations and
in different seasons. Much tobacco is
raised in other districts which is not of
superior kind and has not the rich
flavor that makes fine Havana cigars
sought after in all parts of the world.
A good deal. probably most of the very
highest grade tobacco, is secured for the
makers of famous brands of cigars in
Havana.
some of the owners of big cigar fac
tories have plantations of their own and
/ options on the product of other planta-
| lions famed fer the quality of their leaf
/ ISut many Of the cigars sold here at a
/ low prlCe are Just as rank as any ever
] produced IN the United States, and
/ worse because they are stronger. One
cannot get very pleasant impression
| from a visit to a cigar factory In the
I large factories the plumbing and sani-
tary arrangements are unusually bad.
/ and the buildings are filed WITH hAc
/ doors, which minG'ing with that of the
tobacco. have anything but a pleasing
effect Two or three hundred men will be
at WORK in q poorly ventilated room that
docs not afford proper breathing space
/ fer more than 100. eJeatness and C .eanli-
ness are not conspicuous characteristics.
either Of the men at work rolling cigars
! or Ct the hundre ds of girls and children
engaged in stripping tobacco. If one
wants to thoroughly enjoy fine Havana
cigar, if he has ever visited one of these
factories ne will have to obliterate the
memory of the visit from his mind.
The fine grades of cigars sell at -etail
in Havana for less than half the price
one would have 10 pay in the United
! States That is, one will buy for ten
cents a cigar that would cost him in
Washington 30 or p cents. and for cents
a cigar n. would pay 10 or Is cents for at
home Then there are cigars or cheroots
said for l or cents. The ordinary retail
price for a package oil cigarettes is . cents.
The cigars affected here are of the larg-
| est sizes, six or eight inches in length.
and some of them an inch in diameter.
In one factory ] visited. a special lot of
ciSars, 20g0 in all, were being made with
great care, to fill an order for Queen Vic
toria.
The queen does not smoke them. They
/ are intended as a present for the new en-
peror of Russia. The very finest cigars
made here go to England. Some of them
cost dollar each here at wholesale. The
men who make these cigars are paid 80
I cents each for the making Of them They
are made with the greatest care, every bit
/ of leaf in them being selected and es-
/ pecially treated, and the rolling and wrap
ping being done by the most sklful of
/ cigarmakers. One of these men engaged
in making these dollar cigars will not
make more than twenty or thirty in a
day He is supplied with a certain amount
/ Of tobacco when he begins work in the
morning. and when he turns in the pro-
duct of his days labor at night must ac-
count for all the tobacco. The cigars are
carefully inspected, and If any defect. the
/ slightest crack or any variation in color.
! is discovered in a cigar, it is rejected.
! The eigarmaker is paid only for the per-