Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1898-10-28
EXPERT TOBACCO TESTING.
Cuban Buyers and Their Highly Ds-
veloped Sense OF Smell. :

~
The greater part-in fact, nearly all
of the tobacco raised in. Cuba and not
used BY the Cuban cigar makers is
shipped to the United States. At certaiu
seasons Of the year the Havana hotels
are filed with tobacco buyers from the
United States. Some Of them deal
through the brokers in Havana, but
some who know the country and the
language go out into the tobacco dis.
trict and deal directly with the plant.
ers, often buying q promising crop be-
fore It is picked. The tobacco buyer has
necessarily to be q good Judge Of tobac.
co. He goes down into the very center
Of the bale Of tobacco he IL examining,
extracts some samples and tests them in
different ways.
The first test Ia that of smell. The
Cuban tobacco has q strong and pecul-
lar odor. A little variation one way or
the other makes the tobacco good or
bad. After smelling 1t the buyer is like
~ to roll q rudely constructed cigar ont
Of the leaf and smoke It. He will iilhale
the smoke and endeavor to determine
exactly the flavor. He will also examine
the ash carefully and test also the com
bustion Of the tobacco-that ia, try to
find out how long it will hold fire. Il is
q great annoyance to Q smoker who ia
talking or writing or otherwise engaged
to put his cigar into his mouth and find
that it has gone out. No cigar ever
tastes 60 good after 1t has once gone out,
and q fine Havana cigar is positively
rank when it has met such q catas-
trophe. So y quality sought for Is
that Of holding fire. II q sample smoked
by the buyer will keep lighted four
minutes, It is considered very good.
Some will burn for five minutes and
even longer without being pulled
Ohio State Journal. -.-t
| Castilion Cuisine.
Oil and pepper are the two things
that especially characterize the Oastilian
One Of the favorite dishes In
Cuba is ''tasajo," which is simply dried
meat, cooked with tomatoes, red pep
,pers and oniona "Tripa a la Andaluza''
its another preparation frequently seen.
AZ the name indicates, the basis 10
boiled tripe, which IL cooked with beams
and potatoes, and always served with
the small red Spanish sausage known
as "Butafarra Catalina" A similar
sausage. only black, is known a. "Buta-
faxra Astoriana."
"Chile oon carne," which everybody
eats. is nothing mort than a thick stew
of. beef (oarne) and beans seasoned with
Spanish "tortillas" are corn
cakes favored With red peppers, and
differ from the Mexican tortilla In that
the latter, when properly made, are
in chopped vegetables. A salad
a Ia Espanola 10 prepared Of lettuce
and celery, with q few sliced tomatoes
Ind peppers. Served with French dress.
ing It is very good.
The Spanish soups are as a rule q lit
tie too heavy for the American taste.
which rum more toward the consomme.
They are thick decoctions, full Of vege.
tables and look frightfully greasy.
Soup, however, does not have the i'm
role among the Spaniards that
1t plays in French domestic economy,
and is an article of secondary impor-
tanoe. The dishes named are pretty apt
to appear r long ON home menus, and
It is interesting to know In advance
what they are composed of-New Or.
leans Times-D Democrat.