Evening journal., 1901-08-20

II - a bAtAbAANhSA1 AAtA 'lIdl tLN Bbi g
lhigh-grade Havana cigar as it was
once made is thing of the past
Money cannot procure for the fastidi-
GUS smoker now the cigar he enjoyed
fifteen or twenty years ago. In shape,
color variety OF leaf, and last Of ali in
the personal pride the manufacturer
took in it there has been a change for
the worse, says the New York sun. 1t
was always very restricted product.
one title understood except by the in
ner circle of cultivated smokers. Con-
sequently the number of those who re-
gre, its passing is comparatively
SMALL
The demand for the cigar made in
Cuba of whatistermed Havana tobacco
is no greater than it was ten years ago.
There are still only about 100000 OF
these cigars made annually. The diff
Guilty in maintaining the old-time eX-
cellence does not come from an in
creased demand for the cigars. but
rather from an increased demand for
the raw material. the wonderful leaf
Of which will grow in only a small area
In Cuba in its curlous perfection Of
quality and which cannot be duplicated
in any onher spot in the world.
Twenty years ago very few so-called
clear Havana cigars were made in this
country. These are the cigars which
are made etirely of tobacco grown in
Cuba without any admixture and are
rolled by what is termed Cuban hand
work. Now there are made more than
700, 100000 of these cigars annually,
besides 1000 900, 900 seed and Havana
cigars, which are composed mainly of
Sumatra tobacco wrapper and filler
of Havana tobacco grown in the Rene
dos district-a district totally apart
and distinct from that producing the
tobacco which the native Cuban uses
in his high-grade stock. The American
demand for high grade leaf has been felt
more and more by the Cuban manufac-
tuners and has led them to use other
varieties of tobacco.
Only a comparatively small crop of
the best cigar tobacco can be grown in
Cuba. This tobacco has a curious
aroma and fragrance in burning which
is possessed by no other tobacco in
the world, not even the leaf raised
from carefully selected seed grown on
carefully selected land, in climate
approximately the same as Cuba's IS.
There is no more tobacco land in Cuba
which can be cultivated for finer
grades The bulk of this tobacco is,
anG alway- has been, grown in the
small region of Cuba known as the
pinar del rRio. This is the renowned
yuelta tobacco, which is grown IN the
Vuelta Abajo valley. Here the land
was made by successive overfows from
the sea, which seems to have given a
peculiar fertility to the soil.
Thus there is not nearly enough fine
pinar del Rio tobacco to go around,
and there is as great a proportion Of
poor tobacco grown in Cuba as else
where. Even in the old days the sup
ply was so scant that although the i'm
portation of foreign tobacco into Cuba
was expressly forbidden by law, the
manufacturers were permitted to re-
ceive a certain amount yearly from
Porto Rico, to be used with the Vuelta
scraps or cuttings in the manufacture
of Cuban cigarettes. The Porto Rcan
tobacco was not thought worth making
into cigars by the old-time Cuban cigar
manufacturers, with whom the quality
OF his goods and the unblemished repu-
tation Of his factory product ranked
second only to his untarnished family
name
He was an enthusiast in his business.
Men worth millions were found at their
factories at 3 a. m. personally superin-
tending the process of cigar-making
Expert selecters of tobacco and blend
ers OF the various growths and types
of the Vuelta leaf were employed at
princely salaries to buy tobacco from
certain fields or farms. Yearly they
tested its burning qualities and its
aroma, with the one view OF taking tho
TYPES and blending them into a perfec;
whole which could not be distinguished
from the product of the previous year
or ten years before if possible. SO dear
was the high quality Of his goods tc
the manufacturer of these days that In
enc bad year, soon after the too heavy
use OF guano as a fertilizer, Pedro
Murias actually closed his factory fol
the year and declined to work the to
4, lbacco. informing his trade in all parts
of the world that it was not up to his
D standard.
To-day such a course would be re
garded as an expensive advertising
trick. Then, it was simply the out
come Of the intense personal pride
Murias took in the product of his fac
4 tory, pride shown to a greater or les
extent by almost every Spaniard in thu