The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-25
LANGUAGE OF CIGARS.
Most Smokers Do Not Understand
the Terms Ised.

perfecto he means the best cigar OBJ
tainable. and, as a rule, he applies the
name to all products of the Havana
factories. But, in truth, a good many
cigars that never saw Havana are
genuine perfectos, and a good many
made in the most famous factories of
the Cuban capital are not. The word,
as a matter of fact does not refer
to the quality of a cigar at all. 1t is
simply a term used to describe the
shape. A perfecto may cost 81 and 1t
may cost 21a cents.
There are half a dozen cigar terms
thus misused by the average smoker.
And there are several times as many
words of the same sort whose meaning
he is utterly unable to fathom. What
native, corn-fed smoker, for instance,
knows the difference between a pane
tela and a Reina Victoria? And how
many know whether there is a real
difference between a maduro and an
oscuro? Yet all of these terms are the
common property of cigarmakers all
over the world. Like many cigar
brand names, they are of Spanish orig
in, but the wanderings of Havana to-
bacco and Cuban cigars have taken
them into all countries and all Ian
guages.
The great majority of cigars are
packed fifty in the box, with thirteen
on the top row, twelve in the row
next to the top, thirteen on the next,
and twelve on the bottom row. When
a londres cigar is packed 100 in a
box in two bundles, tied with ribbon,
it becomes a Reina Victoria, which is
Spanish for Queen Victoria. EARLY in
the late Queens reign Cuban man.
ufacturere invented this method of
packing, and called the resultant
brand after Great Britain's sovereign.
The name has remained ever since.
The word perfecto is a term indicat-
ing certain shape IN cigars. A per-
fecto is a smoke having what is gen.
orally called the Cigar shape"-that
is to say, it is swelled near the end
which is lighted, and tapers gradually
down to the point, or head. The end
of a cigar which a smoker puts in his
mouth is known among cigarmakers
as the head. The other end Chat
which is lighted is called the tuck.
When, as often happens in perfecto,
the tuck is very small. it is called a
needle tuck or feather tuck. All others
follow these lines more or less closely.
A thin, straight cigar, with little
more thickness in the middle than at
the tuck, is called a panetela. The av-
erage panetela is slightly longer than
a perfecto though the matter of size
has nothing to do with the shape.
Panetelas are esteemed because they
burn more regularly and are usually
better because more easily, made.
The virtue of the perfecto is that its
smaller tuck lights more readily, and
its more artistic curves give it greater
beauty.
A londres is sort of cross between
the perfecto and the panetela. 1t is a
perfeeto from the head to the thickest
part, and from there on to the tuck
it is betwixt and between. Usually
the slope from the thickest part to the
tuck has a gradual curve. The tuck,
as a rule, is as large as that of a
panetela.
A partega is a cigar shaped much
like a londres, except that the slope
from the thickest part to the head Is
usually not so rounded. 1t is a shape
not now so fashionable as it used tC
be, and even when cigars are genuine
| partegas the box is seldom stamped
with the name
A concha is a small, blunt cigar. Al
a rule it is very satisfactory smoke
and usually 1t lasts as long as a per-
fecto. This is because the thin tuck
of the latter burns down rapidly The
opera is a very small cigar of any
standard shape. 1t derives its name
from the fact that it is designed for a
short smoke between the acts, and
very often it is called an entre'act.
The breva is a large, clumsy cigar,
good for an hours putting. The largest
size of all is the Napoleon. Sometimes
Havana Napoleons are six or seven
inches in length. The blacker ones are
positively terrifying.
The better grades of cigars are us
ually made in several shapes and sizes.
There may be, for instance, the La
Flor de Habana perfectos, the La Flor
de Habana panetelas, the La Flor de
Habana operas, the La Flor de Ha-
bana parteges and the La Flor de Ha-
bana conchas. The label is the same
on all of the sizes and shapes, but on
the front of the box the name of the
shape is stamped.
On one end of each box of cigars will
be noted another word. Sometimes it
is colorado, sometimes it is claro and
at other times it is maduro. This in
dicates the color of the cigars within
or, as uniformed smokers says, the
strength" The lightest of all cigars
are yellowish brown. They are call
ed claros. Next in order come the coll
orado claros, which are a darker
brown. and then come the colorados,
which are about midway between
black and yellow. After the colora-
dos come the colorado maduros, which
are dark brown, and then the madu-
ros, which are well-nigh black For
merly another color was in vogue.
This was the oscuro and it was a
shiny black. But of late the fashion
has been for light cigars, and the
word oscuro has almost dropped out
of use.
Fashions in cigars change just as do
fashions in hats or clothes Twenty
years ago manufacturers spent large
sums upon various devices for Sweat
ms" wrappers, so as to make them
coal black, because the black cigar
was then king. Five years ago there
was an equally strenuous demand for
light wrappers, and manufacturers
were at their wits end. Scores of
schemes for bleaching tobacco were
tried, but before an efficient one was
discovered there was a reaction, and
at present the greatest demand is for
cigars of a sensible medium color. Five
years ago also, spotted or speckled CT
gars were in fashion. Sumatra wrap
pers, literally spotted, brought twice
the price of unspotted ones, and vari-
Gus inventors put forward spotting
compounds. But this fad passed like
all others, and to-day the average
smoker does not bother much about
spots.
1t is the fond belief of the majority
of people that cigar of light color
is nilder than dark one, buts this
except in rare cases, is not necessarily
true. The Sumatra wrapper on the
average "smoke" weighs but few
grains. 1t forms. in truth, less than
1 per cent. ofs~ehe entee cigar, and in
consequence 1t may be readily seen that
it's influence upon the Smoke" must
l.