The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-11-12
CIGAR TRADE
TERMS DEFINED.
Words of Which Many
kers are Ignorant.
WORTH KNOWING.
Technical Expressions of
Spanish Beauty.
How Differences in Size, Color, Pack
ing and Shape are Indicated
In Language.
WORTH KNOWING.

ADVERTISER man that several times he
had people to call for "Maduros" and
then complain that they we're too
strong and vice versa. The following
from an exchange will prove of inter
est to burners of the weed:
Whenever the average untutored to.
bncco lover wishes to indicate to his
cnvious friends hat he Is In possession
Of a cigar of tho first quality, he usual
ly says hat he has a perfecto. BY
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. declares nm
intelligent writer In the Kansas City
Journal, q good many cigars that
never saw Havana are genuine per-.
%fectos, and a good many made in the
most famous factories of the Cuban
capital are not. The word. as a mat
ter OF fact, doe~ not refer to the quality
Of n cigar at all. 1t is simply n term
used to describe the shape. A p%erfecto
may cost 81, and 1t may cost 2h cents.
There are half q dozen cigar terms
thus misused by the average smoker,
and there are several times as many
words Of the same sort whose mean
ing he Is utterly unable to fathom.
What native. corn fed smoker, for In
stance, knows the difference between
n panetela and n Reina Victoria? And
how many know whether there Is q
real difference between a maduro and
an oscuro7 Yet all Of these terms L
the common property of cigar makers
all over the world. Like many cigar
brand names, they are Of Spanish ori-
gin, but the wanderings Of Havana
tobacco and Cuban cigars have taken
them into all countries and oil Ian
guages.
The great majority Of cigars are put
up fifty in n box, with thirteen on the
top row, twelve on the row mex to the
top, thirteen on the next and twelve
cigar is packed 100 In a box In two
bundles tied with a ribbon, 1t becomes
n Relna Victoria, which Is Spanish for
Queen Victoria. Early in the late
queens reign a Cuban manufacturer
invented this method Of packing and
called the resultant bundle after Great
Britain's sovereign. The name has re-
NAMED ever since.
The word perfecto is a term indicat-
ing q certain shape in cigars. A per-
fecto Is n smoke having what is gen.
orally called the ''cigar shape"-that
is to say, 1t Is swelled near the end
which is Lighted and tapers gradually
down to the point, or head. The end
of q cigar which q smoker puts In his
mouth Is known among cigar makers
as the head. The other end, that
which is lighted, is called the tuck.
When, as often happens in q perfecto,
the tuck is very small, it Is called o
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
average 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 moSs easily made. Tho
virtue Of the perfecto Is that its small
err tuck lights more readily, and its
more artistic curves give 1t greater
beauty.
A londres is q sort OF cross between
the perfecto and the panetela. 1t is
q perfecto from the head to the thick
est part, and from there on to the tuck
1t 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 pane
tela.
A partegas is a cigar shaped much
Hike a londres, except that the slope
from the thickest part to the head is
usually not 80 rounded. 1t Is a shape
not now as fashionable as 1t used to
be, and even when cigars are genuine
partegas the box Ia seldom stamped
with the name.
A conchas is q small blunt cigar. AZ
O rule 1t Is a very satisfactory smoke,
and usually 1t lasts as long as a per-
fecto. This is because hat thin tuck
Of the latter burns Gown rapidly. The
opera is a very small cigar Of any
standard shape. 1t derives its name
from the fact that it ia designed for
a short smoke between the acts. and
very often 1t is called on entr-acte. The
breyas Is a large, clumsy cigar, good
for an hours putting. The largest size
Of all is the Napoleon. Sometimes Ha-
vana Napoleons are six or seven inches
in length. The blacker ones are posi-.
lively terrifying.
The better grades of cigars are usu-
ally made in several shapes and sizes.
There may be, for instance, the La
Flor de Habana perfectos, the La Flor
de Habana p~anetelas, the La Flor de
Habana operas, the La Flor de Ha-
bana p~artegas and the La Flor dc 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 1t
Is colorado. sometimes It Is claro and
at other times 1t is maduro. This indi.
| Gates the color Of the cigars within, or,
as u~ninforsned smokers say, the
strength" The lightest OF all cigars
are a yellowish brown. They are called
claros. Next In order come the colora-
do claros, which are a darker brown,
and then come the %colorados, which
are about~midway between black and
yellow. After the colorados come the
colorado maduros,. which are q dark
brown, and then the maduros. which
are well nigh black. Formerly another
color was in vogue. This was the os-