The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-12-26
LANGUAGEOF CIGARS
THE TERMS USED IN THE TRADE ARE
GREEK TO MOST SMOKERS.

| Users Know Them Apart. and They
Are Much Misuxed.
Whenever the average untutored to-
bacco lover wishes to indicate to his
envious friends that he is in possession
of cigar of the first quality, he usual
~ says that he has u 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 an
intelligent writer in the Kansas City
Journal, 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 q mat
ter of fact, does not refer to the quality
of cigar at all. 1t is simply a term
used to describe the shape. \ perfecto
may cost 81, and it 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 mean
ing he Is utterly unable to fathom.
What native. corn fed smoker, for in
stance, knows the difference between
a panetela and Reina Victoria? And
how many know whether there is
real difference between q maduro and
an oscuro? Yet all of these terms are
the common property of cigar makers
all over the world. Like many cigar
brand names, they are of Spanish orr
gin, but the wanderings of Havana
tobacco and Cuban cigars have taken
them into all countries and all lam
guages.
The great majority of cigars are put
up fifty in a box, with thirteen on the
top row, twelve on 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 a ribbon, it becomes
Reina Victoria, which is Spanish for
Queen Victoria. EARLY i'll the late
: queens reign a Cuban manufacturer
invented this method of packing and
called the resultant bundle after Great
: Britains sovereign. The name has re-
NAMED ever since.
The word perfecto is term indicat-
ing a 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 cigar which 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 a 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
average panetela is slightly longer
than perfecto, though the matter of
: size has nothing to do with the shape.
PaneteIas are esteemed because they
burn more regularly and are usually
l. better because more easily made. The
o virtue of the perfecto is that it's small
er tuck lights more readily, and its
more artistic curves give it greater
e beauty.
!. A londres is a sort of cross between
the perfecto and the panetela. 1t is
perfecto from the head to the thick
d est part, and from there on to the tuck
it is betwixt and between. Usually
the slope from the thickest part to the
4 tuck has a gradual curve. The tuck
, as rule is as large as that of pane.
tela.
A partegas is 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 as fashionable as it used tt
= be, and even when cigars are genuine
u partegas the box is seldom stamped
y with the name.
A conchas is small blunt cigar. A.
rule it is a very satisfactory smoke
and usually it lasts as long as per
ii fecto This is because that thin tucl
IL of the latter burns down rapidly. TIL,
s. opera is very small cigar of an.
he standard shape. 1t derives it's nam
k. from the fact that it is designed TO
a short smoke between the acts. ant
I'd very often 1t is called on entr-acte. TIL
n brevas is a large, clumsy cigar, gOO'
d. for an hours putting. The largest siz
as of all is the Napoleon. Sometimes Ha
vana Napoleons are six or seven inche
in length. The blacker ones are pos
: lively terrifying.
The better grades of cigars are usu
ally made in several shapes and sizes
There may be, for instance, the L
Flor de Habana perfectos. the La Flo
de Habana panetelas, the La Flor d
Habana operas, the La Flor de Ha
bana partegas and the La Flor de Hs
bana conchas. The label is the sam
1 on all of the sizes and shapes. but O
/ the front of the box the name of tn
| shape is stamped.
On one end of each box of cigars wi