The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-01-13
LANGUAGE OF CIGARS
THE TERMS USED in THE TRADE ARE
GREEK TO MOST SMOKERS.

Some Refer TO Size. Some 10 Shape
and Others 10 Color--i7c,v Tobacco
Users Know Them Apart, aHd They
Are Much EEisused.
Whenever the average untutored to-
hacco lover wishes to indicate to his
enyious friends that he is in possession
of a cigar Of the first quality, he usual
~ says that he has 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 i'll truth, declares an
intelligent writer in the Kansas City
Journal, a 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 Il mat
ter OF fact, does not refer to the quality
OF a cigar at all. 1t is simply term
used to describe the shape. \ perfecto
may cost 81, and it may cost 2la cents.
There are half 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.
stance, knows the difference between
a panetela and Il Reina Victoria: And
how many know whether there is u
real difference between 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 ori-
gin. but the wanderings OF Havana
tobacco and Cuban cigars have taken
them into all countries and all Ian
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 londres
! cigar is packed 100 in 4 box i'll two
bundles tied with q ribbon, it becomes
a Reina Victoria. which is Spanish for
VI Gtti NtCtOtlC. I-Clih IL lilt iilc
queens reign q Cuban manufacturer
! invented this method of packing and
called the resultant bundle after Great
Rritains sovereign. The name has re-
manned ever since.
| The word perfecto is q term indicat-
ing Il 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 20 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 panetela. The
| average panetela is slightly longer
size has nothing to do with the shape.
Panetelas are esteemed because they
| burn more regularly ana are usually
/ better because more easily made The
| virtue of the perfecto is that its small
1 or tuck lights more readily, and its
more artistic curves give it greater
beauty.
4 londres is Il sort OF cross between
the perfecto and the panetela. 1t is
a perfecto from the head to the thick
est 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 pane
tela.
A partegas 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 shape
not now as fashionable as it used to
be, and even when cigars are genuine
partegas the box is seldom stamped
with the name.
A conchas is small blunt cigar. AS
a rule it is a very satisfactory smoke
and usually it lasts as long as per
fecto. This is because that 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 fol
a short smoke between the acts. anC
very often it is called on entr-acte. The
brevas is a large clumsy cigar, good
for an hours putting. The largest size
of all is the Napoleon. Sometimes Ha
yana Napoleons are six or seven inches
in length. The blacker ones are posi-
lively terrifying
The better grades of cigars are usu