The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1903-06-27

some Refer TO Size, some to shape
and others Go CoIor-Few Tobacco
Users Know Them Apart. and They
Are Much Misused.
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.
ly says that he has Il perfecto. BY
perfecto he means the best cigar OBJ
tainable, and MS Il rule he applies the
name TO all products OF the Havana
factories. But in truth. declares an
intelligent writer In the Kansas City
Journal, Il good many cigars that
never saw Havana are genuine per-
fectos, and good many made In the
most famous factories OF the Cuban
capital are not. The word, as mat
ter of fact. does not refer to the quality
of cigar at all. 1t is simply term
used TO describe the shape \ perfecto
may cost 81. and II may cost 2Ia cents.
There arc 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 IL 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 a 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 han
guages
The great majority of cigars are put
up fifty In 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 a box In two
bundles tied with a ribbon. Il becomes
a Relna Victoria. which Is Spanish for
Queen Victoria. Early I'm the hate
queens reign n Cuban manufacturer
invented this method OF packing and
called the resultant bundle after Great
Brltain's sovereign. The name has re-
manned ever since.
The word perfecto is a term indicat-
ing n certain shape IN cigars. A per-
fecto Is 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 .c the point. or head. The end
of n cigar which smoker puts I'm 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. IL Is called
needle tuck or feather tuck. All others
follow these lines more or less closely.
A thin, straight cigar, with little
more thickness I'm the middle than at
the tuck, is called Il panetela. The
average panetela Is slightly longer
than a perfecto. though the matter OF
size has nothing 10 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 small
or tuck lights more readily. and its
more artistic curves give 1t greater
beauty
A londres is sort OF cross between
the perfccto and the panetela. Il is
a perfccto from the head TO the thick
est part and from there on TO the tuck
IL IS betwlxt and between. Usually
the slope from the thickcst part To the
tuck has a gradual curve. The tuck
as rule is as large as that OF a pane
tcla.
a partegas is a cigar shaped much
Ike a londres. except that the slope
from the thickcst part TO the head IS
usually not SO rounded. II is shape
not now MS fashionable as IL used 20
be. and even when cigars are genuine
partcgas the box Is seldom stamped
with the name.