The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-23
The LOST VUELTA CIGAR.
A REVOLUTION IN SMOKING IN
THE LAST TEN YEARS.
Disappearance OF the Cigar Made OF the
Best Tobacco the World Has Ever
knOwn-A Homogeneous Product
Served TO Smokers Instead - Causes.

Best Tobacco the world Has Ever
knOwn-A Homogeneous Product
Served to Smokers Instead Causes.
The holiday cigars are with us once more.
They are as pretty as a picture and come
in decorative boxes with attractive bands
and ribbons, but what about quality
A good cigar is what the smoker likes.
There may be a standard Of wine, whiskey,
brandy, food, wearing apparel, almost
everything, but apparently none for cigars
and tobacco. Each consumer makes his
own standard, or hin he does.
The high class cigar business has gone
through a great evolution during the last
ten years, but the change has scarcely been
noticed, except by a few old fogeys who
declined to move with the times. 1t may
seem incredible now that twenty years ago
old Pedro Murias, OF the great Murias cigar
factory in Havana, shoul have closed his
business for a whole year because the cur
rent crop Of tobacco was 80 poor In quality
that he would not imperil the reputation OF
his brand by using il. Yet such was the
fact. That fact marks the difference be-
tween the old methods and the new.
That was the day when "Vuelta" meant
something. Vuelta was the name OF the
best tobacco the world has ever known.
1t was a small, twelve inch leaf OF exquisite
texture and grain. 1t grew in the favored
valley Of the Vuelta Abajo, in the province
Of Pinar del Rio, and only there.
Other districts grew the more slightly,
but less fragrant Partidos. the large four
foot leaved Remedies used mainly in seed
and Havana cigars, or the half dozen minor
varieties which lie above the poor tobacco
line Of the island, but the Vuelta could only
be produced in one spot, and 1t had no
colorado limitations in the world.
1t was that curiously fragrant tobacco
that a woman did not object to, even in
those days. 1t was the one tobacco which
lid not lose its zest and aroma If the cigar
was allowed to go out, became cold and
was then relighted.
1t was the only tobacco whose ash did not
break into a puff, like -four, when dropped
on the floor, but which retained the shape
it held while on the cigar. 1t produced the
only tobacco ash which when rubbed in
the palm Of the hand became gritty and
still more gritty, until nothing was left
but a tiny pinch Of sand and the palm Of
the hand was not stained. Try these tests
on the cigars of to-day.
1t was like magnificent old liqueur brandy
Of past days. If a man once had the taste
on his lips he never forgot it. never mistook
it for anything else. 1t stayed with him.
Its only drawback was that the leaf was
not slightly. 1t was rather a dull looking
leaf, covered with iridescent hairs which
glowed in the sunlight. 1t had a texture
like unpublished brown ivory.
For years it was the only tobacco manu-
facturers dreamed of using with high priced
labor and elaborate surroundings Of pack
age. Then Roseno Rosendueles, years
ahead of his time, began to make cigars
Of Partidos tobacco, using the high priced
labor and surroundings and he sent them
to New York as samples.
The leaf was glossy, rich in color. per-
fectly formed but without fragrance and
utterly without the distinctive qualities
of the Vuelta. In Havana the Intimidad
perfectos made OF Vuelta sold at $3.50 a
thousand, the Rosendueles Partidos product
at SIS, and both with duty added were fora
time sold on Broadway for rs cents each,
the dealers naturally interested chiefly in
the product that gave the larger profit.
For a time sales hung ~listless, and then
the rich Sumatra product was introduced
about 1885. for seed and Havana and still
lower grade cigars. With the Sumatra's
popularity came a return of the craze for
light colored cigars.
Americans had just gone through an era
of dark cigars, during which scores of fac
tories painted" their product to make it
dark, and in the extreme cheap grades
the color used left dark smudges around
the mouth of those who moked and also
slightly chewed the end OF the cigar. 1t
was then that there came a failure Of wrap
pers, or outer covering for the cigar, in the
Vuelta crop, and in fear and trembling
daring Cuban manufacturers used the
slightly Partidos.
The experiment was well received by
many. But discriminating American
smokers would have none Of it. They
wanted the Vuelta wrapper, that ave
a double and totally distinct fragrance
when the burning end OF the cigar was
smelled, in alienation to tasting the smoke
in the ordinary manner.
Others, with Uniformed taste, especially
the rising generation and those just rising
to the heights of imported cigar Importance,
accepted the better looking Partidos with
out a murmur. In three years the cigar
not wrapped in Partidos, or some other
tobacco than Vuelta, was the exception
which proved the rule.
Old fashioned smokers were very sorry,
tney are so htlll, DuJ JneTe WbN no remedy
Not even by going to Cuba for an individual
supply could they gst what they wanted,
for whatever may be the faults Of the Cuban
or the Spaniard merchant he is not a poor
! business man. So shrugged shoulders,
turned up eyes, and polite expressions
such as I'VE don't understand It," or we
use the finest tobacco In the world" we're
all the satisfaction such persons received.
Manufacturers would not admit that any
other type Of cigar or tobaoco had ever
existed. II was the taste Of the customer
which was off. they said.
The situation was accepted. The United
States was still taking about two-thirds
! of the $50, OOO.O 900 cigars then made in
Cuba, and although Europe stood out awhile
longer it also had to come round to the
same conditions. By careful fostering
the light color craze in Europe was brought
to a point never approached in this coun-
try. SO the world was buying cigars by
the eye, as the Cubans put it, rather than
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