The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-19
CIGAR MORE POPULAR
TRADE IN ENGLAND IS RArrDr.y
 INCREASING.
Man Who F'avors One Brand wfrI sfiek to 1t Obstinately--snnR Takfnr Seems to Be . Lost Art
 A in Socfefx.

London Tribune.
 According to the testimony of sev
 erai merchants, the last two years
 have witnessed a steady. If not sensa-
 tionai. revival>in the cigar trade To
 account for this would be difficult. be-
 cause these fluctuations in most trades
 are periodical and. apparently, work
 on the principle of the political pen dulum. swinging each way in turn
 However, there is no doubt that the cigar has powerful advocate in the medical profession, who in many in- stances are never tired of trying to persuade their patients to relinquish arc turned to cigars and once the prac- tice Is acquired 1t becomes a perma- nency.
 man who has settled down to a particular brand of cigar will obstin- ately refuse to admit any sense of de- terioration in it's quality. In this way the promoters of new brands have fre- quently a dificulty to establish a mar ket--a difficulty which. allowing that their cigars are of frst-rate quality, they should not experience. The cigar smoker should remember that in cigars, as in everything else under the sun. the manufacturers are always learning something.
 Another revival in the cigar trade Is the. return of the old fashioned. broad-pointed. cheroot shaped cigar 1 into popularity. This is a good sign. There never. has been--at least to the present writer's thinking-a more ideal shape for the cigar. It draws easily from the first whiff, and is entirely sat- isfying. Thirty to forty years ago this was practically the only shape known. It was almost unchal1enged in the mar ket. The old prints and pictures that depict the swell of the period" al- ways show him with broad-shaped cigar. George Leybourne sang most of his comic songs with one stuck in the corner of his mouth. and so did Vance Louie Sherrington had at least one song that dealt with the woes of ''dashing young belle" who tried to smoke a cigar. Leybourne's vogue had practically ended when the cigar cite began to appear as a feature in music hall songs For time the cigar quite dropped out of the calculations of our light lyric writers. Now, how ever. 1t is returning to recognition and popularity.
 Snuff Taking.
 At the same time 1t is noticeable | that we can not observe any consfd- erable revival in snufr -talSfng--a fact. perhaps. not to be regretted. Tn the West country, of course, the habit still obtains to a great extent. and the snuff boxes are as common today in the streets Of Bristol as they were forty years ago But the habit Is purely | local one, and shows no signs of again spreading over the entire country.
 It may be doubted whether women smoke, quite so generally as was the custom 8 decade ago. But those who do still indulge in the cigarette do so now from taste and inclination. In the days when the new woman" as we used to call her. was indulging in every extravagance to assert her title to be recognized as free independ. ent and emancipated creature. many undoubtedly smoked simply as a sym bol of external manifestation of their freedom. The woman who smokes to- day does so for the much simpler and far more valid reason that she enjoys 1t.
 Tn this connection it may be noted that the quality of ladies' cigarettes has vastly improved. In the old days the manufacturer seemed to aim at nothing but external delicacy and pret- l tiness. The tobacco was frequently of | relatively poor description. some very tasteless, some very hot At the pres ent time one notices great change Poor toSacco Is not egfered to women snokersp s%hiie the eigarettesz-witness the My Darling" variety-afe daintIer and prettier than ever. We have not seen lady's cigar.f There were some rtimors about five years ago limiting that one was going to be put on the market, but the idea never material ized. Manners of smokern. As rule smokers show good man. ners, but there are some fragrant ex- captions to this rule. The man who expectorates on omnihuses and tram cars. who filings his cigarette and cigar ends on to ladies' dresses. and who calmly sits on the front seat pufang at a pipe while a strong wind is blow ing the sparks and ash into other peo- ple's faces Is a nuisance with whom we are all unfortunately acquainted. Nothing has brought tobacco and smoking into such discredit as the un- mannerly conduct of persons of this description.
 Anti-smokers frequently take such examples as a text upon which to preach against smoking and they have often been heard to make the deduction that the smoke habit induces bad man. ners. One can not accept this as a very logical conclusion. hut we can all unite our voices in protest when the occasion arises against such exhibitions of minimizing or deliberately unman- ner1y conduct. In referring to the om- nibus and tramcar nuisance it is mo- ticeable that on many of the latter vehicles a sign Is now prominently dis played politely requesting smokers to occupy the back seats. They could not do better. in the interests of their neighbors' comfort and convenience than accept this advice.