The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1909-07-08
FADS AND FALLACIES ABOUT
CIGARS.
(From Harper's Weekly.)

| \fiOm Harper'S Weckly.)
mere are now five kinds OF cigars
marketed In this country, the i'm
| ported made in Cuba; the clear
Havana made'in the United States,
! eAclnslyely OF Havana tobacco. by
! CUBAN ~orkmeff and in the Cuban
method; the seed and Havana"
| made by American Workmen, with a
oumatra wrapper, a domestic bind
! ef ana Havana filler; Cheap cigars, >"
ny which is meant the nickel and
Stokle variety, made entirely of do
inetslc tobacco by American labor
ana machines: and Porto Rico Gig
ars' made i'll Porto Rico. Of Porto
hlco and American tobaccos. About
/ 100000 pounds of American leaf
IS shipped to Porto Rico every year.
| Who has not seen a purchaser Of
cigar mold it horizontally under his
| nose, close to his nostrils, and sniff
2t II, with what he believes to be the
air or a connOisseur? No tobacco
man cap observe the movement with
out smiling. The best one can DOS
sibly get from that sniff is a faint
odor of tobacco. The oldest and
most experienced tobacco expert
could not tell Pennsylvania from the
finest Vuelta Abajo from smiling at
an unIighted cigar. Indeed, it is
| doubtful ii he would stake his reDu-
tation as to whether it was made Of
| tobacco at ALL
Hand a cigar to an expert and ask
him for an opinion, without inviting
! him to light it; he will use his
eyes, but never his nose. He will
tell you 1T has Havana wrapper or
u Sumatra wrapper or a Connecticut
| wrapper, as the case may be- Ii it is
or greenish, unripe cast, or has
coarse veins, he will say it has Door
wrapper. He may also express his
views on the workmanship, whether
IL IS carefully. or a slovenly made
cigar. But he will never tell you
positively whether the cigar is good
or bad or Indifferent until he has
smoked 1T. And when one considers
thaI only about 1-20th of the tobac
| co III cigar Is visible to the eve, it
IL not difficult to understand the ex-
| peftS reluctance to commit himself
on an ocular test.
Men in the business apDrajse Gig
ars on five counts: First, burn: soc.
ond, aroma; third, taste or flavor
tourtn, color; and fifth, workman.
ship. They put burn" first adyis
edly. If cigar doesn't burn freely
all tho other merits combined will
not save 1t from condemnation. Bl
"burn' Is meant the degree Of com
busubility II the cigar holds Its
lire say three or four minutes with
out being Duffed, and is consumet
evenly on all sides, and shows n.
thick, black ring Of carbon wher,
the leaf meets the ash, then the burr
. is good; if not, the burn Is poor. A
10 the second and third counts-ar
oma and taste--it is sufficient to sa
that If these are agreeable they ar
t merits, and If they are either disa
grceable or merely lacking, the
Cor their absence) are defects.
: AS to the fourth count, color, tn
good cigar must not be OF greenis1
cast or too light in color, as thos
signs indicate an insufficient cure
Cigars should be brown--rich, rip
brown. The popular shade Of brow
Is matter Of individual preference
:, and the popular fancy on this poin
y Is very unstable. At one time Their
+ was an overwhelming demand 10
4 extremely dark cigars. 1t became 81
general that the packers, of leaf to
\ bacco could only half supply it. r,