Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-07-27
CIGAR F~ALLAc,Es.
The Art of Making a Smoke as a
Smoker Found jt in Cuba.

SsONS VOutt0 w :U SUOd.
Sydney Brooks, in the London Daily Mail.
At last | feel myself worthy to be a
smoker. For l have watched the eyo-
luton of the Havana cigar almost
from the seed. / nave stood among
the tobacco plants as they grow under
cheese cloth or in The open fields. ]
have seen the leaves cut and hung
in COWS up to the very roof Of the
great curing BARNS / have seer them
heaped together to sweat and ferment
and l have seen them sorted for size.
quality and strength and baled in huge
sheets of pith from the native palm
tree.
And these bales l have followed to
the vaults Of the factory. Where they
are stored sometimes for a couple OF
years to allo the sap and Oil of the
leave to penetrate their every fibre.
On the completion of this maturing
process l have stood by while the
leaves were plunged. a handful al :" q
time. into a tank of clear spring water
to restore their pliability. / have seen
them then taken to the stripping room
the central stems emoved prenar-
atory to a further brief period Of fer
mentation in cedar barrels. and I have
tried in vain to understand the in
communicable instinct of eye and
touch and taste that guides the blend
err In reaching the particular ideal Of
0avor. strength n quality he has in
view.
But the best of all my experiences
n Havan has been to talk with the
expert heads of the great factories and
to tind them poking Il %scornfully good
Sumored finger through nearly ali Of
the average smokers most cherished
theories. The average smoker believes
chat a dark wrapper means q strong
.igar and a light a mild one:
md he is absolutely wrong.
There Is no connection whatever be-
tween color n strength. Squeezing
cigars and smelling them are equallyy
fallacious as tests of quality. SO. too.
is the color and firmness of the ash:
the notion that the whittier the ASH
and the longer it stays on the bet
ter he cigar. is altogether
The best Havanas burn with a clear
steel gray ash. and it's duration and
length are mainly determined by the
size OF h pieces used in the filters.
Then. again, the men in Havana
needless Of the club regulations they
are shattering. insist that a spotted
cigar means less than nothing so far
us quality, whether good or bad. is
concerned that the barometer affects
cigars far more than the Thermometer.
that the silky looking app is as
much to be avoided as the veiny n OF
the one that is oily i'm patches: thai
cigars should neither be so soft as Ia
yield readily to the pressure of the
fingers nor so dry as to crackle; thai
most of the tail about Condition" IL
pure ignorance, the Americans beine
right in preferring a moist cigar and
the English equally right in preferrinS
g drier one-the vital point in each
case being the proper period OF re.
covery from the seasickness that cipars
contract as easily as their smokers.
period that varies with he length al
the voyage; that except for the ex.
pert. who has given his whole life I.
the business. there are virtually M
outward Indications that can be relied
upon In choosing a cigar. and that fol
the average man. anxious to find nui
whether a given Havana is of rood
quality throughout and will burn we'll !
the only real test is to smoke it.