Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-03-03
WEDNEsDAY-THE ROCK ISLAND ARGUS-MARCH 8, 1920.
THE SMOKE OF KINGS.

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Havana cigars made in Havana OF
the famous vulto Abejo tobacco
promise to become more and more
q luxury which only the very
wealthy can enjoy. The demand for
them is always increasing. and the
price iS always rising, but the sup
ply cannot increase much, for there
is only one place in the world where
the tobacco used in these cigars can
be grown. That is the aforesaid
Vuelto Abajo district, which is just
a small spot on the island OF Cuba.
There are other tobacco-growing
districts on the island, but they
can no more produce real Havana
tobacco than can the Connecticut
valley. Most Of these inferior Gu
ban tobacco lands are now being
devoted to sugar, because sugar is
bringing such high prices and is so
much less trouble to raise than to-
bacco. Only the Vuelto Abajo lands
60 on producing tobacco, and they
will doubtless continue to do so as
long as the sons of men continue
to crave that strangely soothing
and yet stimulating caress which
resides in the smoke Of the best
cigars. l.
There probably is not and never
has been any product of one place
so widely distributed as is the to-
bacco grown in the Vuelto Abajo
district of Cuba. The fragrant
leaves which spring from that bit
of soil are literally scattered to the
ends of <he earth. 1t is an impress
sive thing to roam through the
shipping room of one Of the great
cigar factories here, and see the
packing cases consigned to every
place in the world where there are
civilized men and money. Paris
and London, Cairo and Algiers
Melbourne and Buenos Aires, all
draw their share of the sweet Ha-
vana leaf direct from the island
The cigars go out packed in great
wooden cases which are most in
geniously sealed with steel wires
For shipping Havana cigars is just
like shipping money. They are as
good as currency anywhere in the
world, and kept under proper con-
! ditions they are as enduring, fol
stocks of Havana cigars are otter
mentioned in wills and sometimes
pass through the hands of severa
generations. Hence thieves are al
ways after them, and some cigar!
are always stolen in transit, usually
by removing one plank from a pack
ing case, extracting few hundred
cigars, worth perhaps almost a.
many dollars, and then replacing
the plank.
In this same factory you can SCI
the smokes of the mighty Of all thu
world in process OF being made
Here in one factory are rolled thu
kind of cigars over which kaisA
Wilhelm planned his great coup il
Belgium, and the ones which sooth'
the royal nerves of the Prince o
Wales. Both of these are cigar
OF modest size and price, compared
to the one which was smoked b.
]. P. Morgan, the elder. 1t is abou
ten inches long, comes one in a box
sells for . dollar apiece here il
Havana, and for about three dol
lars in New York. The Cubal
cigar maker who rolls there cigar
makes about seven dollars day
and he can be seen rolling then
any time. He is one OF the yer,
few men who can afford to smok
this, perhaps the best cigar in tn
world. Another man who smoke
them pretty regularly is this ciga
makers favorite doctor. A Cuba
cigar maker cannot be prevente
from presenting his doctor wit
samples Of his skill. No doubt tn
post of physician to this particula
artist is very highly priced.
They say that ]. P. Morgan cam
! down here once and watched thi
man rolling cigars. He stood 10
several minutes observing the proc
J ess with interest. and then wake
away without having said anythin:
and what was more disappointin,
, without having put hand into hi
pocket. This gave the cigar make
a very poor opinion of America
: millionaires in general and of J.
| Morgan In particular. For severi
days, they say, he went about mut
tering:
Think of it. He has million