The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau,
FREDERIC y. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, d. c.
THE SMOKE OF KINGS.

which only the very wealthy can en-
joy The demand for them is always
increasing, and the price is always ris-
ing. but the supply 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 small spot on the island
of Cuba. There are other tobacco
growing districts on the island. but
they can no ore produce real 1ta-
bana tobacco than can the Connect
cut valley Most of these inferior
Cuban 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 Nuelto~Abajo lands
| go 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 stimu-
lating caress which resides in the
smoke of the best cigars.
There probably is not and never has
| been any product of one place SO wide
| ly distributed as is the tobacco 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 the earth. 1t is an
| impressive thing to roam thru the
| shipping room of one of the great
| cigar factories here, and see the pack
| ing cases consigned TO every place in
| the world where there are civilized
Cairo and Algiers. Melbourne and
! Buenos Aires all draw their share of
| the sweet Habana leaf direct from the
| island. The cigars go out packed in
great wooden cases which are most
| ingeniously sealed with steel wires.
| For shipping Habana cigars is just like
| shipping money. They are as good as
! currency anywhere in the world. and
| kept under proper conditions they are
as enduring for stocks of Habana
| cigars are often mentioned in wills and
sometimes pass thru the hands of sew
| eral generation Hence thieves are al
ways after them, and some cigars are
| always stolen in transit, usually by re-
moving one plank from a packing
/ case extracting a few hundred cigars,
| worth perhaps almost as many dollars,
and then replacing the plank.
| In this same factory You can see the
smokes of the mighty of all the world
in process of being made. Here in one
factory are rolled the kind of cigars
| over which Kaiser Wilhelm planned
his great coup in Belgium, and the
ones which soothe the royal nerves of
! the Prince of Wales. Both of these
are cigars of modest size and price,
compared to the one which was
smoked by ]. P. Morgan. the elder. II
I
| in box. sells for a dollar apiece here
! IA Habana, and for about three dol
! lars in New York. The Cuban cigar
| maker who rolls these cigars makes
about seven dollars a day, and he can
be seen rolling them any time. He is
one of the very few men who can aft
/ ford to smoke this, perhaps the best
cigar in the world. Another man-who
| smokes them pretty regularly is this
cigar makers favorite doctor. A
Cuban cigarmaker cannot be pre-
vented flom presenting his doctor with
samples of his skill. No doubt the
post of physician to this particular
artist is very highly priced.
They say that J. P. Morgan came
down here once and watched this man
rolling cigars. He stood for several
minutes observing the process with in
| terest. and then walked away without
! having said anything, and what was
more disappointing. without having
put hand into his pocket This gave
the cigar maker very poor opinion of
American millionaires in general, and
| of j. P. Morgan i'll particular. For
several days, they say, he went about
| muttering:
Think of it, He has millions and
he did not give me a cent"
The Morgan cigar is by no means
| the largest made, however. The larg-
! g.
| nearly twice as much as Morgan's
SMOKE. Very few of these giant cigars
can be produced. because very few
| leaves grow large enough to make the
| wrappers for them. The foreman of
the factory watches every bale of to-
bacco that is opened for leaves to use
| IN making this kind of cigars. Nearly
all of the finished product is con-
| signed to single dealer in Egypt
i Who smokes these enormous cigars.
| and why and whether he smokes one
at sitting or lights one off and on
| for week. are questions which no one
can answer. The cigars go regularly
to Egypt at a thousand dollars thou
, sand. and they must retail for al least
| five dollars apiece. but that is all the
manufacturers know about them.
Supplying as it does the smokes of
| the world. this factory has n heavy
! responsibility. 1t was sharply re-
minded of that fact few years ago
In the making of some of the larger
cigars. rubber band is used to hold
/ the filler together before the wrapper
is applied, the band being deity
| slipped off as the filler goes on. At
/ least that is what is supposed to hap
pen But in one instance, the factory
received a letter in very ira tie German
written by a high official of the Aus
! trian government, stating that he had
! been smoking for many years certain
| brand of cigar put out by this fac
tory. and that recently he had been
| irritated. Mortified and incidentally
nauseated. by getting a puff of smoke
which plainly originated. not in Vuelto
! Abajo tobacco, but IN rotten rubber,
/ The letter explained that the high of
/ fetal had been FRUSTRATED his dinner
. dissipated. a cabinet meeting delayed.
| affairs of state boggled- What did it
mean? He demanded an explanation.
| The ia Glory sent him the exclamation
/ together with an apology and a cigar
/ to take The place of the one which had
| contained the rubber band.
The constant rise in the price of Ha-
| bana cigars is due to the growing cost
! of leaf tobacco and of the labor which
/ go into making them The wages OF
| cigar-makers have risen about so per
cent in the past two years. and the
/ planters are getting from so to 100
neI cent more for their Leaf than they