THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 189 



In the opinion of experienced smokers a new cigar is 

 never good ; like wine, the weed requires age to bring it to 

 perfection — the highly prized excellences, a mild, cool aro- 

 matic smoke. Curiously enough, the marks of a mite on 

 the outer leaf are the true signs of matured years, when the 

 cigar is fitted to regale the jaded senses and dispose the 

 most obdurate of men to relax into sociality. But these 

 seductive touches by an invisible hand are well known to 

 the manufacturer, and are sometimes artificially produced by 

 means of acid. Fancy or experience has suggested different 

 kinds of cigars for different seasons of the year, or climates. 

 The Havana is thought by connoisseurs to be the most agree- 

 able for summer or hot countries, and for winter or cold 

 climates a principe is preferred ; while the thoughtful and 

 imaginative are assured that there is no leaf like the Manila. 

 And as regards the Manila there is something to warrant the 

 suggestion. The tobacco of Luzon when mixed with that 

 of the Gapanian plantation is considered to make the very 

 perfection of all cheroots. Its excellences consist in a deli- 

 cate flavour combined with a slightly soporific quality : 

 properties which render it so pleasantly alluring to the im- 

 aginative, and which to some smokers suggest the use of 

 opium in its preparation ; this, however, is not so ; to the 

 climate and soil alone are due the grateful pleasures of this 

 most solacing smoke. There are three different and distinct 

 growths of the tobacco-plant in the Philippines. A strong, 

 aromatic tobacco is grown in great abundance in the pro- 

 vince of Cagayan in the island of Luzon, and the district 

 of Gapan in Pampanga produces a leaf of a very mild 

 and agreeable flavour, while from Bisayas a tobacco much 

 inferior to either is raised. In the manufacture of the poorer 

 kind it is a common practise to use a leaf of the best as an 

 envelope wrapped round, in order to impart to it a better 



