TOBACCO LEAVES 



Occident, it is not a discourtesy for a host 

 to light his own pipe and not offer one to 

 a guest. In the Orient it would be either 

 a terrible breach of manners or a direct 

 insult. 



At one time in Cuba many of the plan- 

 tation owners had a jovial custom of roll- 

 ing cigars from leaf grown on their own 

 plantations, and giving these to their 

 guests. Thomas Wilson, who travelled in 

 Cuba in the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century, speaks of the excellent cigars 

 which the wealthy planters were wont to 

 roll from the leaves of their own growing. 

 " The smell," he writes, " is exceedingly 

 delicious, but they are so strong that I 

 can never smoke more than half a one 

 without turning my stomach." 



109 



