information for the published satiric comments about 

 these early cigars. The probable explanation for the con- 

 tinuation of the industry in its awkward age lies in the 

 character of Yankee thrift and habits. "Twofers" and 

 companion cigars may have been too awful to smoke, 

 but it would have been too sinful to waste them. 



R 



oilers, peddlers, packers 



Despite their defects, by modem standards, these 

 homespun cigars found a considerable market outside of 

 the locales of manufacture. That led to their physical 

 improvement. Cigar factories as such were established 

 for the first time in Connecticut at Suflield and East 

 Windsor around 1810. The originators of the manufac- 

 turing industry, as apart from homes, were the Viets 

 brothers. Samuel Viets had by chance come upon a wan- 

 dering Cuban who understood the art of cigar rolling. 

 He engaged him to teach his craft to a dozen or more 

 women in a newly opened factory at SuflReld. 



It was not long before the noted Yankee peddlers, fore- 

 runners of the road salesmen, were including the manu- 

 factured article in colorful boxes or packages in their 

 comprehensive merchandise. They offered this ware 

 throughout the New England countryside in exchange 

 for furs. By then these cigars had become standardized. 

 There were the "Short Sixes," "Long Nines," and "Wind- 

 sor Particulars" or "Supers." The first two derived their 

 name from the number of cigars in a bundle and their 

 size, the "Long Nines" being a pencil-thin type. "Supers" 

 (from "superior") was a derisive term; smokers knew that 

 somewhere there must be a better cigar. But "Supers" 



30 



