PRODUCTION AND COMMERCE. 229 



cheaper in tlie English market with the additional 

 advantage of examining and testing the goods before 

 purchase. 



" I leave the solution of this enigma to the initiated : it 

 probably is that the makers consign very largely, and 

 London importers are too experienced and too wary to 

 pay the full invoice price until well acquainted with the 

 wares, or they get large discounts refused to the cash 

 purchaser in Havana. 



" Complaints are heard of the depressed state of the 

 Cuban tobacco trade and of the large unsold stocks on 

 hand. I do not think the traders deserve sympathy, 

 nor have they done anything to earn the confidence of 

 foreign customers. My experience leads me to advise 

 intending purchasers to put (I do not advise regular 

 traders) themselves in the hands of reliable London 

 dealers and avoid all direct purchases. 



" Intelligent smokers with sensitive palates will find no 

 cheap tobacco here fit to smoke ; 50s. per 100 and tipwards 

 is what must be paid at present for really fine-flavoured 

 aromatic cigars ; beyond 80s. or 85s. prices become fancy 

 ones, and are paid for the smart cases and envelopes. 

 Even at the rates I quote it is not easy to find what is 

 wanted. There is abundance of dark powerful tobacco of 

 fine quality at much lower rates, but not light tobacco 

 with flavour or aroma or without strength, such as the 

 educated (I allude to taste) Englishman seeks. I believe 

 that only aboitt 10 per cent, of the tobacco harvested in 

 ordinary years is of the light colour I refer to, hence the 

 difficulty in supplying the demand, and the artifices 

 resorted to to supply the deficiency. 



