T H I-. CUBA R E V 1 E W 



Few Havana workmen make move than" 

 100 perfectos a day. Most of them work 

 bv the piece and keep their own hours, 

 except that they never work by artilicial 

 light. Sometimes they begin at daylight, 

 stopping at 10 A. M. for the Spanisli 

 breakfast followed by a nap. At ]!.:;() 

 everybody gets busy again, but by 3 or 4 

 o'clock they begin to knock ofT. 



"It is and has always been a tabaquero's 

 privilege to smoke as much as he wishes. 

 The factories serve each workman with 

 live wrappers daily of a quality put into 

 bf teen-cent brands, and he rolls his own 

 cigars, using a tiller of choice blends. If 

 he asks for more wrappers he gets them. 

 A tabaquero who turns out 100 cigars a 

 day smokes enough more material to have 

 added another ten to his output. This is 

 regarded as part of his wages. 



"It is said that no matter M^hat unsanitary 

 conditions may be found elsewhere in Cuba, 

 the leading tobacco factories are scrupu- 

 lously careful. There are plenty of smaller 

 factories that are not. But the famous 

 brands are made under careful hygienic 

 regulations. Thoroughly cured Vuelta 

 Abajo leaf contains about 7 per cent of 

 resins and oils, which take up odors as 

 milk or ,[:iytter does. If an onion should 

 be slipped iqlo a bale of leaf or a bundle 

 of cigars, it woidd,be impossible to destroy 

 the resulting taint in'^'tlie tobacco. 



"Havana cigars are kept in cupboards of 

 Spanish cedars and packed in boxes of 

 the same wood. It i,s said that if ,t,hey were 

 packed in pine boxes their quality would 

 be destroyed. Accordmg to' law no two 

 persons working in a Havana factor}^ may 

 sit facing each other unless ^separated by 

 at least fifteen feet of space. So the 

 tobacco workers of all kinds sit back to 

 back. By another law, whicli forbids the 

 adulteration of tobacco in any form, per- 

 fume may not even be added to the paper 

 used for cigarettes. 



"In other countries lighter tobaccos are 

 sometimes 'seasoned' with a syrup made 

 from Cuban tobacco stems. ' Even if it 

 were necessary in Cuba.' the law would 

 forbid it ; for the law permits the use of 

 only one foreign substance in manufactur- 

 ing cigars, and that is pure water. Fortu- 

 nately Havana has that in abundance. Cu- 

 ban tobacco is protected by stringent laws 

 and by a heavy import duty that keeps 

 out foreign leaf." 



Sleeping car rates in Cuba are as fol- 

 lows : From Havana to 



Santa Clara $3.00 $10.00 



Ciego de Avila 3.00 10.00 



Camaguey 3.50 12.00 



Las Tunas 4.50 15.00 



Alto Cedro 5.00 18.00 



Santiago de Cuba 5.00 IS.OO 



TOBACCO DURING THE YEAR 



During 1911 Cuban manufacturers scored 

 a series of victories for the protection of 

 their products both in the United States 

 and in J'"ngland. In London a sweeping 

 verdict was gained in a libel suit tried in 

 the Kings Bench Court, which completely 

 vindicated the honor- of the Havana 

 manufacturers. In Xew York City a cam- 

 paign was waged against bo.x-stuffers, who 

 were dumping immense quantities of 

 counterfeit "imported" cigars in the metro- 

 politan and adjacent markets, and over a 

 score of convictions were secured. Other 

 malefactors in the liusiness of refilling do- 

 mestic brand containers were also brought 

 to book as an outcome of this concerted 

 movement against the brand pirate and 

 revenue tax defaulter. 



The following table shows the imports 

 of leaf and cigars from Havana at the 

 i)ort of New York, during 1911, classified 

 by monthly returns and compiled by the 

 United States Tobacco Journal: 



Tobacco Cigars 



Bales Cases 



January 17,271 1,888 



February 14,252 2,111 



i\Iarch 13,457 2,208 



April 13,408 2,612 



May 7,754 2,265 



June 6,312 2,000 



Julv S,279 2,744 



August 9,937 2,362 



September 9,511 2,593 



October 9,819 2,543 



November 11,553 2,833 



December 17,177 2,964 



Total 138,630 29,123 



1910 importations .... 1."j5,157 24,836 



Decrease 13,527 



Increase 4,287 



The Canadian and West Indian League 

 have arranged to run a Canadian Business 

 Man's Tour to the West Indies this winter. 

 The ship is the "Laurentic"' of the White 

 Star Dominion Line, and the tour will 

 leave New Y^ork late this month, being 

 away for thirty-one days. 



Cuba is the first country to be visited. 

 Some imports in 1910 of the republic of 

 interest to manufacturers are — manufac- 

 tured articles : Iron and steel, and manu- 

 factures, $6,164,000; colors and paints, 

 $673,000; chemical products, $2,781,000; 

 essences, oils, etc., $1,897,000; paper and 

 pasteboard, $1,498,000; wood (lumber and 

 manufactures of), $2,506,000; machinery, 

 $s, 382,000; apparatus, $2,822,000. Various: 

 Animal products, $4,453,000; meats, $11,- 

 477,000; fish, $1,310,000; breadstuffs (flour, 

 etc.), $13,358,000: dairy products, $2,524,- 

 Oi:0: vegetables, $4,522,000. 



