24 



IHE CUBA REVIEW 



THE CUBAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



TOBACCO IMPORTS INTO CUBA 



An erroneous idea held by many tobac- 

 conists, in addition to members of the 

 general public, says the Tobacco Trades 

 Review of London, is that tobacco of an 

 inferior grade is often imported into Cuba 

 and there manufactured into cigars, which 

 are then foisted off as "genuine Havana." 

 The facts are that, prior to the American 

 occupation of the island, the importation 

 of tobacco was prohibited ; since that 

 time, whilst the importation of tobacco 

 has not been entirely prohibited, an ex- 

 cessive duty has been placed on the raw 

 material, which has had exactly the same 

 effect as the prohibition which previously 

 existed. The duty is equal to five Ameri- 

 can dollars per pound, and it is possible 

 to purchase some of the best growths on 

 the island for that sum alone. It is, there- 

 fore, obvious that any attempt to import 

 a cheaper grade of tobacco would be fore- 

 doomed to failure, and that Havana ci- 

 gars are made solely from the home-grown 

 product. 



HIGH PRICED CIGARS 



The Havana correspondent of Tobacco, 

 of New York, recently saw some beautiful 

 sizes and colors of new cigars for the 

 English market, and also some for Ger- 

 many. Among the different cases attention 

 was called to one huge cedar cabinet that 

 measured over six feet and contained 10,000 

 cigars, one half of them Coronas, and the 

 other half Cetros, ranging in price from 

 $200 and $250 a thousand. There were also 

 boxes of the beautiful Cuban maple wood, 

 containing 100 Corona cigars each, destined 

 for the London market, and 7-inch fat ci- 

 gars, called Salomones, destined for Ger- 

 many, which the German students smoke, 

 sitting around a table, half a dozen at a 

 time, each of them having a kind of rubber 

 attachment, while the cigar is placed in the 

 center of the table. They are selling in 

 Havana at $1,000 a 1,000. 



TOTAL RECEIPTS TO JULY 1 7tH 



The total tobacco receipts at Havana 

 from January 1st to July 17th are as fol- 

 lows : 



Bales 



Remedios 18,196 



Oriente 1,108 



Vuelta Abajo 99,053 



Semi Vuelta 11,668 



Partido 5,435 



Total 135,460 



EXPORTS OF CIGARS 



The exports of Cuban cigars from Ha- 

 vana for the first six months of 1913 as 

 compared with the same period in the previ- 

 ous year total as follows : 



-1913 1912 



January 13,161,385 11,408,380 



February 14,431,875 12,494,267 



March 13,331,495 15,011,982 



April 18,431,837 12,794,245 



May 13,336,714 15,470,102 



June 12,906,444 11,778,538 



Total 85,599,750 78,957,514 



The leading world consumers of Cuba's 

 cigars are the United States, England, Can- 

 ada, Germany, France, Australia, Argentine, 

 Spain and Chili. 



The exports to these countries for the 

 six months ending June 30th compare as 

 follows : 



1913 1912 



England 33,008,006 27,386,194 



United States 21,746,814 21,448,268 



Canada 6,658,864 5,502,252 



Germany 3,844,842 4,102,252 



France 7,778,957 7,507,82'5 



Australia 2,718,481 2,493,549 



Argentine • 1,969,063 2,904,823 



Spain 2,442,249 2,059,373 



Chili 2,062,712 1,759,861 



Total 82,230,788 75,164,879 



— La Lucha, Havana. 



A NEW CIGAR 



Por Larrafiaga, Fabrica de Tobacos, 

 which is the new style of the present so- 

 ciety, is getting ready a new size of a cigar 

 which, they explicitly state, is only for 

 those connoiseurs of imported cigars from 

 Havana that are not led astray by the 

 shining light colors and fine workmanship, 

 but who want to smoke a cigar that is 

 sweet, mild and has a pronounced high 

 aroma. These cigars are made from leaf 

 from a particular but extremely limited 

 section of the Vuelta Abajo, therefore 

 the output of this cigar will be limited. 

 The name of this cigar will be Nacionales, 

 and they will be packed in a special boite 

 nature cedar box, holding 50 cigars. The 

 box is an invention of Don Antonio Rivero. 

 It is air tight, provided with a lock, and 

 each of the four layers of cigars is sep- 

 arated by a thin sheet of cedar wood, and, 

 besides, it is protected from being tam- 

 pered with by a ribbon that runs around 

 the box with the gold seal of the Por 

 Larrafiaga factory, which has to be cut 



