THE CUBA REVIEW 



17 



THE CUBAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



A YEAR OF CIGAR EXPORTS 



The exportation of cigars from Havana 

 during 19] 3 and 1912 are officially given as 

 follows : 



1913 ^ 1913 



January 13,161,385 * 11,408,380 



P>bruary 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 



July 16,199,838 10,276,106 



August 14,679,147 18,036,467 



September 13,761,421 20,506,159 



October 20,390,700 17,114,240 



November 14,338,921 16,439,735 



December 18,264,553 17,651,251 



Total 183,234,330 178.981,472 



CUBA S EXPORTS OF TOBACCO 



The exports of Cuban tobacco from Ha- 

 vana during the twelve months of 1912 and 

 1913 as compiled by El Tobaco of Havana 

 are herewith given : 



1913 . 1913 



Leaf tobacco (bales) 401,019 322,121 



Cigars 178,981.472 183,234,330 



Cigarettes (packs) ... 16,392,477 18,720,975 

 Cut tobacco (kilos) . 353,921 285,676 



Canada's imports were : 



1913 13,319,147 cigars 



1912 12,728,219 



LEAF TOBACCO EXPORTS 



Cuba exported 322,121 bales of leaf to- 

 bacco in 1913 and 401,019 bales in 1912. 

 The tobacco went to the following coun- 

 tries : 



1913 1912 



United States 259,758 271,404 



Germany 20,572 80,401 



Canada 16,880 18,078 



Argentine 12,102 13,865 



Spain 4,518 7,327 



Uruguav 2.112 4,795 



CIGAR FACTORY PLANNED 



Pogolotti, the new town in Mariano, Ha- 

 vana Province, where the homes for work- 

 ingmen were erected by the government, is 

 to be the site of a cigar factory. A com- 

 pany composed of a number of business 

 men has been organized, the ground for 

 the factory having been donated. There 

 are about 100 cigar makers living at 

 Pogolotti. 



THE CUBANS YEARLY SMOKE 



According to the Cuban trade journal 

 El Tabaco, there has been consumed in the 

 island of Cuba during the year 1913 a mat- 

 ter of 204,141,900 cigars 'and 270,613,088 

 packages of cigarettes of 16 cigarettes each, 

 together with 299,281 pounds of cut tobacco. 

 These figures were obtained from the In- 

 ternal Revenue books, and are based upon 

 the number of stamps sold, but if one 

 should add to the above figures the free 

 smokes taken by the cigarmakers, the var- 

 ious employees and the visitors to the fac- 

 tories, we could safely add another 20,000,- 

 000 to the number of cigars and fully 5,000,- 

 000 packages to the number of cigarette? 

 consumed. Figuring on the consumption 

 per head would give an average of 112 

 cigars and about 1.900 cigarettes for each 

 inhabitant of Cuba in one year. Notwith- 

 standing this tremendous consumption, 

 there is not a case of nicotine poisoning on 

 record in Cuba, although some people 

 smoke as many as 20 or 25 cigars every 

 day, and half of that number in a day is 

 considered in Cuba as smoking moderately. 



TOBACCO CROP DANGERS 



A view of tobacco crop conditions on 

 February 7th showed that late rains and 

 continued humidity with prevailing souther- 

 ly winds had done some damage to the 

 nearly ripe plants in the fields, washing all 

 the gummy substance away. Then, again, 

 the cut leaves, hanging to dry in the sheds, 

 may show pole sweat and possibly spots on 

 the wrapper leaves. All this will declare 

 itself later on, when the tobacco has be- 

 come dry and passed the first fermentation 

 in the piles. As far as the later planted 

 tobacco is concerned, and also as regards 

 the sucker growth the rains have so far 

 been beneficial, but all will depend on the 

 future weather conditions in this and the 

 coming month. Marcli, being a Spring 

 month, is not, as a rule, looked upon to 

 give favorable weather for tobacco, there- 

 fore we are still at sea, as regards the 

 quantity, and more so still as regards the 

 nualitv. 



BEST IN THIRTY YEARS 



Colonel Aurelio Hevia, secretary of the 

 Department of Government, stated January 

 25th that in the province of Pinar del Rio 

 the existing tobacco crops are the best he 

 has seen in several years, and that accord- 

 ing to statements made by the planters they 

 expect it to be the best crop which they 

 have had for the last thirty years. 



