38 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



THE NEW TOBACCO CROP 



As regards the new crop, everybody is still 

 at sea in an effort to form any correct opinion, 

 al hough that the whole quantity will be as 

 large, and will probably even exceed last 

 year's production, seems to be admitted by 

 the best of judges. One party who had been 

 all over the Vuelta Abajo, stated to the 

 Tobacco correspondent that perhaps only 

 40% would consist of good tobacco, while 

 the remainder might be evenly divided into 

 medium sorts, and poor, defective styles, 

 \\hich latter could only be used by the cigar- 

 ette manufacturers. Partido may give 

 enough resagos, but only few clean, light- 

 colored wrappers, aid which, on account of 

 the scarcity, are bound to bring high figures. 

 Partido fillers ought to rule low this year, as 

 the country buyers so far are only looking 

 for bundles of wrappers, and are not making 

 any bids for the filler bundles. As a rule, the 

 buyers are operating slowly, and prefer to 

 make trial packings, in order to see how the 

 yield may turn out. In the Vuelta Abajo 

 there is even less anxiety to buy, as most 

 buyers prefer to wait and see how the leaf 

 will look after the fermentation has been 

 concluded. The Remedios crop needing a 

 longer fermentation in the piles, and also on 

 account of the high figures asked by the 

 farmers, is still less in demand by local pack- 

 ers, and only few trial escogidas of the Ughter 

 styles are about to begin their work shortly. 

 We think, it will be July before the bulk of 

 the packings will get under way, and pro- 

 vided that by that time the vegueros are 

 ready to accept reasonable figures. — Harana 

 Correi^pondence of Tobacco, New York, May 30. 



CUBAN TOBACCO IN CANADA 



Canada's importation of Cuba's tobacco, 

 both manufactured and leaf, shows a steady 

 increase since 1903, as is evidenced by the 

 following table compiled by the Union of 

 Tobacco Manufacturers in Havana. The 

 figures follow: 



Cigars Leaf 



1903-04 $335,671 $164,848 



1904-05 352,659 93,072 



1905-06 462,423 169,417 



1906-07 567,540 175,267 



1907-08 537,817 197,509 



1908-09 418,808 300,035 



1909-10 494,872 425,075 



1910-11 549,199 583,631 



1911-12 669,621 618,488 



RECEIPTS OF LEAF TOBACCO 



Up to May 21, the receipts of leaf tobacco 

 in Havana from the interior, since January 1, 

 totals 28,189 bales. 



Vuelta Abajo sent 16,377 and Remedios 

 8,587 bales. 



POINTS ABOUT HAVANA CIGARS 



Mr. Arthur Morris of London, an expert 

 on cigars, recently gave a Ivondon Standard 

 representative some interesting information 

 on Havana Cigars. 



Regarding recent crops he was satisfied 

 that the 1913 crop was far and away the finest 

 that has been raised for many years. Except 

 in a few isolated cases, cigars in which last 

 year's crop is being used have not yet reached 

 the consumer. They are still in the stores of 

 the distributors, who are holding them for 

 proper conditioning. 



Dealing with some popular misconceptions, 

 Mr. Morris alluded to the belief that the 

 whiter the ash, and the longer it holds on, the 

 better the cigar. This is quite wrong, he said. 

 The length of the ash depends on the size of 

 the pieces used in the filler, and a clear steel- 

 gray ash denotes the best Havana. 



Then, again, nearly every man will reject a 

 spotted cigar, but the spots mean absolutely 

 nothing as regards quality. Most men think 

 they can tell a cigar by squeezing it or smell- 

 ing. Neither test is of the slightest value. 

 And every smoker believes that color denotes 

 strength — that a dark wrapper denotes a 

 strong cigar, a light one a mild cigar. The 

 color has nothing whatever to do with the 

 strength. 



As a matter of fact, he said, for the average 

 smoker there are practically no outward indi- 

 cations of the quality of a cigar. The only 

 test for the non-expert is in smoking it. 



GOOD HAVANA TOBACCO 



Said a well-known cigar manufacturer 

 recently : 



It is well known to the trade that only a 

 small portion of the Island of Cuba can raise 

 fine quality tobaccos. The major part of the 

 island produces tobacco that, while it is called 

 Havana, is in fact frequently much inferior 

 to tobaccos raised in many sections of the 

 United States and elsewhere. 



There is a vast difference in Havana 

 tobaccos; considerable is very bad, some is 

 ordinary, some is fair, and a little is very good. 

 Not all Havana tobacco is good tobacco; 

 some of the poorest in the world is grown in 

 Cuba. 



The only good Havana tobacco is that 

 which is raised on fine soil in the Vuelta 

 Abajo section, by capable and experienced 

 farmers who watch their crops carefully, use 

 proper fertilizers, and under the right weather 

 conditions for growing, packing and curing, 

 produce good tobacco. 



Tobacco, of New York, records an "in- 

 sistent demand" in that city for a cigar 163^ 

 inches long, and weighing 250 pounds to the 

 thousand. They retail for $6.00 each. 



