THE CUBA REVIEW 



37 



THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



MAKING CIGARS BURN EVEN 



A process wliich its inventor claims will 

 cause a cigar to burn more slowly than the 

 cigars heretofore made, and at the same time 

 to burn more evenly, has just been patented 

 in the United States by a man from Brook- 

 line, Mass. 



The effect is produced by constructing the 

 filler of the cigar from a plurahty of super- 

 posed leaves of tobacco wliich are densified 

 and compressed, and have longitudinal cor- 

 rugations formed therein. When the sheet 

 is rolled into the cigar, the grooves between 

 the ribs form uninterrupted air passages 

 longitudinally of the cigar, while the tobacco, 

 being compressed and densified, tends to 

 burn slowly after the manner of plug tobacco. 



A wrapper, may or may not be used, and if 

 employed, may be either of leaf tobacco or 

 paper. 



"Little or no skill is required in the manufac- 

 ture of cigars," says the inventor. "Skilled 

 labor is not requu-ed, as a person unfamiliar 

 with the handling of tobacco can easily super- 

 pose the sheets, subject them to pressure in 

 the die and roll up and finish the cigar. 



TOBACCO PLANTATIONS ABANDONED 



An Associated Press dispatch from Havana 

 states that distress in the tobacco-growing 

 regions of Havana and Pinar del Rio has be- 

 come so acute the government is at a loss to 

 find means for relief. Many tracts, once of 

 enormous value for the cultivation of the 

 finest tobacco, have been abandoned, or 

 partly utilized for sugar or vegetables, for the 

 Havana market. 



It also says that a governmental commis- 

 sion is now working in India and the Philip- 

 pines in the hope of finding some crops which 

 may be grown with a reasonable profit on the 

 abandoned tobacco plantations of Cuba. 



FUMIGATING STORED TOBACCO 



Sebastian Pia, Assistant Inspector-General 

 of Agriculture, was in Santa Clara recently 

 to fumigate with bisulphide of carbon the 

 tobacco in the store houses. This operation 

 destroys all insects and is in no way detri- 

 mental to the tobacco leaf. 



The services of the government's repre- 

 sentation are given gratis to all appUcants. 



OPPOSE CIGARS BY PARCEL POST 



A letter has been sent out by the Cigar 

 Manufacturers' Association of America in 

 opposition to a bill in the United States 

 Congress to provide for a convention with 

 Cuba so that cigars may be admitted in this 

 country in single shipments by parcel post 

 through the Custom House. 



The association is of the opinion that it 

 would be injuiious to then- interests to have 

 Havana houses start a mail order business 

 through the Custom House. 



It is signed by J. B. Wertheim, treasurer. 



CUBAN TOBACCO TO CANADA 



The value of the exports of cigars and leaf 

 tobacco to Canada during the last ten fiscal 

 years are officially stated to be as follows: 



Fiscal Leaf 



Years. Cigars. Tobacco. 



1903-04 $335,671 $164,848 



1904-05 352,659 93,072 



1905-06 462,423 169,417 



1906-07 567,540 172,267 



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 



1912-13 845,182 1,068,286 



TWO CIGARS IN ONE 



A new Havana cigar, the invention of a 

 Philadelphia firm, is headed at both ends, is 

 partly cut in the middle and long enough to 

 make two cigars by the simple process of 

 breaking it in half. The purchaser accord- 

 ingly has two cigars in place of one. 



"The cigars are made exactly as any prop- 

 erly constructed cigar is made. The wrap- 

 per, binder and filler are all laid in the regu- 

 lation way. The two cigars, when separated, 

 are perfect cigar-maker's products. 



There are at present 292 cigar factories in 

 Cuba, representing a capital of $12,318,748, 

 with an annual production of 359,643,600 

 cigars. 



TOBACCO EXPORTS FROM HAVANA 



From January 1st to December 30th, a 

 period of nine months, the tobacco exports 

 from Havana were as follows: 



1914 1913 



Leaf tobacco (bales) . . 329,857 218,372 



Cigars 98,318,034 130,420,156 



Cigarettes (packs) 11,919,300 14,073,223 



Cut Tobacco (kilos).. . 166,782 201,779 



The figures which follow are of cigar ex- 

 ports only to the warring countries: 



1913 1914 



(12 Months) (6 Months) 



Germany 14,028,326 4,452,562 



Austria 894,131 579,132 



Belgium 589,457 318,644 



France 9,362,492 7,189,375 



England 66,842,801 30,786,652 



Japan 21,000 15,500 



Russia 13,000 55,850 



