6 



sizes are 16 and 18 iucli leaves, as from leaves of these sizes tiie manii 

 factiirer will get four wrappers from each leaf and have very little 

 waste, which is always quite an important item to consider. We will 

 assume, for illustration, that a manufacturer buys 2 pounds of Sumatra 

 wrappers for which he pays $1 per i^ound. These 2 pounds will wrap 

 1,000 cigars, all "first," at a total cost of $8. There is no loss, the 

 entire leaf being used as a wrapper, and the manufacturer has the satis- 

 faction of knowing that for each 2 pounds of Sumatra wrapper bought 

 1,000 cigars will be wrapped and will be uniform in color. 



Whenever we can i^roduce iu this country a wrapper that will come 

 up to the above requirements, we shall find that the trade will take it 

 and pay liberally for it, but as long as we ofi'er to the trade inferior goods 

 the prices will be low. Of course the first essential is that the wrapper 

 leaf be grown; the next is that it be properly cured, assorted, and 

 classified. A manufacturer will never pay a high ])rice for a bale of 

 tobacco unless he can calculate just what it will yield him, and this he 

 can only do when it is well and carefully selected. The tobacco should 

 be uniform in size, color, and texture, as when a bale of tobacco con- 

 tains a variety of colors, sizes, and textures, the buyer is left to guess 

 its value, and the price will necessarily be low. 



For filler purposes, Cuban tobacco makes the standard. The size of 

 the leaf should be from 12 to 14 inches, not longer, and it should not be 

 very dark and heavy, as many seem to think, but of medium body and 

 of a rich brown color, burning smoothly and freely. All manufacturers 

 agree that it is never well to make a cigar from only one kind of tobacco ; 

 that is, a cigar should not be made in which the entire filler is Ohio, 

 Pennsylvania, or Florida tobacco, buttobacco shouldbe taken from these 

 various sections and a combination tried until tobaccos are found that 

 blend well. When this result is secured the combination is adopted and 

 a new brand of cigar is put on the market. This is especially true of the 

 Cuban tobacco. Many of the manufacturers would gladly reduce the 

 amount of imported Cuban tobacco if they could be supplied with a 

 domestic tobacco that would blend well with it. 



We have no choice in the matter. The trade demands the quality 

 contained in the Cuban tobacco and the style of the Sumatra leaf, there- 

 fore we must try to produce what they want. The tobaccos i)roduced in 

 the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and in the Connecticut 

 Valley, go far toward supplying the manufacturers of our country; but 

 unfortunately these goods find their way into medium and low-priced 

 cigars, and our higher-x)riced and best cigars are made from imported 

 goods. Just where the fault lies and what is the remedy is hard to say. 



This much, however, can be said of some of the States, especially of 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut — that a very pretty leaf is produced 

 which one would think would be acceptable to the trade and find a 

 place in the higher-priced cigars, but such is not the case except to a 

 limited degree. Some manufacturers do use the Connecticut wrapper 



