Chapter IX: Cigars (2)

"You will see a man light a cigar so carelessly that one
side of the roll will burn rapidly, with prodigious
fumigation and giving out a dark and offensive cloud, while
the other side remains untouched by the fire, only to wither
and crackle and twist into uncouth shapes, until the smoker
flings the cigar away, with an accompaniment of expletives
which attach rather to his own stupidity than to the piece
of tobacco he has so abominably abused. You will see another
with a good pipe, laden with good tobacco, well lit, blowing
incessantly down the mouth-piece and the stem until the
moisture introduced with his breath into the bowl of his
pipe effectually prevents the tobacco from burning, and puts
out the fire; and then you will hear him lament that he
should have paid so good a price for a pipe so bad that it
'fouls' before he has smoked a single hour. You will see
another who, while he talks to his friends, allows his
tobacco to go out every three or four minutes, so that at
length his mouth is sore and his palate nauseated with the
combined fumes of lucifer matches, burnt paper and exhausted
tobacco dust; and he inveighs against the 'cabbage-leaf
which that rascally tobacconist sold him for good Shag or
Cavendish.' Another knows so little of the art of smoking
that he never 'stops' his pipe, and so allows the light dust
of the burnt weed to fly about him in flakes and minute
particles, to the permanent damage of his own and his
neighbors' clothes. But in nothing is the inartistic
character of English smoking so conspicuously exemplified as
in the use of 'lights.' Those who form the great majority of
smokers amongst the English-speaking races seem to consider
that, so long as their pipes are set alight, it matters not
how or from what source the light is obtained. Thus, one
will place his pipe-bowl in a flame of gas, and pull away at
the stem till his tobacco is on fire; another will thrust
the bowl into the midst of a coal fire, and when he sees a
glow in the bowl withdraw it, and contentedly puff away;
another stops an obliging policeman or railway guard, and
ignites his tobacco by hard pulling at the flame of an
oil-lamp; another will stick the end of a choice cigar into
the bowl of a pipe filled with coarsest Shag, thus ruining
the flavor of his 'prime Havana' forever; while yet another
will light lucifer matches, and apply the blazing brimstone
to his pipe or cigar, thus saturating the whole mass with
sulphurous and phosphoretic fumes, to the ruin of the weed
and the injury of his own health.

"How much wiser the West Indian negro, who takes a burning
stick from the wood fire, and tenderly lights his weed
therewith, or joyfully brings a handful of the white-hot
ashes in his thick-skinned palm, that 'massa' may fire his
cigar! Or the travelling peddler or tinker, who, as he sits
by the way-side, patiently wooes the sun with a
'burning-glass' till his tobacco ignites, or uses with equal
prudence and skill the ancient but inimitable tinder-box.

"But this is the age of Fusees. What a name! When, in our
youth, those longitudinal strips of tinder, semi-divided
into innumerable transverse slips, all tipped with harmless,
ignitable matter, first assumed the title, we had little
notion of the atrocities which would come to be dignified by
their name. This was soon after the world had been delighted
by the Congreves, which drove Lucifer to the wall, and
before English and German ingenuity had taught us to find
'death' in the box, as well as 'the pot.' The innocent old
fusee had his faults, certainly. He would not always light;
he had a bad habit of turning back on your finger-nail and
burning its quick when you struck him; and he would
occasionally light up, all by himself, and set fire to fifty
of his fellows in your waist-coast pocket, or the tail of
your best dress-coat. (Those were the days when waist-coats
were gorgeous and tail-coats immense.) But what were these
peccadilloes compared with the sins of the modern
'cigar-light?' 'Fusees,' forsooth! More like bomb-shells,
military mines, torpedoes, and nitroglycerine trains. Who
has not had them explode in his eye, on his cheek, down his
neck, scarring his skin, burning holes in his coats and
trousers, frightening passers-by, and doing all manner of
deep-dyed devilment? Nor is this the worst. Those who will
trust their skins, and their eyes, and their clothes to
'Vesuvians,' 'Flamers,' and the like, are not to be pitied;
for they are more cruel to their tobacco than the fusees are
to them. Our grievance is that so many engines of
destructiveness and offensiveness should be so largely
patronized by smokers, to their own discomfort, the
ruination of their tobacco, the scandalization of gentle and
simple, and the encouragement of vicious manufactures. Now,
we are not going to particularize too closely, for fear of
consequences. In these days, when a man may bring an action
for libel because it has been said of him that he sells bad
soup at a railway station, prudence is the better part of
valor. But, just examine this heterogeneous pile of
'cigar-lights,' which rears its audacious head upon the
table. Here are Palmers, Barbers, Farmers, Lord Lornes,
Tichbornes, Bryants and Moys, Bells and Blacks, Alexandres,
Bismarcks, King Williams, Napoleons, and scores of other
varieties. Some light 'only on the box,' some light
anywhere, some everywhere, and some nowhere. Some are on
wood, some on porcelain, some on glass, some on dire deeds
intent. There are vestas, safety-matches, patent
flint-and-steel contrivances, with silver tubes and
marvellous screws wherewith to put them out when they have
served your turn. Some are excellent, many passable, still
more intolerable. One of these times it may be worth while
to speak of the good ones, but at present we care only to
treat of those that are bad, and that briefly.

"Here's a 'Flamer'--we name no names--everybody seems to
make flamers; and this one deserves his title. We want to
light a peaceful pipe, and he bursts out in a fury like unto
nothing on earth so much as Etna in convulsion, or the
Tuilleries in petroleum blaze. But, if you have any respect
for your tobacco, your lips, your nostrils, or your lungs,
you will let him get rid of his flames before you apply him
to your cigar; and, when you do venture so far, he drops off
the stick and burns a hole in the carpet. Or, if you be
daring enough to take a light from the flamer while he
flames, you spoil your tobacco, foul your mouth, and get a
taste of sulphur-suffocation such as Asmodeus might have
were he to take a whiff of a smoke-and-fire belching chimney
in the Black Country as he flies across that district by
night. Haven't got a light? Glad of it. Try a
Vesuvian-round, black and tipped with blue. There's a
pyrotechnic display for you! Now, in with it, after the
approved style illustrated by the two human hands engaged in
lighting a cigar on the illuminated cover of the box. 'Ugh!'
you say. Just so; you've got a mouthful of choice
abominations, which will cost you much waste of saliva,
several shivers, and the whole piece of tobacco you were
about to enjoy. Here, put that away; take another, light it
quietly with this wax-vesta, or this wooden 'spill,' or this
screw of paper; smoke gently, don't let the fire out, and
you'll be all right. In future, you may be wise enough to
avoid cheap cigar-lights and pipe-lights, even for use in
the streets. Our word upon it--they are far dearer than
those which cost more."

The following description of "Home Made Cigars" is from _All the Year Round_, and will doubtless be read with interest by many growers of the weed who may recall similar scenes:

"'Apropos of cigars,' said Wilkins, lighting a second
fragrant Havana with the stump of the first, 'let's go and
see the farmer's establishment for making them. You see that
field of tobacco over yonder? Old Standish raises his own
weed, dries it in the big open sheds behind the barn, cures
it--I don't quite know the whole process--and then has it
made into sixes and short fives, Conchas and Cabanas, like a
Cuban señor. I went over the establishment about a year ago,
and it is worth seeing.'

"We strolled first over to the tobacco field. The weed was
then just at its full ripeness, and the long, flappy,
delicately-furred green leaves bent gracefully over toward
the ground, growing smaller and smaller the higher they were
on the stout stalk. Few foreigners know that even as far
north as New England, in the sunny valleys of Connecticut,
sheltered as they are from the bleak east winds of the
Atlantic and accustomed to a long and steady summer heat,
tobacco is grown in large quantities, flourishes
exuberantly, and is one of the chief sources of profit to
the farmers. It needs a rich warm soil and careful tending;
but it gives in its growth, a sentimental reward to the
cultivator; for it comes up gracefully, rapidly, and
beautifully, and is with some care, one of the most
satisfactory crops to 'handle.' Having gazed at and tasted
the thick leaves, we sauntered behind the barn, and there
saw the long open shed, with beams running parallel from
end to end, where the gathered tobacco leaves were hung to
be thoroughly dried by the sun.

"Then Wilkins conducted us for some distance along the river
bank; we jumped into a boat and rowed perhaps half a mile,
landing by the side of a little shop-like building, where we
heard the hum of voices and the commotion of many busy
persons. We entered and found ourselves in a long, low room,
having wide tables ranged along the walls; here, working
rapidly, were rows of chatty country girls, who, as they
worked, laughed and talked, and now and then hummed a verse
of some familiar ballad. Neatly packed piles of the dried
and cured leaf lay upon the table before them.

"Each was armed with knives and cutters, and we watched the
quick transformation of the flat leaves into the smooth and
compact cigars. The tobacco grown upon the farm was, we
discovered, only used as wrappers for the cigars. The good
farmer imported, for the interior filling, a fine tobacco
from Havana. Strips and little pieces of this the girls
placed in the centre of the cigar, wrapping the Connecticut
tobacco in wide strips tightly about it, then pasting each
of the last with some paste in a pot by their side. It
seemed to be done almost in an instant; the Havana slips
were laid down, cut and trimmed, and pressed into shape in
a twinkling; the wrappers were cut as quickly; and, more
rapidly than I can describe it, the cigar was made. These
girls were mostly daughters of neighboring farmers, who
received so much per hundred cigars made; intelligent,
bright-eyed and witty; many of them comely, with rosy cheeks
and ruddy health; educated at the common schools, and able,
their day's work over, to sit down at the piano and rattle
away _ad infinitum_.

"His stock of cigars thus made up, from the first sowing to
the last finishing touch, the good squire (being
Yankee-like, a sort of Jack-of-all-trades,) would have them
put up in gorgeously labeled boxes, carry them to town, and
sell them to retail dealers; not disdaining himself, twice
or thrice a year, to go through the neighboring States with
samples, and acting as his own commercial traveler."

This description, however, may not convey a correct idea of the exact mode of manufacture to many growers of tobacco in the Connecticut Valley inasmuch as many planters of the "weed" make the entire cigar (more particularly for their own use) wrapper, binder and filler wholly of seed-leaf tobacco, such cigars do not readily sell to the trade except at inferior prices which admit of but a small profit to the manufacturer. The following spicy article from the "London _Figaro_" may be interesting to all smokers as well as guide them in the selection of a good cigar.

"I am an imaginative person, and 'society' has treated me
shamefully of late--its tangible delights are absent from
me. Allow me, then, to console myself by the 'creations of
smoke,' as Lord Lytton puts it. I am scouted by society
because I am in love. I am told I look:

"As hyenas in love are supposed to look, or
A something between Abelard and old Blücher."

And, moreover, I am an ugly man, but there was only a
fortnight's difference in gaining a woman's love between
John Wilkes and the handsomest man in England, courage,
Jehu! I like idleness, because it shows that one can afford
it; so I am puffing idly--ah! the balmy fragrance of this
mild Havana! 'Oh! the effect of that first note from the
woman one loves!' says one; 'Oh! the kiss on the dimpled
cheek, the sound of the silver voice!' says another; but
what can compare to the dreamy exquisite luxury of a good
cigar? But, heavens, what am I saying? I am in love, and
Julia reads the "_Figaro_!" The paleness of Flaxman's
illustrations spreads over me--please, reader, look upon the
sentiment as sarcastic. I am in a fog of smoke, and am
quaffing claret from the silvered pewter. There's plenty of
it; and no soul can say:

"That in drinking from _that_ beaker
I am sipping like a fly.'

How changed from the long, long days ago, when I was a
connoisseur in Parparillo cigars, brown-paper cigarettes,
and cane cheroots! Then I fondly adored Sir Walter Raleigh
as my earthly idol, for giving me tobacco--when I had the
halfpence to buy it--and delighted in the story, told by
queer Oldys, of Sir Walter's servant extinguishing the
Virginny smoke that issued from his master's lips, by
drenching him with ale. Alas! my idol is shattered by
Hawkins. The Spaniards say, 'The lie that lasts for half an
hour is worth telling.' History has lied for longer, by a
considerable period. Fond even as I was of my brown-papered
cigarettes when baccy failed, I must confess I never reached
the stage attained by Sir Christopher Haydon's chaplain,
William Breedon, parson of Thornton, in Bucks, who was so
given to

"October store and best Virginia,"

that when he had no tobacco (and too much drink) he used to
cut the _bell-ropes_ and smoke them!

"The Polyglot--three parts--my text;
Howbeit--likewise--now to my next."

"On Smoke.--It is a vulgar, ludicrous, and foolish custom to
bite off the nose of a cigar. Don't be a Vandal--you are not
a Sandwich Islander, about to chew your _Kava_. A cigar
should be handled daintily; it is a fragile, graceful
creature--don't mar its beauty. Tear off the twist, and the
pleasure of smoking is at an end! The outer leaf becomes
untwirled. Ere it is half finished, you have a ragged end
between your lips--nasty, foul, and unsightly--through which
the smoke comes in huge clouds to your mouth, instead of
slender streams on the palate. 'How, then,' say you; 'prick
it, or cut it, or what? Tear it not, cut it not; nor yet
puncture it. Don't be frightened of the cigar--thrusting a
half-inch alone into the mouth; but, when you begin, take a
good half of it in the mouth; pull at it lustily for a few
seconds, to open its pores; then draw it out, allowing but
an inch to be held within the lips--believe me, you will
enjoy it a hundred-fold more; and there are but few cigars
that will not allow of their virtue being drawn though their
leaves. Never bite the end off, and never use your cigar
cruelly, by squeezing it, biting it, or re-lighting it.
Cigar-holders, tubes, quills, and such like inventions, we
despise. If you cannot bear the cigar in your mouth--aye,
and enjoy it--you have no business with it: go back to your
brown paper and cane!

"What is the best beverage to imbibe whilst inhaling the
precious weed? Momentous question! Coffee, or claret, says
Jehu. I do not believe in bitter, as an accompanying liquid
to a cigar. The Corporation of Christ-church, years ago,
smoked cigars, and drank with them that then famous
concoction known as 'Ringwood Beer.' What was the result?
The first toast at every civic banquet held for years in
that borough was gravely given out, and bumpered with due
solemnity, as follows:--

'Prosperation to this Corporation.'

Brandy is a perfect antidote to inebriation from beer, so we
are told. The Corporation should have known this, and been
awakened from their long and pleasant dream of
_prosperation_. Brandy I should hardly reckon amongst the
drinks that ought to be with cigars, notwithstanding that
Tennyson has asked:--

'For what delights can equal those
Which stir, with spirits, inner depths? &c.'

Brandy-and-water, gin, whisky, and the likes are only fit
for those who nocturnally lay the foundation for matutinal
'hot coppers,' with the vilest shag in the most odorous of
yards of clay. 'Smoking leads to drinking,' has been a
favorite old woman's saying for time out of mind. How I hate
old women's sayings! A grain--requiring to be picked out
with a pin and microscope--of truth, with a bushel of bunkum
or cant. How is it, that ever since the days of James I, of
'hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain' memory, there
have always been carpers on the injurious effects of
smoking? 'Nicotine!' they say, with a
would-be-taken-for-know-all-about-it-air. Quite so; but, as
recent investigations have proved that, so far as the actual
'poisoning' is concerned, it would take upwards of a
thousand years to kill the most inveterate of healthy
smokers, we have still time to breathe--and 'it please the
pigs.' _Mem._ for pipers--French tobacco contains the
greatest, Turkish the least, per-centage of nicotine.
Havana, two and one-half per cent.

"But an unique old woman of Jehu's acquaintance goes further
still; boldly asserting that 'smoking is well for making
good soldiers, well for making good sailors, well for making
sometimes good lawyers; not so well for making good
Christians.' Oh! ashes of Hawkins and Raleigh, shudder for
the results of 'baccy on degraded human nature.' There must
be a rarity of good Christians, then amongst the parsons;
they are all fond of it. Dean Aldrich was, perhaps, tho
greatest smoker of his day. His excessive attachment to this
habit was the cause of many wagers. Here's one:--At
breakfast, one morning, at the 'Varsity, an undergraduate
laid his companion long odds that the Dean was smoking at
that instant. Away they hastened; and, being admitted to the
Dean's study, stated the occasion of their visit. The Dean
replied, in perfect good humor, to the layer of the bet,
'You see, sir, you have lost your wager; for I am not
smoking, but filling my pipe.' But--my cigar has reached its
last dying speech, and there is but a drop left in the
beaker.

'I'll not leave thee, thou lone drop!
'Twould be mighty unkind,
Since the rest I have swallow'd,
To leave thee behind.'

"Final exhortation. Choose the small, sound, tolerably firm,
and elastic cigar: the dwarf contains stuff within which the
giant hath not. Don't flatter yourself you're smoking
cabbage, if not tobacco--its any odds on rhubarb!

'For me there's nothing new or rare,
Till wine deceives my brain;
And that, I think, 's a reason fair
To fill my pipe again.'"

Charles Lamb, "the gentle Elia" was during a portion of his
lifetime a famous smoker. In a letter to Hazlitt he writes,
"I am so smoky with last night's ten pipes, that I must
leave off." It is said that he smoked only the coarsest and
strongest he could procure. Dr. Parr inquired of him how he
acquired his "prodigious smoking powers." "I toiled after
it, sir," was the reply, "as some men toil after virtue!"
Lamb was constant in his use of tobacco, and among all the
great luminaries of English literature we know of none more
addicted to the use of the pipe. Lamb might often be seen in
his chambers in Mitre Court Building, puffing the coarsest
weed from a long clay pipe, in company with Parr who used
the finest kind of tobacco in a pipe half filled with salt.
It was no easy task to relinquish the use of tobacco and it
cost him many a struggle and much determined effort. In
writing to Wordsworth he says:--"I wish you may think this a
handsome farewell to my 'Friendly Traitress.' Tobacco has
been my evening comfort and my morning curse for these five
years. I have had it in my head to do it (Farewell to
Tobacco) these two years; but tobacco stood in its own light
when it gave me headaches that prevented my singing its
praises."

Lamb's poem is without doubt one of the finest pieces of verse ever written on tobacco, and seemingly contains both words of praise and dispraise--the latter however in some sense are insincere.

"May the Babylonish curse
Straight confound my stammering verse
If I can a passage see
In this word-perplexity,
Or a fit expression find,
Or a language to my mind,
(Still the phrase is wide or scant,)
To take leave of thee, GREAT PLANT!
Or in my terms relate
Half my love, or half my hate;
For I hate, yet love thee so,
That whichever thing I show,
The plain truth will seem to be
A constrain'd hyperbole,
And the passion to proceed
More from a mistress than a weed.
Sooty retainer to the vine,
Bacchus' black servant, negro fine;
Sorcerer, thou mak'st us dote upon
Thy begrimed complexion,
And for thy pernicious sake,
More and greater oaths to break
Than reclaimed lovers take
'Gainst women: thou thy siege do'st lay
Much too in the female way,
While thou suck'st the lab'ring breath
Faster than kisses or than death.
Thou in such a cloud do'st bind us,
That our worst foes cannot find us.
And ill fortune that would thwart us,
Shoots at rovers shooting at us;
While each man through thy height'ning steam
Does like a smoking Ætna seem,
And all about us does express
(Fancy and wit in richest dress)
A Sicilian fruitfulness.
Thou though such a mist dost show us
That our best friends do not know us,
And for those allowed features
Due to reasonable creatures,
Liken'st us to feel Chimeras
Monsters that, who see us, fear us;
Worse than Cerberus or Geryon,
Or, who first loved a cloud, Ixion.
Bacchus we know, and we allow,
His tipsy rites, but what art thou,
That but by reflex canst show
What his deity can do,
As the false Egyptian spell
Aped the true Hebrew miracle?
Some few vapors thou may'st raise,
The weak brain may serve to amaze,
But to the reins and nobler heart
Canst nor life nor heat impart.
Brother of Bacchus, later born,
The old world was sure forlorn,
Wanting thee, that aidest more,
The gods' victories than before
All his panthers, and the brawls,
Of his piping Bacchanals.
These, as stole, we disallow
Or judge of thee meant: only thou
His true Indian conquest art;
And, for ivy round his dart,
The reformed god now weaves
A finer thyrsus of thy leaves.
Scent to match thy rich perfume--
Chemic art did ne'er presume,
Through her quaint alembic strain,
None so sov'reign to the brain.
Nature, that did in thee excel,
Framed again no second smell.
Roses, Violets but toys
For the smaller sort of boys;
Or for greener damsels meant;
Thou art the only manly scent.
Stinking'st of the stinking kind,
Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind,
Africa, that brags her fois on
Breeds no such prodigious poison,
Henbane, nightshade, both together,
Hemlock, aconite----
Nay, rather,
Plant divine of rarest virtue:
Blisters on the tongue would hurt you.
'Twas but in a sort I blamed thee;
None e'er prospered who defamed thee;
Irony all, and feigned abuse,
Such as perplex'd lovers use,
At a need, when in despair,
To paint forth their fairest fair,
Or in part but to express
That exceeding comeliness
Which their fancies doth so strike,
They borrow language of dislike;
And instead of Dearest Miss,
Jewel, Honey, Sweetheart, Bliss,
And those forms of old admiring,
Call her Cockatrice and Siren,
Basilisk, and all that's evil,
Witch, Hyena, Mermaid, devil,
Ethiop, Wench, and Blackamoor,
Monkey, Ape, and twenty more;
Friendly traitress, loving foe,
Not that she is truly so,
But no other may they know,
A contentment to express,
Borders so upon excess,
That they do not rightly wot,
Whether it be pain or not;
Or, as men constrained to part
With what's nearest to their heart,
While their sorrow's at the height
Lose discrimination quite,
And their hasty wrath let fall,
To oppose their frantic gall,
On the darling thing whatever
Whence they feel it death to sever,
Though it be, as they, perforce,
Guiltless of the sad divorce.
For I must (nor let it grieve thee,
Friendliest of plants,
That I must) leave thee.
For thy sake, TOBACCO, I
Would do anything but die,
And but seek to extend my days
Long enough to sing thy praise.
But as she who once hath been,
A king's consort, is a queen
Ever after, nor will bate
Any title of her state,
Though a widow, or divorced,
So I, from thy converse forced,
The old name and style retain,
A right Katherine of Spain,
And a seat, too, 'mongst the joys
Of the blest Tobacco Boys;
Where, though I, by sour physician,
Am debarred the full fruition
Of thy favors, I may catch,
Some collateral sweets, and snatch,
Sidelong odors, that give life
Like glances from a neighbor's wife;
And still live in the by-places,
And the suburbs of thy graces;
And in thy borders take delight,
An unconquered Canaanite."

Thomas Jones, in the following neat little tribute to tobacco, pays a deserved compliment, not only to the plant, but to the great English smoker, "ye renowned Sir Walter Raleigh."

"Let poets rhyme of what they will,
Youth, Beauty, Love or Glory, still
My theme shall be Tobacco!
Hail, weed, eclipsing every flow'r,
Of thee I fain would make my bow'r
When fortune frowns, or tempests low'r,
Mild comforter of woe!

"They say in truth an angel's foot
First brought to life thy precious root,
The source of every pleasure!
Descending from the skies he press'd
With hallow'd touch Earth's yielding breast,
Forth sprang the plant, and then was bless'd,
As man's chief treasure!

"Throughout the world who knows thee not?
Of palace and of lowly cot
The universal guest;
The friend of Gentile, Turk and Jew,
To all a stay--to none untrue,
The balm that can our ills subdue,
And soothe us into rest.

"With thee the poor man can abide
Oppression, want, the scorn of pride,
The curse of penury,
Companion of his lonely state,
He is no longer desolate,
And still can brave an adverse fate,
With honest worth and thee!

"All honor to the patriot bold,
Who brought instead of promised gold,
Thy leaf to Britain's shore;
It cost him life; but thou shall raise
A cloud of fragrance to his praise,
And bards shall hail in deathless lays
The valiant knight of yore.

"Ay, Raleigh! thou wilt live till Time
Shall ring his last oblivious chime,
The fruitful theme of story;
And man in ages hence shall tell,
How greatness, virtue, wisdom fell,
When England sounded out thy knell,
And dimmed her ancient glory.

"And thou, O Plant! shall keep his name
Unwither'd in the scroll of fame,
And teach us to remember;
He gave with thee content and peace,
Bestow'd on life a longer lease,
And bidding ev'ry trouble cease,
Made Summer of December!"

The smoker of cigarettes is passionately attached to his "little roll" and regards this mode of obtaining the flavor of tobacco the best. The finest are made in Havana and, vast quantities are used by the Cubans and Spaniards. A writer in "The Tobacco Plant" gives this pleasing effusion in regard to them:--

"Your cigarette is a sort of hybrid--half-pipe and
half-cigar; neither the one nor the other; neither the
delight of the epicure nor the solace of the true
tobacco-lover. Far be it from us to deny, or even to
question, its value, its utility, or its charm. We have
smoked too many to dream of treating them with
scorn--cigarettes of Virginia shag, strong, pungent,
luscious; of light and fragrant Persian, innocuous and
soothing; cigarettes rolled by ladies' dainty fingers,
compressed by elegant French machines of silk and silver,
cut, stamped, and gummed by prosy, matter-of-fact, and even
vulgar Titanic engines in great tobacco-factories. But the
thorough-paced smoker renders to his cigarette only a
secondary and diluted adoration: it is nice, it is delicate,
it is pretty--a thing to be toyed with, to be fondled, even
to burn one's fingers (or, perchance, one's lips) withal;
but by no means an object to call forth a passion.

"But just as the world would be a tame and an insipid
institution were all men's tastes alike, so the world of
smokers would lose much of its romance were all the lovers
of the weed of temperament too robust to love a cigarette.
Brevity and sweetness are proverbially held to constitute
claims upon the respect and admiration of the voluptuous,
and to the cigarette these cannot be denied. There is
something touching in the self-abnegation of a tobaccoite
who will devote five mortal minutes and the sweat of his
refined intelligence, with the skill of his delicate
fingers, to the preparation of a tiny capsule of the weed,
which burns itself to ashes in five minutes more. There is a
butterfly-beauty about the cigarette to which the cigar and
the pipe can lay no claim--a summer charm to stir the dreamy
rapture of a poet, and to excite the Lotus-eating
philosopher even to analogy. Just as the suns, and flowers,
and balmy zephyrs of a century have gone to form the gauzy,
multi-colored insect that flits across your path throughout
a single summer's day, and then returns to dust and vapor,
so the harvest of West-Indian and East-Asian fields, the
long voyage of the mariner, the merchant's hours of soil,
the steam-power and manual labor of the factory, the
thoughtful calculations of the trader, the skill of the
tissue-paper maker, all have gone, and more than these, to
the creation of a fairy-cylinder of Tobacco, which glows,
delights, expires, and meets its end in ten or fifteen
fleeting minutes."

Although the cigarette is not a favorite with us, still we admire its use as a sort of appendage to a good dinner, and as preparatory work for a "good smoke." The Spaniards have always been great lovers of their minute rolls, and with them, no other method of burning tobacco appears so delicate or refined. Especially is this true among the ladies, who prefer "Seville cigarettes" to all others. Many smokers make their own cigarettes, sometimes using Havana tobacco, and sometimes making them of two or more kinds. An excellent cigar is made by using equal parts of Virginia and Perique tobacco, or equal parts of Havana and Perique. A fine flavored cigarette is also made from Yara and Havana tobacco, equal parts of each being used. Thos. Hood has signalized his attachment to cigar in the following pleasing little poem:--

THE CIGAR.

"Some sigh for this and that,
My wishes don't go far;
The world may wag at will,
So I have my cigar.

"Some fret themselves to death
With Whig and Tory jar;
I don't care which is in,
So I have my cigar.

"Sir John requests my vote,
And so does Mr. Marr;
I don't care how it does,
So I have my cigar.

"Some want a German row,
Some wish a Russian war;
I care not. I'm at peace,
So I have my cigar.

"I never see the Post,
I seldom read the Star;
The Globe I scarcely heed,
So I have my cigar.

"Honors have come to men
My juniors at the Bar;
No matter--I can wait,
So I have my cigar.

"Ambition frets me not;
A cab or glory's car
Are just the same to me,
So I have my cigar.

"I worship no vain gods,
But serve the household Lar;
I'm sure to be at home,
So I have my cigar.

"I do not seek for fame,
A General with a scar;
A private let me be,
So I have my cigar.

"To have my choice among
The toys of life's bazar,
The deuce may take them all,
So I have my cigar.

"Some minds are often tost
By tempests like a tar;
I always seem in port,
So I have my cigar.

"The ardent flame of love
My bosom cannot char,
I smoke but do not burn,
So I have my cigar.

"They tell me Nancy Low
Has married Mr. R.;
The jilt! but I can live,
So I have my cigar."

Lord Byron, a "good smoker" as well as a great poet, has immortalized his love of the cigar in the following graceful lines:--

"Sublime Tobacco! which from east to west,
Cheers the tars labors, and the Turkman's rest--
Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides;
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,
Though not less loved in Wapping or the Strand;
Divine in hookhas, glorious in a pipe,
When tipped with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe,
Like other charms, wooing the caress
More dazzingly when dawning in full dress.
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far
Thy naked beauties--Give me a Cigar!"

Having given a general description of the cigar and its mode of manufacture, we come now to a more particular account of the various kinds known as the best and of world-wide reputation. Standing at the head of the various kinds of cigars, either of the Old or New World, are those known to all smokers as:

HAVANA CIGARS.

These are, by common consent, the finest in the world. They possess every quality desirable in a cigar, and seemingly to its greatest extent. Grown in the richest portion of the tropical world, the leaf has a rich, oily appearance, and, when made into cigars, possesses a flavor as rich as it is rare. Unlike most tobaccos suitable for cigars, every taste can be met in the Havana cigars, its many varieties of flavor and strength suiting it alike to both sexes, and to the making of the delicate cigarette or the largest Cabanas. These cigars are made up of all the various colors and parts of the leaf, and also of all sizes common to the trade. In shape they are usually round, though sometimes pressed (flat), and in color are (according to our description) light and dark brown, light and dark red, straw colored and dark straw colored, and some other shades or strengths. It is necessary to have all the various shades of color in order to meet the demand for the various flavors desired. Without doubt a greater variety of flavors can be found among Havana cigars than in any other kind, owing to the many shades of color, which determines the strength and flavor of the cigar. The Havana cigar is made of a leaf tobacco well known for its good burning qualities, when properly cured and sweated,--burning with a clear, steady light, leaving a fine white or pearl-colored ash, according to the color chosen. These cigars rarely "char" in burning; certainly not, if made of good quality of tobacco and thoroughly sweat. If a full-flavored cigar is desired, choose the dark colors, and the lighter if a mild cigar is preferable. The lighter the color of the tobacco the lighter the ash and the milder the flavor of the cigar. Light-colored cigars usually burn freer and more evenly than dark ones. In selecting a cigar for its good burning qualities, choose those (if such are to be had) covered with white specks, or white rust; such cigars burn well, as white rust is found only on well-ripened leaves. Select a firm, well-made cigar--one that contains a good quantity of fillers--avoiding, however, in Havana cigars, one made _too_ nicely, as it is sometimes the case that superior external appearance is made to cover defects in the more important qualities.

Such a selection will insure a cigar of good quality; one that will hold fire and last the length of time appropriate to its size. A cigar should not be chosen simply because it is made well, and neither because its outside appearance (wrapper) is fine, both in color and quality of leaf; rather depend upon the manufacture of the brand. Havana cigars have as many distinct flavors as there are colors of the leaf, ranging from very mild to very strong.

The first great requisite of a cigar is its burning quality, and the second its flavor; without the first the latter is of little value. A cigar made from leaf that does not burn freely will not possess any desirable flavor, but will char and emit rank-smelling smoke, without any desirable feature whatever. When both of these qualities are in a measure perfect the cigar will prove to be good. There are two varieties, at least, known as non-burning tobacco, of which we shall speak hereafter. The flavor and burning quality of a cigar always determine its character, and are found in perfection in those made of fine even-colored leaf. Dark cigars have a thicker leaf or more body, and consequently are stronger than light-colored cigars. When the cigar is made of fine, well-sweat tobacco, and contains the full quantity of fillers, the pellet of ashes will be firm and strong, and should possess the same color all through, if the filler, binder and wrapper are of the same shade of color. The finest-flavored cigars are those of a medium shade, between a light and a dark brown,--not so dark as to be of strong, rank taste, or so mild as to be deficient in a decided tobacco flavor, but simply possessing sufficient strength to give character to the cigar.

YARA CIGARS.

This variety of cigars is made from tobacco grown on the Island of Cuba, bearing the same name as the cigars. They are highly esteemed by those who smoke only this kind, but are not liked by most smokers of Havana cigars. Most of them are exported to Europe, very few of them finding their way to this country. It is somewhat difficult to compare them with Havana cigars, as the flavor is essentially different. In comparison with other brands made upon the Island, the Yara holds an unimportant place, yet, in some parts of Cuba, it is preferred to any other kind. In London the Yara is a favorite with many old smokers, who use no others. Old smokers describe the Yara cigar as having a "sweet" flavor, but one unaccustomed to them, like Hazard and others, pronounce them bitter, and having a "peculiar saline taste." It can, doubtless, be said with truth concerning the Yara cigar, that unlike other varieties, such as Havana, Manilla, Paraguayan, Swiss and Brazil, the taste for them is not natural, but, when once formed, becomes very decided. As a general rule smokers of Yara cigars think other kinds are deficient in flavor, and are wanting in quality, because they lack the peculiar flavor belonging only to Yara cigars. Be this as it may, we hardly think the Yara cigar suited to the cigarist's taste at the present time. Its aromatic flavor is not adapted to the general taste, and some little time is required to develop a decided love for it. We prefer the "Cubas," made from a good quality of leaf grown near Trinidad, Puerto-Principe, and other cities east of Havana. The peculiar flavor of Yara cigars is owing to the character of the soil, rather than to any artificial process employed in manufacturing. In moistening Havana leaf Catalan wine is used, and other flavoring extracts. This may (and does) change the condition and quality of the tobacco, but even _with_ this treatment, the flavor of Yara tobacco would be unlike that of Havana leaf.

MANILLA CIGARS.

This well-known variety of cigars is manufactured from Manilla tobacco grown in Luzerne, one of the Philippine Islands, which is known as superior leaf for cigar purposes. Manilla cigars have an extensive reputation, but principally in the East and in Europe. These cigars are made in various forms and shapes, some of them are called cheroots (the term used in the East for cigars) and are principally known for their aromatic flavor, entirely distinct from that of Havana cigars. Some smokers think that they have the same effect as varieties of tobacco that have been moistened with the juice of the poppy, giving the cigar a flavor like that of opium, and as a natural result, securing a light-colored ash. There are not as many colors of Manilla cigars as there are of Havana, and they are not as closely assorted. Some of them are a high-cinnamon color, and are far from being a strong cigar. Their flavor is not always uniform, and is not denoted by the color as in other varieties. The flavor is not unpleasant, but is better suited to those who prefer a mild rather than a full flavored cigar. The aroma is pleasant and mild, and to those but little acquainted with them, agreeable. Manilla tobacco usually burns well, if the leaf is of good quality and well sweated, still it is known as a non-burning tobacco. As the tobacco is of good body, the cigars do not usually burn as well as other kinds. Select a light-colored rather than a dark cigar if one of good quality is desired. Both the cigars and cheroots are made of the same quality of leaf, and are of about the same size--differing, however, in shape. There are but few grades of Manilla cigars, and most of them are solid and well wrapped. They are flat rather than round, and draw well but do not hold fire like some other cigars. The leaf makes a very good wrapper for a tobacco of its thickness and strength.

SWISS CIGARS.

These well-known cigars have but little reputation in this country, owing to the fact of their being but little known. In Europe the cigars of Luzerne have no insignificant reputation, and are generally liked by smokers who prefer a mild and agreeable cigar. These cigars are usually dark-colored, but not strong, and have but little variety of flavor. Travelers and tourists through Switzerland speak of Swiss cigars as being of agreeable flavor, and unlike any other found in Europe. With American tobacco, those of a dark color are usually strong, but with European tobaccos this is not always the case--they possess much less strength, and can be used more freely than the tobacco of America. These cigars are usually pressed, and burn well, leaving a dark-colored ash, and emitting a fragrant odor. Most of those used in this country may be more properly termed cheroots, both ends being cut, allowing a free passage of air, which is usually the case with all kinds of cheroots, or Eastern and European cigars. There is not that freshness of flavor to Swiss cigars peculiar to Havana's, and they lack that essential quality which renders the latter so delicious and enjoyable. The Swiss cigar is in perfection when just made or rolled, and such should be chosen instead of those that have been made for some time and closely packed and dried.

PARAGUAY CIGARS.

These cigars are made of one of the finest varieties of leaf tobacco known to commerce. Although unknown to this country--both the cigars and the leaf tobacco have a deserved reputation in Europe, and it is beyond all question one of the finest tobaccos in the world for cigars. These cigars have a delicacy of flavor unapproachable in any other variety, and may justly be termed the finest at least of all South American cigars. It is one of the finest burning tobaccos in the world, and does not fail to suit the taste of the most fastidious of smokers. The finest are of dark color and wholly free from any rank or unpleasant taste. These cigars are uniformly mild and have but little variety of flavor, the ash is dark-colored, firm and strong, clinging with tenacity to the cigar, which is the best evidence of the quality of the leaf. In Paraguay they are considered superior to all other kinds and are smoked continuously without any seemingly ill effect. Page alludes to the custom of smoking as being universal, "Men, women, and children--delicate, refined girls, and youngsters who would not with us be promoted to the dignity of pantaloons--smoke with a gravity and gusto that is irresistibly ludicrous to a foreigner." The Paraguayans consider excessive smoking of other tobacco as injurious but not of the delicate flavored leaf of Paraguay. These cigars are rolled firm and strong usually small and hold fire until the entire cigar has been consumed.

GUATEMALA CIGARS.

This variety of cigars, although of excellent flavor, is hardly known outside of Central America. They are made from Guatemala tobacco--one of the few varieties of tobacco bearing white blossoms, and possessed of a similar flavor to Mexican tobacco. Although Guatemala tobacco has not been thoroughly tested by the great manufacturers of cigars either in Europe or America, it doubtless is well suited for cigars. It is a distinct variety from those kinds bearing pink and yellow blossoms, and its growth and quality would seem to suggest some doubt as to its quality and adaptability for cigars. Stephens and other travelers seem to regard it as tobacco of excellent quality, and allude to its constant use by the ladies who smoke _puros_, a cigar made of a single leaf, or formed entirely of tobacco. They also use the _papelotes_ wrapped in paper and sometimes in the dried leaf of maize. It would seem probable from the climate of Central America, that Guatemala tobacco would be exactly suited for the manufacture of cigars, but so little is known concerning it, and its cultivation is so limited, that at present it is simply a matter of conjecture.

BRAZILIAN CIGARS.

The cigars of Brazil, like those made of South American tobacco, are noted for their superior flavor. They are made of "Brazilian Aromatic" one of the finest tobaccos of Brazil. Although but little known in this country, both the tobacco and the cigars are highly esteemed in Europe, where most of the leaf is sent. Both Brazilian cigars and the celebrated "Tauri Cigarettes" possess a delicacy of flavor, described by travelers as unapproachable by any other variety of cigars and cigarettes. A late traveler says concerning them:--"Accustomed to smoke only Havana cigars, I was unprepared to recognize any others as being worthy even of the name of cigars. I was presented with a box of Brazilian cigars of commendable size and finish, of a dark color and of a good flavor, before trying them, I ignited one, merely to test their quality and not from any impression that they were worth even the value of the cheapest Havanas. Great was my surprise to find them of an agreeable flavor and very pleasant to the taste."

The leaf is very thin, and without doubt, well suited for a cigar wrapper. The flavor of all cigars made from South American tobacco is similar, especially those made from tobacco grown east of the Andes. A writer, alluding to their mode of manufacturing cigars for their own use says:

"They take the leaf after it is cured and ready for
manufacture into cigars, and dampen it, not with pure water
but with water containing the juice of the poppy so as to
produce the effect of opium. When prepared in this manner
they are much esteemed by the Brazilians and especially by
the herders."

AMERICAN CIGARS.

This was the name given to cigars made some forty or fifty years ago composed of Connecticut seed-leaf, or as it was then called, American tobacco. The fillers were selected from various kinds of tobacco, including Virginia, Kentucky, and Spanish, using for a wrapper Spanish, American or Maryland leaf. At this time the tobacco was not sorted as now, and was made up into cigars after being stripped, but the cigars after being manufactured were kept for some time before they were sold. At this time but little pains comparatively was taken in their manufacture: they were not assorted or shaded according to the present standard, and were packed in chestnut instead of cedar boxes containing from one to five hundred cigars each. A manufacturer of cigars nearly fifty years ago gives the following account of his method: "We selected for wrappers those leaves having white specks (white rust) upon them, which greatly increased the sale of the cigars, and which were considered by smokers to be much better than those not wound with fancy wrappers. After the cigars were packed in the boxes a little Spanish bean was grated upon the cigars, or a single bean was placed between the cigars in the box." At this time some little taste was evinced for colors, and cigars of a "bright cinnamon red," and afterwards, of a dark brown, were considered the finest, while leaf that was black was considered worthless for wrappers. A kind of cigar which is distinctly American and which is made to a considerable extent, is called a seed cigar, and is made from tobacco grown in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, or Ohio. These cigars have but little reputation, and are of inferior quality and manufacture. A very good cigar, call a "sprig cigar," is made from Havana and Connecticut seed-leaf filler wound with a seed wrapper which gives a good flavor similar to clear Havana.

A full flavored cigar like a sip of rare old wine is inspiring to a lover of the "royal plant" and amid the sublime and companionable thoughts that its fragrance engenders, one is led oftentimes to reflect on its rare virtues and the benign effects it produces wherever known. Thus it lightens the toil of the weary laborer plodding along the highway of life. The student poring over musty tomes sees with a clearer perception as its fragrance accompanies him along the pathway of science and of history. The poet "as those wreathes up go" sees Helicon's fresh founts flowing clearer and purer. The musician "lord of sounds," evokes tones from his instrument never before heard by mortal ear. The warrior, "fresh from glory's field" is charmed by its fragrance as he dreams of shattered battalions and sleeping hosts. The farmer nurtured amid the odors of the "balmy plant" honors the "useless weed" as a promoter of happiness and an increaser of gains. While:

"Kings smoke when they ruminate
Over grave affairs of state."

The exile too, far from home and kindred smokes on as he muses of happier hours gone never to return. And thus amid all the varied ranks and walks of life this solace of the mind and comfort of life exhales its fragrance and breathes its benedictions over all.