CIGAR SECRETS."

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 27, 31 January 1920, Page 22

CIGAR SECRETS."

PRICES UP TO .£SO PER 100. There is no chance of cigars getting cheaper. They are going up. The days of the fourpc-nny and sixpenny cinar are gone for ever. A shilling is the lowest price for a smokable Havana, says a correspondent in the "Daily Mail."' The duty on Havana cigars i« 15/7 per lb. It is the same for all qualities. The Havana factories, with increased cost of la.hour, have put up their prices considerably. Then there are higher rates for freight and insurance. Reflect that the price is fixed in dollars and tho exchange is against us, and you will see why prices soar. All the etceteras in connection with cigars have also gone up. The gold and red rings are expensive. It is an extraordinary fact that many people will not bin- a cigar unless it has a band. The not care about a band. Many of the finest cigars have no labels and no fancy names. The man who wants the best goes to a merchant who stocks only the best. He doe? not care what the cigar it* called or whether it lias a name at all. And he dislikes a ring round his cigar. It is apt to damage the leaf. item. They must be made of c-edar wood. During the war cedar wood was almost unprocurable, and now it is very dear. But there is cedar wood and cedar wood as one of the newly rich discovered to his cost. He bought" up a stork of line cigars, some 5000 i,, number, the property of an impoverished Peer. To house them he gave directions for the library. It was an elaborate affair, with numbers of trays, divisions, and partitions, so that each cigar ronlil be kept separate without contact with its fellows. Alas! when lie came to try them he found them nnsmokable. The cedar wood had impregnated them. The cedar for boxes and cabinets must be of seasoned wood. They must not be of the material out of which pencils are made. Ami this seasoned cedar wood is very dear. When cigars are made in Havana tliey have to be shipped out within a. fortnight or they would be spoilt. For smokers who like them "'green." as some Englishmen and many Americans do. cigars are packed in air-tight, soldered tins. TheSe tins usually contain only live cigars, as they must bo smoked within two days after opening the tin. I Cigars are capMc'ous things. After being shipped from Havana they fret sick. They ferment. It takes from two. to three 'weeks before they get right.! They improve by keeping. A good cigar will keep for any period from 10 to -■> years. It is not necessary to keep them in a i hot room nor in a cabinet near the fire, j But they should be kept at a more or; less equable temperature. A room that is comfortable for yourself will suit, your cigar. If you go to or on the sea, you should take precautions. Sea. air spoils a cigar. Tile only way to preserve them is to keep them in tins or jars with an -jiir-' tight cover. Old pickle-jars are very j good for the purpose. The discriminating smokor will never; use a match in lighting a cigar. A wax match may be fatal, and jv wooden match, with its sulphur, may be as bad. Paper spills are best. If these arc not available, light an old match or piece of paper from your match. ; In the ma.tter of cigars everybody has ' his own taste. What will suit one man' will not suit another. There are fashions in shapes and sizes. Sonic men think, that a cigar to be good must be big. There is something in it. You can buy a. cigar at A* 50 per "lO<>—a bi;r thinjr, sonic seven inches long—and you may ho sure that you are smoking the liuest thing, procurable in the way of tobacco. Then; are certain connoisseurs who always buy these big cigars and cut thorn in halt when they do not want a long smoke. The general public <loos not know much about cigars, and generally goes for names and labels. Hut these really mean little or nothing. A certain named | brand may be good one year and xei'y, poor another. There is only one certain way to get the best cigar, and that is to place yourself in the hands of an expert and not to mind what you pay. The best einar merchants, so far from competing with each j other in under-selling like other business, firms, are concerned as to who can charge the highest prices. There is one famous (inn which prides itself on being the most expensive in London. It insists on being dearer than' any other and it thrives on it. You can set a vory good cigar there for .£l2 10/ I per 100, a cigar which the Prince of, Wales smokes, and of which he took' quantities with him on his tour to Canada. And from £12 10/ you can find anything at various sizes and prices' up to the £50 per 100 cigars which only millionaires can buy.