resort to these wretched artifices is, that they vend
the wares thus spuriously branded and labelled
as "British," and not as "foreign" cigars
What's in a name? they ask; and so they call
a cabbage a Cabaña, just for the fun of the thing
But would it be fair, I may ask, to stamp the
little figure of the "porro," or dog, which is the
trade-mark of the real Toledo blade, on the
haft of a carving-knife made at Liége, or to
brand "Moet et Chandon" on the cork of a
bottle of cider? There are, doubtless, numbers
of highly trustworthy cigar manufacturers in
England, who make their cigars of the very best
foreign tobacco that can be imported; but I
must refer again to the reports of the
commissioners of inland revenue for some very ugly
revelations made from time to time as to fines
inflicted on manufacturers who adulterate their
tobacco, and, in any case, the practice of marking
the boxes which contain home-made cigars,
even if they be of good tobacco, with the names
and brands of celebrated Havana houses, is
unfair, untradesmanlike, and immoral. I dare say,
however, that I am but fighting with wild beasts
at Ephesus in alluding to such matters, and that
I shall get but scratches for my pains. Only
to unwary people who happen to be young and
wealthy I will say this: whenever you have
anything to do with cigars, or with sherry, or
with pictures, or with horses, look out. Some
advisers would include women and diamonds in
their caveat; but I halt at horses. They may
have a flaw in them, but a woman is a woman,
and a diamond a diamond, and you can tell
paste at once.

A visit to Cabaña's manufactory, although it
failed in enabling me to describe with terseness,
combined with accuracy, the process of cigar-
making, had at least one beneficial result in
disabusing my mind of a variety of absurd stories
which I, and I dare say a good many of those
who read this paper, had heard regarding the
process as pursued in the island of Cuba. To
believe these legends, cigar-making is one of the
nastiest, nay, the most revolting of handicrafts,
and the manner in which the tobacco is rolled
and shaped by imperfectly clad young ladies of
the African race, and in a state of servitude, is,
to say the least, shocking. There may be small
manufacturers at Havana who own but two or
three slaves, or employ but two or three work-
women, and they may do their work in a brutish
and uncleanly manner; but so far as my own
experience at the Hija de Cabañas y Carvajal's
renders me a trustworthy witness, I may vouch
for the scrupulous cleanliness and delicacy with
which every single stage in the process of cigar-
making is conducted. I have seen barley-sugar
made, and I have seen bread made, and I
certainly consider the manufacture of cigars to be
a nicer transaction than either bread or sweet-
stuff making.

Nothing can be more orderly, more symmetrical,
than the appearance of the cutting and
shaping room. The operators sit to their work,
and make the cigars with their fingers, but do
not roll them into shape by attrition on their
sartorius muscles, as is popularly supposed.
Every operator has his counter or desk, his
sharp cutting tools, and his pot of gum for
fastening the tips, with his stock of assorted
tobacco-leaf in baskets by his side. It is a
competitive vocation. The best workmen are best off.
Payment is by results. Many of the hands
employed are negro slaves, or were so when I was
in Havana three years ago; but the finer cigars,
the prime Cabañas, the Napoleones, the
Esapaniales and Regalias are made exclusively by
white Creole Spaniards, who are paid according
to the number they can turn out a day, and
many of whom realise very handsome wages.

Good cigars are very dear in Havana. You may
get a weed for a penny or three-halfpence, or some-
times, by industriously rooting among the small
manufacturers, you may pick up cigars very cheap
indeed, which, if you throw them into a drawer,
and allow them to season for six months, may
turn out tolerable; but an approved and
warranted cigar from a first-rate house will always
fetch its price, and, our heavy import duties
notwithstanding, is not much cheaper in Havana
than it is in England. I have appended in a
foot-note (for fear of boring you)* the price-list
of Cabana cigars for the year 1864. Since then
the tariff has, I dare say, risen. I may add that
it is generally understood in the cigar trade that
the very finest and choicest qualities of Havana
cigars go to England simply because the largest
prices can be commanded there; yet I believe I
am rather under than above the mark in stating
that there are not thirty cigar dealers in London
from whom fine and choice Havanas can be
procured. It has been computed—although I
have no official authority for the statement—

*Napoleones di lujo, 300 dolls.; Escepcionales,
255 dolls.; Embajadores, flor fina, 120 dolls.;
Regalias, flor fina, 130 dolls.; Imperiales, 130
dolls.; Esparteros, 100 dolls.; Regalias Chicas,
80 dolls.; Conchas, 80 dolls.; Cilisedrados, 75
dolls.; Aromaticos, 75 dolls.; Comme-il-fauts, 70
dolls.; Cazadores, 65 dolls.; Pigmeos, 45 dolls.;
Media Regalias, 60 dolls.; Londres flor fina, 55
dolls.; Do. de calidad, 45 dolls.; Brioas o
Punsados, 55 dolls.; Panalclos o Caballeros, 50 dolls.;
Trabucos, 55 dolls.; Principes, 50 dolls.; Cabana
kings (one of the sweetest varieties of cigar extant),
35 dolls.; Medianos, 50 dolls.—all per thousand
and in gold currency. Among miscellaneous cigars,
the price of which per thousand may be computed
at about five-and-twenty per cent under Cabanas,
I find in my note-book, as to sizes, Trabucillos and
Bajonetas, and as to brands and makes, "El Principe
de Galles," "Lincoln," "H. Upmann," "Los dos
Hermanos" (the two brothers). "Salvadores," "La
Vida," "José Rodriquez," "Flor Cubanas las delicias,"
"Consuelos" (out of compliment to Madame
George Sand, I presume), El aquila Parisiana
(Bismarck's particular, it is to be imagined), Juan de
Chinchuretta, Fleur de Marie, Flor de Maurico (an
odd combination of souvenirs of the Mysteries of
Paris and the Trovatore), Flores Tropicas, Eo soy un
angel (I am an angel, which is modest), La
Fragrancia, La Dignidad, La Aprobacion, and La Flor
de Eustaquio Barroz. After pears, tulips, and
race-horses, the nomenclature of cigars is certainly
the most copious in nature.