1955 The U K B G Guide to Drinks (2nd edition revised)

CIGARS

In 1492, explorers with Columbus discovered natives in the Cuban jungle who were smoking rolled up tobacco leaves in the shape of a crude cigar. Although such cigars were taken to Spain in the 16th century, they were introduced slowly to the rest of Europe and did not win popularity in England until the last century ; yet the islands of Cuba and Jamaica have remained the home of the best cigars to this day. Less good, but acceptable even to the connoisseur,is the cigar leaf grown in Java,Borneo and Sumatra in the East Indies, the United States, India, Japan and South Africa. And to-day, British-made cigars, which are cheaper because duty is paid only on the imported leaf and not on the manufactured cigar, are also of excellent quality. This is partly due to the British manufacturer's privilege of buying in any of the world's markets. Growing and Curing The tobacco plants are taken from their seed-beds to well cultivated fields where,in order to produce the finest quality "shadegrown"leaf, some are protected from the sun by screens of fine cloth. After weeks of careful cultivation, which includes the fighting of pests and diseases and the "topping" of each plant so that the leaves achieve maximum growth, the leaves are picked as they mature, tied on laths and hung in specially heated"curing"barns. Later the bunches of "cured" (or dried) leaves, called "hands", are staqked in bulks to begin the long natural process of sweating or fermentation. Grading the Leaf Before marketing, the leaves are sorted for the purpose.s for which they are required. First, the small broken leaf is selected for the "Filler" or main body of the cigar. Secondly, the shghtly imperfect leaf is taken as an inside wrapper for this "filler"; this is called the "binder". Thirdly, the finely textured,"shadegrown" leaf of first 282