Eugene Vallens, President of the Gene-Vall Cigar Company, published Facts on Cigars for Up to Date Smokers in 1914. In this short volume, Vallens covers the introduction and spread of tobacco to Europeans, some notes on Cuba, information about planting and preparing tobacco to be used in cigars, making cigars, and some facts about cigars.
Vallens offers good advice when it comes to smoking cigars:
- Hold the flame a little bit away from the tuck of the cigar so you don’t burn it (the tuck used to be the common word for the foot of a cigar, but it has fallen out of favor)
- Light the cigar all around, not unevenly
- Smoke slowly – “one or two puffs at a time is sufficient to keep a good cigar going. By draawing too hard the tobacco becomes overheated, thereby detracting from its full aroma and bouquet.”1
- Leave the ash on the cigar until it is in danger of falling off. “Flicking the ash from a cigar not only impairs the aroma, but frequently part of the fire falls off, thereby causing the cigar to burn badly.”2
He also makes sure to call out that a cigar with a lighter wrapper does not necessarily mean it is a milder cigar. He says, “It is the CURING of tobacco which governs its strength.”3 He also notes that the color of the ash does not reflect on the quality of the cigar.
Most of Vallens’ advice rings true today. Some parts, like his section on the health effects of smoking and his separation of cigars into two classes: ‘straight cigars’ and ‘fancy cigars’, don’t hold up as well. But for the most part, his advice holds for up-to-date smokers over 100 years later.
Facts on Cigars for Up to Date Smokers is in the public domain and can be read for free on Google Books.