CIGAR, a form in which tobacco is prepared for smcking without the use of a pipe. Cigars consist of certain portions of small and broken leaf tobacco rolled together in the form of a short stick or rod tapering to a point at one end called the curl or twist, and firmly wrapped round with one or two wrappings of whole leaf tobacco. The manufacture of cigars is conducted by hand-labour, and the various operations are performed with great dexterity. The selected leaves to be used for wrapping are first damped and stripped or freed from the midrib, by which each leaf is torn into two halves. These are smoothed out and pressed to remove any creases, and with a sharp knife the workman cuts each into the proper shape to form a wrapper. On each wrapper so prepared a sufficient quantity of small and broken leaf is placed, and the whole is then wrapped up in the form of a cigar. An external wrapper of} fine uniform leaf is added and secured in a peculiar kind of knot at the smaller end. The thick end is trimmed by placing the cigar in a gauge and cutting it to a definite size. After finishing the cigars are dried on trays either by exposure to the sun or in artificial heat, and when thoroughly dry they are packed in boxes for sale. Cheroots differ only in form from ordinary cigars, sloping gradually from the thick to the thin end, which instead of finishing in a point, is cut aud trimmed the same as the thick end. Cigarettes are small cigars, sometimes consisting of fine cut tobacco wrapped up in thin paper or inserted in straw tubes. Cigars are sold under an immense variety of names, derived either from the country of their manufacture, from the kind of tobacco used, or from the fancy of the manufacturer. The finest cigars are obtained from Havana in Cuba, and in them the thick ...