"HAVANA" CIGARS FROM PAPER.
The straw paper manufacturers of the Chatham portion of Columbia county, N. Y., have for many years been aware that their product has nearly all gone South, and been used in Cuba as fillers for cigars. None of them manufacture specially with this end in view, although their paper is well adapted for "bogus" cigar making. The paper used for the purpose indicated is of the lightest weight (7 to 7 1/2 lbs.) it is possible to make. There is one mill in the county located at Queechy (town of Canaan) which manufactures the straw paper expressly for wrappers—not fillers. The Queechy Paper Company's paper mill is situated on a creek but a short distance below a lake, and being at the head of the stream, the water is of much greater purity, and hence their ability to produce the desired article of paper. The straw paper used in filling the Havana cigars is saturated with a decoction prepared from the stem and refuse of Havana seed leaf, mingled with which are extracts of liquorice root, senna, etc. The paper is so skillfully stamped to resemble the tobacco leaves, the very veins of the leaf being perfectly imitated, that it can seldom, if ever, be detected from the genuine article.—Paper World.