I am delighted to see MATASA's Casa Magna listed as the 'No. 1 Cigar of 2008' by Cigar Aficionado. Manuel Quesada deserves the accolades, as does the Segovia factory in Estelí, where the cigar was produced for MATASA by Nestor Plasencia, Jr. And, as far as I'm concerned, it proves that there is such a thing as 'justice!'

Freemasonry had a presence in pre-Castro Cuba, and, apparently survives in tact. In fact, the 1930s built Masonic Temple still stands on Belascoain Street in Havana. Nonetheless, I was surprised when I discovered Masonic symbols on Havana cigar boxes (See the illustration below). Brands like Ramon Allones, Villar y Villar and Manuel Lopez. Lopez, in fact, has the classic image of George Washington replete in his Masonic apron, etc.

What I wondered was what was the purpose of these appearances on cigar boxes. Free Masonry is not a religion; they do not proselytize! To me it doesn't make sense that these would be random 'devotions' by Masonic cigar makers. Neither my friend Simon Chase, of Hunters & Frankau in England, nor Dr. Tony Hyman of the National Cigar Museum, an internet entity, were able to provide any information.

What Simon did do was search his collection of boxes and he came up with a Bolivar box from the pre-Castro era that has the Masonic symbol on the lid (see the second illustration below).

If any of you know anything about this, I would appreciate receiving whatever information you have, or if you know of any source material on the subject, leave a Comment in the Comment Box at the end of this article. Thanks.

I thought I had seen everything when it came to mangled English, but this (see the illustration), pasted into the lid (not quite a vista) of a sampler from a new cigar, "D'Crossier," takes the cake! If anyone can tell me what it says, I'll be grateful. You can pass along your thoughts by making a comment below.

I regret to say that the problem is endemic in the cigar industry. Why is it that people, whose first language is not English, decide to write copy for an English speaking market and fail to have that copy vetted by someone whose mother tongue is English? The results are always horrendous.

What they don't seem to understand is that the fractured English diminishes the credibility of the copy and, hence, the whole enterprise.