The history of cazadores and brevas?

[Black Plague]

Today, I was perusing some of the vintage catalogues over at Trevor's site and was reminded of something I'd noticed a long time ago...

...brevas and cazadores always seem to be treated a little differently than the other cigars from most manufacturers. They usually have a different, much simpler band on them. In some pictures, they look noticeable rougher and more "rustic" than other cigars. I know that cazadores have traditionally been an "outdoors" cigar (as the name, which translates as "hunters," implies), but all I know about brevas are that the word means "fig" in Spanish and is also used in some Spanish colloquialisms. But I wonder why these two formats of cigar seem to get different treatment from all the others.

To help out, here's some specific examples from the scans over at Trevor's site...

American Catalogue

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/common_images/cat1/3.jpg

Here, the Belinda Breva looks a little funky, like a reverse torpedo

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/common_images/cat1/9.jpg

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/catalogue1.htm

The Hoyo Brevas have that same weird shape (probably owing to the same factory producing them at the time) and also come in a unique packaging format - looks like two bundles of 25 in a dress box.

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/common_images/cat1/20.jpg

The Partagas Brevas have a very simple band, compared to the other cigars with the normal Partagas band.

German Catalogue

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/common_images/cat3/hav-31.jpg

In the German catalogue, the Brevas, Cazadores, and Culebras even get their own special section.

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/common_images/cat3/hav41.jpg

This Romeo y Julieta Breva is a little ugly looking, and again has a simple band.

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/common_images/cat3/hav54.jpg

Some H. Upmann Brevas that don't even bother with a band.

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/common_images/cat3/hav59.jpg

Don Quijote's offerings of Brevas and Cazadores...kind of odd-shaped and with either a simple band or none at all.

If you go to the price list at the end of the German catalogue, we get some more tantalizing hints. Many of the brevas and cazadores are listed as packaged one or two "bundes in staniol" or "bundles in foil"...much like Quintero Brevas and RyJ Cazadores are packaged today. And also, most of them are noticeably cheaper than other cigars.

So do any wise cigar antiquarians happen to know just what the story is with cazadores and brevas?

[thechenman]

Great questions...unfortunately I haven't a clue.

[Black Plague]

Much like today, certain vitola names were associated with certain sizes across different manufacturers. Like today, when you buy a Churchill, you can expect it'll probably be 7 inches by 47 ring gauge, or with non-Cuban cigars, the range can be from about 6.75 to 7.5 inches and from 47 to 50 or even 52 ring gauge. If you look at all the wonderful catalogues that Trevor's put on the site, you can see even more examples. Across brands, Napoleons seem to be a generic name for a (judging by their size in comparison with others) corona-sized perfect or Fancy Tales always seem to be a long, thin-RG perfecto. Obviously, brevas and cazadores look to be similar size across brands and almost always packed in foil bundles. But I wonder why that was. Were they considered less-quality cigars? Were they made of short-filler or otherwise second-class materials (maybe that's why they look so rough)? Or maybe it was just a packing gimmick, like the foil was to keep them fresh, maybe for your hunting lodge out in the country where you wouldn't have a humidor available? With how rare these cigars are nowadays (just the Quintero and JLP Brevas and RyJ Cazadores left), I might never find out the answer.