Another way to create stripes is to sew thin strips of fabric to a base, or foundation fabric. In this case, the fabric that each foundation block is covered by is ribbons—cigar ribbons, to be precise. To collect this number of ribbons—around 350—would have taken many smoking sessions, with a wide variety of brands of cigar. One name that repeats several times is Blackstone, the most famous brand of Waitt & Bond, Inc. one of the largest cigar manufacturers in the early 20th century.