|
Cigar History by dr.cigar Nobody knows for sure when the tobacco plant was first cultivated, but there is little doubt about
where. The native people of the American continent were undoubtedly the first not only to grow, but to smoke the plant, which probably first came from the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. It was certainly used by the Maya of Central
America, and when the Maya civilization was broken up, the scattered tribes carried tobacco both southward into South America, and to North America, where it was probably first used in the rites of the Mississipi Indians. It didn't come to the attention of the rest of the world until Cristopher Columbus's momentous voyage of 1492.
Columbus himself was
not particularly impressed by the custom,
but soon Spanish and other European sailors fell for
the habit, follwed by the conquistadores and colonist. In
due course the returning conquistadores introduced tobacco smoking
to Spain and Portugal. The habit, a sign
of wealth, then spread to France, through the
French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot (who eventually gave
his name to nicotine, and Nicotiana tabacum, the
Latin name for tobacco).
The word tobacco, some say, was a
corruption of Tobago, the name of a Carribbean
island. Others claim it comes from the Tabasco
province of Mexico. Cohiba, a word used by the
Taino Indians of Cuba was thought to mean tobacco,
but now is considered to have reffered to cigars.
The word cigar originated from sikar, the Mayan
word for smoking.
Although the first tobacco
plantation were set up in Virginia in 1612, and
Maryland in 1631, tobacco was smoked only in pipes
in the American colonies. The cigar itself is
thought not to have arrived until after 1762, when
Israel Putnam, an American general in the
Revolutionary War, returned from cuba, where he
had been an officer in the British army. He came
back to his home in Connecticut with a selection
of Havana cigars, and large amounts of Cuban
tobacco. Before long, cigar factories were set up
in the Hartford area. Production of the leaves
started in the 1820s, and Connecticut tobacco
today provides among the best wrapper leaves to be
found outside Cuba. By the early 19th century, not
only were Cuban cigars being imported into the
United States, but domestic production was also
taking off.
The habit of smoking cigars
spread out to the rest of Europe from Spain, where
cigars using Cuban tobacco were made in Seville
from 1717 onwards. By 1790 cigar manufacture had
spread north of the Pyreness, with small factories
being setup in France and Germany. But cigar
smoking didn't really takeoff in France and
Britain until after the Penninsula War (1806-12)
against Napoleon, when returning British and
French veterans spread the habit they had learned
while serving in Spain. By this time the pipe had
been replaced by snuff as the main way of taking
tobacco, and cigars now became the fashionable way
of smoking it. Production of segars, as they were
known, began in Britain in 1820.
Soon there was a demand of higher
quality cigars in Europe, and the Sevillas, as
spanish cigars were called, were superseded by
those from cuba (then a spanish colony), not least
as the result of a decree by King Ferdinand VII of
Spain in 1821. Cigar smoking became such a
widespread custom in Britain and France that
smoking cars became a feature of European trains,
and the smoking room was introduced in clubs and
hotels. The habit even influenced clothing--with
the introduction of the smoking jacket. In France,
tuxedos are still referred to as le smoking
It is widely believed that
Christopher Columbus' crew discovered cigars while
exploring Cuba. The Cuban natives smoked a crude
form of the modern day cigar during religious
ceremonies. The cigar was wrapped with maize and
filled with tobacco leaves. Columbus' crew quickly
became accustomed to smoking the cigar and brought
back samples of the "Golden Leaf" to Spain.
Initially, the smoking of cigars was considered a
pagan ritual punished by imprisonment. In fact,
one of Columbus' crew members was imprisoned for
smoking. However, after a few years, cigar smoking
became widely accepted. Eventually, Spain would
build an entire industry around the cigar.
Seville, Spain was at the center of this and is
recognized as being the birthplace of the modern
cigar.
At first, Spain imported the raw
materials from Cuba and assembled the cigars
themselves. However, in 1821 Spain allowed Cuba to
manufacture Cigars and hence the Cuban cigar was
born. In appreciation for Spain's kind gesture,
the Cubans would deliver a box of their best
cigars to the Spanish king every year. These
cigars were the fabled Trinidad's.
Cigars become popular in the
United States during the Lincoln years. Factories
began to open in New York, Connecticut and
Pennsylvania. The term stogie is actually named
after Conestoga, Pennsylvania where one of the
first cigar factories were built.
The cigar industry did well up
until the 1960's when smoking became more of a
health concern amongst Americans. At the same
time, the United States imposed an embargo against
Cuba making it illegal for US citizens to import
goods from Cuba. Today Cigars are back and are
becoming extremely popular amongst men and women.
|
