Big Mike

Cigar History

Even if nobody really knows where and when tobacco was first planted, we're sure the first people to cultivate and smoke tobacco were the American Indians.
According to history, tobacco was first discovered on the island of Cuba when Christopher Columbus first arrived in 1492. But, some trace of tobacco has also been found in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
By the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors had introduced tobacco in Spain and Portugal, and Jean Nicot, the French ambassador in Portugal, (from whose name comes the word nicotine) in the rest of Europe.
Some people believe that the word "Tobacco" came from the name of the island Tobago and others from the Mexican region called Tabasco. The Tainos, natives of the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola, named it Cohiba or Cojoba. On the other hand, the word Cigar come from a Maya verb sikar which means "to smoke".
The first tobacco fields appeared in Virginia in 1612 and in Maryland in 1631, but the crops were mostly used for pipe tobacco. We think that cigars first appeared in America in 1762, when Israel Putnam came back from Cuba where he had served under the British army. Back in Connecticut, he brought with him cigars and a big quantity of tobacco. So, the first cigar manufacture appeared in Hartford at the same time that tobacco from Cuba, now known as Connecticut tobacco, was planted.
In the 19th century, the "Smoking Jacket" was designed to protect clothes from smoke during high class dinners. At the end of the 19th century, wives used to quit the table while men would drink Cognac and smoke a good cigar. It is in the middle of the 19th century that the cigar ring and cigar box made their apparition.
In the United States, cigar smoking really started after the Civil war. At this time, the most expensive cigars, which were hand made with Cuban tobacco, were called "Habanos", like those made in Cuba. The word "Habanos" is now a generic name. The word "Stogie" comes from the cigar manufacturer of Conestoga in Pennsylvania, well known for its famous cigars. At the end of the 19th century, smoking a cigar was a symbol of high social status (the reason why some famous people like Henry Clay, a U.S. Senator, gave their names to famous brands). In 1919, Thomas Marshall, Vice-president of Woodrow Wilson, declared to the Senate : "What this country really needs is a good five-cent cigar".

- Big Mike

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