RSSThe word ‘Cigar’ originated from the word ‘sikar’ , the Mayan Indian word for smoking and which later became ‘cigarro’ in Spanish. It is a bundle of dried and fermented tobacco which when ignited will smoke and can be tasted in the mouth and blown out. The credits of using a primitive form of cigar goes to a certain tribe called ‘Tainos’ on the island of Cuba and it was first reported by the two fellow crewmen of the great navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus. The Spanish and few European explorers were the first to get addicted to the use of cigar and later spread to Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and then to Britain. Columbus and his fellow explorers took with them to Spain some tobacco which they discovered and perfected the methods of making cigars and pipes.
Smoking eventually became famous throughout Europe. It was considered to have medicinal qualities by some and some considered it to be evil. However, Spain mastered the production of Cigars in the early 18th century using Cuban Tobacco and it was much more superior in quality than the ones Columbus had first found in Cuba. Later, Dutch, Germany and France too started making cigars using tobacco from their Far eastern colonies. In 1820s, production of cigars started in Britain but there were so many government regulations to govern the cigar production there. Meanwhile, in the mid 18th century, cigar production was started in Cuba also, then a Spanish colony. Soon, cigar production started in the America continent too. Israel Putnam, an American general who came back home from the revolutionary war in Cuba brought a variety of Havana cigars and Cuban tobacco to Connecticut in 1762. After that, several factories were established in the region and till date the Connecticut tobacco is considered the best after the Cuban for the wrapper leaves.
In the early days of the cigar production, all the cigars were made by hand and in the 19th century it was a big industry as it provided jobs to many people. In the early 20th century, the famous smoking poem ‘The Betrothed” by Rudyard Kipling too has a narrator musing on the difference between his fiancée Maggie and his habit of smoking cigars. Later, machines were developed in Cuba in the 1920s and machines took over the production. Even now we have handmade cigars, but they are very expensive and is considered as a luxury for the Upper class society.
People enjoyed smoking cigars and soon it became a part of the noble people’s everyday life. Soon every club and hotel had special rooms and also there were smoking cars in trains. The smoking cars were specially designed for the use of smokers. During the war times, cigarettes the cheaper version of cigars were provided to every soldier as part of their everyday ration. Several famous figures in the history has endorsed publicly the use of cigars. Pink Floyd, an English rock band between 1960s and 1990s even released a song called ‘Have a cigar’.