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cigar smoking
A Brief History of Cigar Smoking
According to different dictionaries cigar is “a roll of tobacco leaves prepared for smoking” or it is “a rolled cylinder of tobacco that is wrapped in tobacco leaves or any substance that contains tobacco”.
The etymology of the word is not clear. Some scholars say it comes from Spanish “cigarro” which in its turn originates from Mayan “siyar” – tobacco. The others say the word “cigar” is from Mayan “sikar” that means “smoking”.
It is believed the first cigars were used by the native people of Central America. The archaeological discoveries of Mayan ceramic vessels in Guatemala prove the inhabitants of Mesoamerica Mexico and the islands in the Caribbean Sea were smoking cigars (loosely rolled tobacco leaves) since the beginning of the 10th century. The discovered vessels are decorated with the painted man smoking a cigar.
The European people were first introduced to tobacco through Christopher Columbus. It was a tradition among the Indian tribes to carry bags with dried tobacco wherever they went because it could be traded to anything a person might need or offered as a gift of friendship and benevolence. So when in 1492 Columbus came to the New World he and his crew were offered the dry leaves with unusual and unknown to the Europeans smell. Since Columbus was not very interested in the gift two other men played a significant role in the history of tobacco. Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres were the crewmembers of the Columbus’ fleet. They got really impressed by the gifts and learned how to use the leaves: the inhabitants took the twisted and dried tobacco and wrapped it in the other leaves such as palm or plantain. The lit cigars were burning down slowly producing strong smell and lots of smoke.
The people on the Columbus’ ships came across the tobacco gifts everywhere they went. First they were introduced to it at the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas then in Cuba. All over the Caribbean the tobacco was offered as a primary gift.
After it was brought to Europe the leaves were mostly crushed and used in pipes or were carried in little boxes. Everybody forgot about the cigars.
The first cigars as they are known now were made in Spain in the beginning of the 18th century. Although tobacco was grown all over North America the Cuban tobacco got used in the production of Spanish cigars. Later the small cigar factories appeared in Germany Holland and France. While the Spanish noble people were using the new invention as part of their sophisticated meetings the other Europeans were still smoking pipes. The cigars became popular after the Peninsular War (1808-1814) when the British and French soldiers came back from Spain bringing the noble habit of cigar smoking to the rest of the European countries.
Meanwhile the cigar production started on the American continent as well. Israel Putnam an American general who came back home from the Revolutionary War in Cuba brought a variety of Havana cigars and a lot of Cuban tobacco to Connecticut in 1762. Not long after that there have been several little factories established. Till now the Connecticut tobacco is considered the best after Cuban for the wrapper leaves.
All the cigars were made by hand so through the 19th century it was a big industry which provided jobs for many people. Later the machines were developed and took over the production. Right now the handmade cigars are rare and very expensive.
The peak of the cigar smoking was in 1860. It is reported at that time half of the tobacco used for smoking was in cigars. People enjoyed cigars and they became a part of noble people’s everyday life so much that clubs and hotels were building special rooms for smoking and there were smoking cars on the trains.
For 100 years people all over the world were smoking a lot. During the war times cigarettes the cheaper paper version of a cigar were provided as a part of an everyday ration to every soldier.
After the studies that showed the harmful effect of smoking in the middle of the 20th century the use of cigars and cigarettes lowered. People were concerned about their health and many of them gave up the habit.
In the end of the 20th century the cigars started to take people’s hearts again. The celebrities and politicians show their love the tobacco at the different meeting advertising the cigars.