The French, Spanish, and Portuguese initially referred to the plant as the "sacred herb" because of its alleged medicinal properties. The Spanish introduced tobacco to Europeans in about 1528, and by 1533, Diego Columbus mentioned a tobacco merchant of Lisbon in his will, showing how quickly the traffic had sprung up. įollowing the first wave of European colonization, tobacco became one of the primary products fueling European colonialism, and also became a driving factor in the incorporation of African slave labor. I do not know what relish or benefit they found in it. ![]() I knew Spaniards on this island of Española who were accustomed to take it, and being reprimanded for it, by telling them it was a vice, they replied they were unable to cease using it. These, muskets as we will call them, they call tabacos. Men with half-burned wood in their hands and certain herbs to take their smokes, which are some dry herbs put in a certain leaf, also dry, like those the boys make on the day of the Passover of the Holy Ghost and having lighted one part of it, by the other they suck, absorb, or receive that smoke inside with the breath, by which they become benumbed and almost drunk, and so it is said they do not feel fatigue. The Spanish historian, landowner, and Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas vividly described how the first scouts sent by Christopher Columbus into the interior of Cuba found It was first observed by European Age of Discovery explorers when encountering the indigenous Taino people of Cuba in 1492. The practice of tobacco smoking was widely diffused among many of the islands of the Caribbean in the pre-Contact period. History įurther information: European colonization of the Americas and Tobacco in the American colonies Indigenous tobacco pipe on display at the regional museum in San Andrés Tuxtla, MexicoĪlthough the specific origin of the cigar is unknown, a Mayan ceramic pot from Guatemala dating back to the 10th century depicts people smoking tobacco leaves tied together with a string. The English abbreviation “cigar” came into general use in 1730. The Spanish word "cigarro" is derived from it. The word cigar originally derives from the Mayan sikar ("to smoke rolled tobacco leaves"-from si'c, "tobacco"). Modern cigars can come with two or more, highlighting special qualities such as age and origin of the tobaccos used.Ĭigar smoking carries a variety of serious health risks, including developing cancers, and respiratory, cardiovascular, periodontal and other diseases. ![]() Often there will be a cigar band printed with the cigar manufacturer's logo. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder leaf which holds the filler together, and a wrapper leaf, for appearance and flavor, which is often the highest quality leaf used. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. A cigar with an airtight storage tube and a double guillotine-style cutterĪ cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked.
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