THE GREAT HISTORY OF THE CIGAR

Cigars have been around for thousands of years. Tobacco, the basis of the cigar, is introduced in Europe by Spanish navigators and explorers who returned from their expeditions on American soil (the New Continent as opposed to the Old Continent designating Europe). It was then to the Europeans that we owe the development of the tobacco industry, contributing at the same time to the worldwide popularity of the cigar.
South America: cradle of tobacco

The first cigar smokers are located in America. But where and when exactly, the question remains an enigma. One fact is however certain: the tobacco (the plant) comes from South America. For the moment, it is impossible to determine exactly when it was introduced in Cuba. Historians look back on a period of 3,000 to 2,000 years before Christ. According to the researchers, the first tobacco crops are organized by the Yucatan Indians on the Mexican side (southern Mexico). It is from this region that culture is spreading throughout North and South America. Aborigines use tobacco as a medicinal plant, persuaded of its miraculous virtues. The plant is also integrated into the various rituals practiced during various religious ceremonies, political events and social events. Finally, tobacco cultivation occupies a preponderant place in the agricultural sector of pre-Colombian civilizations. To summarize, tobacco is inherent in the lifestyle and lifestyle of these Aboriginal peoples.
The ancient Mayas

According to the assumptions accepted today, the cigar was created by the Maya who would have used to wrap the tobacco either in palms (palm leaves) or in plantain. The discovery of a Mayan vase of the 10th century reinforces this hypothesis. The container is indeed decorated with a painting of a Maya smoking one of these original cigars. This vestige period is more or less enough to show that smoking a cigar was quite common in this Mesoamerican civilization. However, it leaves an unanswered question: when did the Mayans first discover the tobacco plants and when did they know they could be smoked? It is interesting to note that the Mayas use the term "sikar" (or cegar) to refer to the action of smoking. It is from this expression that the Spaniards derive the term "cigarro" which later becomes "cigar". There are few types of cigars. The best known is the Parejo, whose shape is probably identical to that of the cigars that the Maya smoked.
Columbus, Luis de Torres, Ricardo de Jerez, Spain and the rest of the world
In discovering the American continent, the Europeans did not expect to make another discovery that would mark the history of world trade: that of tobacco. When Christopher Columbus set foot in America in 1492, Luis de Torres and Ricardo de Jerez did not have to wait long to get to know the tobacco plant. For among the natives of the New World he meets, there are those who smoke cylindrical rolls of tobacco leaves entwined with each other and wrapped in dried leaves of palm or corn. In history, Christopher Columbus and his companions, Luis de Torres, Ricardo de Jerez, are the first Europeans to know tobacco. And it is through exchanges (barter and trade) that Indians reveal this plant to newcomers. By experimenting with the tobacco of the natives, the explorers understood that this product can be a source of physical and psychological well-being: it is the beginning of a love at first sight that lasts until today. Thus, it is said that Christopher Columbus' right-hand men Luis de Torres  is so passionately fond of these first cigars in history that he smoked them every day and Ricardo de Jerez that smoked every day all the way back to Spain. The kingdom is also the first European country where there is the largest number of smokers. The craze is such that in 1676, Seville, for the first time in history, manufactures its own cigars. In parallel with this incredible success, the authorities are implementing a policy of legal framework of the tobacco trade with repressive measures to contain the number of smokers in Spain. Offenders then expose themselves to severe punishment. It is especially under Philip II that the law hardens, the sovereign seeing in the cigars a diabolical instrument. The passion for the cigar spread later in Persia, Japan, Turkey and Russia, where people smoked illegally. In these countries, the law prohibits smoking and is ruthless against illegal smokers. The latter were subjected to very harsh and cruel sanctions ranging from imprisonment to death sentence. Paradoxically, while the ban on smoking cigars was in full swing, tobacco was constantly being sought medically.

From Spain to the rest of Europe

In a short time, a large part of the population of the Old Continent falls in love with tobacco. Portugal is the first to succumb. The passion of the cigar is imported in France by Jean Nicot, ambassador of the Kingdom of France to Portugal and managed to impose it despite the anti-smoking laws promulgated by Louis XIII. Italy is in turn "contaminated" by tobacco fever before it reaches other European nations, including England where tobacco was introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh, via Jersey, despite the reluctance of Jacques 1. At that time, the Spanish manufacturers created a special paper in which the tobacco was wrapped, making the leaves of plants useless. This new technique elevates cigars into works of art and, as a result, smoking becomes a lifestyle of great refinement. The cigar continues to grow so much that companies are starting to grow tobacco for sale to cigar manufacturers. But this popular enthusiasm is not enough to put an end to the mistrust of leaders as evidenced by the categorical decision of Pope Urban VIII to excommunicate smokers. If the cigar is so popular it is also because its price is affordable making it accessible to people. That being so, he ends up becoming one of the accessories of the perfect gentleman in England. The trend began when King Edward VII, who took the throne in 1901, put an end to restrictive cigars imposed by his mother, Queen Victoria. France is not left behind in this liberalization policy. In 1815, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, Napoleon ordered the manufacture of cigars in France. Great Britain goes there from 1820.

The USA

While Spain is trying to dominate and monopolize the cigar industry, at the same time many manufacturers are making the decision to move to Key West, Florida, mainly in Tampa Bay (at the time, this region belongs to in the Kingdom of Spain). In the early 20th century, Tampa, in Hillsborough County, was dubbed the Cigar City. But the real North American cigar adventure began in 1762 when the first cigar factory was opened in the USA. It is thanks to Israel Putnam that this initiative has been realized. When he returns from Cuba where he was enlisted in the British army, he brings back in his luggage excellent Havanas and Cuban tobacco seeds that he cultivates at home in Connecticut. During the first half of the 19th century, Americans smoked 300 million cigars. The market seemed to be saturated, manufacturers decided to settle in the Philippines then Spanish colony.
Cuba
Cuban climate and soil are conducive to tobacco growing. The Spaniards did not take long to discover it and in 1799, they inaugurated their first cigar factory in Havana. This nascent industry is protected and favored by the royal monopoly which has been in force since April 11, 1717, and which was established by King Philip V. By virtue of the royal decree establishing this monopoly (Estanco del Tabaco), the entire Cuban production must be registered in Seville before it can be exported. Opponents of this law are executed. The monopoly was lifted on June 23, 1817, allowing farmers to freely export their products to the rest of the world provided they transit through Spanish ports. In 1859 there were about 10,000 tobacco plantations and 1,300 cigar factories in Havana alone. The development of the sector continued until 1961, the year of the establishment of the American embargo on Cuba. It was not until the 1990s that the market regained momentum.

The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is located in the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, with Haiti to the west. As in Cuba, tobacco has been grown in the Dominican Republic for thousands of years, after being cultivated and smoked by Taino indigenous people on the island.

It is the nationalization of the Cuban cigar industry and the embargo of the United States that has brought some of Cuba's best cigar producers into exile in the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries. Boasting a perfect climate and fertile soil, the Dominican Republic has become the main base for factory owners and is now the largest producer of premium cigars in the world.

The Dominican Republic has experienced significant growth in tobacco growing over the last 25 years, and several important cigar producers have been attracted to the region, not only for its climate and soil, but also because of the situation. economic and political stability more recent. The Dominican Republic now exports more than 350 million cigars each year.

Nicaragua

Unlike Cuba, the cigar industry in Nicaragua dates back only 60 years, when Cuban entrepreneurs fleeing the Castro Revolution of 1959 emigrated there.

With its volcanic soils, "nobody has so favorable a land for tobacco as Nicaragua," says Nestor Plasencia, vice president of Plasencia Cigars, one of the country's leading exporters, between two puffs of cigar.


Estelí is the cradle of the tobacco industry in Nicaragua. More than 42,000 people work in plantations, dryers, processing centers and cigar factories. Recently, Nicaraguan production has also developed in the north, in Jalapa and Condega, and on the slopes of Ometepe, the largest island in Lake Cocibolca (south).