| Have you ever wondered where cigars were | | | | tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). The |
| first produced? It is widely believed | | | | origins of the word tobacco itself are |
| that cigars were first produced in | | | | still suspect, although many believe it |
| Spain. But before cigars became all the | | | | is simply a corruption of the word |
| rage in Europe, tobacco was needed to | | | | Tobago, which is the name of a Caribbean |
| make them. Tobacco is indigenous to the | | | | island. Still others believe it comes |
| Americas, where native peoples have | | | | from the word Tabasco, a region (and now |
| produced it for hundreds of years. It | | | | state) in Mexico. |
| is believed that the Maya of Yucatan | | | | The first tobacco plantation in the |
| peninsula in Mexico and parts of Central | | | | United States was established in |
| America cultivated tobacco, and even | | | | Virginia in 1612. More tobacco |
| smoked it! Tobacco use spread to other | | | | plantations followed in Maryland soon |
| tribes, both north and south. It is | | | | after. Although tobacco became a |
| believed that its first use in the | | | | popular crop, it was only smoked in |
| United States was probably among the | | | | pipes. The cigar was not introduced to |
| tribe along the Mississippi. It wasn't | | | | the United States until the late 18th |
| until Christopher Columbus sailed his | | | | century. Israel Putnam, an army general |
| famous voyage to the Americas in 1492 | | | | who had served in the Revolutionary War, |
| that the rest of the world came to know | | | | is credited with introducing the cigar |
| tobacco. | | | | to the United States. He had traveled |
| It is said that Columbus was not | | | | to Cuba after the Revolutionary War and |
| impressed by tobacco or its use among | | | | returned with a box of Cuban cigars. |
| native peoples, but many sailors grew | | | | Their popularity quickly spread, and |
| found of the strange plant. Soon it | | | | soon enough cigar factories were |
| quickly caught on in Spain and Portugal. | | | | established in the area of Harford, |
| From there, it spread to France, where | | | | Connecticut, where General Putnam |
| the French ambassador Jean Nicot lent | | | | resided. |
| his name to the scientific name for | | | | |