Picture this. You’re sailing the high seas when you come upon an alien land. After exploring the shore, you meet locals who are smoking some rather suspect leaves. The aroma and the smells they give off are enticing. Delicious, toasty scents reminiscent of a dessert or well-cooked meal. You’ve just encountered some of the earliest cigars ever created.
That’s sort of how it went down. Forgive me, for I am not a historian. Therefore, I do not claim anything I’m sharing here to be a proven fact outside of the references I’ve used. However, I figured it would be a neat and interesting idea to explore the true history of cigars and tobacco.
I have read — as you might have, too — that Christopher Columbus encountered cigars called Havanas in 1492 while exploring, which were smoked by native inhabitants of what is now Cuba. Clearly, he was not the first to discover them and he had no part in inventing them. But he did play a big role in introducing them to the greater world, Europe above all.
When were cigars invented?
While the modern hand-rolled and machine-made cigars didn’t become a thing until much, much later, cigars have been around for centuries. Rather, the act of smoking tobacco has a storied history.
The invention of the cigar is attributed to the Mayans in 2500 BC, who actually cultivated tobacco for medicinal purposes. The original cigars were likely the natural leaf, rolled loosely, and nothing like what we smoke and enjoy today. Interestingly, the Mayans blended their smokes with strong, hallucinogenic filler, and also made beverages from tobacco leaves. I wonder what all of that liquid nicotine tastes like.
Columbus did bring the tobacco back to Europe which boosted its popularity and encouraged Spain to open cigar factories in the Americas and Caribbean, particularly Cuba. From there, it spread about and some of the first US-grown tobacco purportedly originated in Windsor, Connecticut around the year 1640, with varying levels of international trade and popularity.
During the 1762 Anglo-Spanish War, England successfully captured Havana for a span of nine months. International shipping was then routed through the region, more frequently than ever before, which created a boon for the Cuban cigar trade. Everyone apparently got a taste of the Cuban cigar “twang” and the rest, as they say, is history.
How’s that for an origin story? The Mayans, thousands of years of natives smoking tobacco, a discovery by an infamous explorer, and then the introduction to the rest of the world. Badda bing, badda boom.
Modern cigar rising: Havana to Florida
The ‘10 Years War‘ in 1868 was fueled by Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain. Many Cuban-born natives, the wealthy especially, fought in the war, including sugar and tobacco farmers, which created general instability in the region. Understandably, some fled, like Vicente Martinez Ybor — you might recognize that name — who migrated to Key West, Florida, and later founded what became Ybor City in Tampa, Florida.
What’s most interesting about that, or perhaps ironic, is that it mirrors the exodus spurred by the Cuban Revolution which happened much later in the 1950s — don’t worry, we’ll get to that.
As more flocked to the Southern U.S. and Florida, Ybor became widely known as ‘Cigar City,’ serving as a hub for stateside cigar operations. That’s also what inspired Cigar City Brewing to take its name. By the late 1800s, there were thousands of cigar factories spread all over the country. Continued conflict in Cuba encouraged more to flee to the United States and combined with abundant and favorable conditions also solidified it as an excellent location for the modern cigar trade. Today, a lot of tobacco is still grown here in the U.S. ,with a large majority of the cigars produced belonging to the Connecticut and Broadleaf Connecticut varieties.
Eventually, in the early 1900’s, the cigar trade was booming, with one of the biggest years for production being 1920, the start of the prohibition era. Alcohol might have been outlawed ,but people still kept drinking and smoking. Go figure.
Yet, it wasn’t until the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s that modern cigars really took shape, figuratively. Fidel Castro’s takeover of the Cuban government in 1959 created quite the powder keg. Many locals fled the area, actually taking Cuban tobacco seeds with them.
That is why Cuban cigars are now illegal, as the U.S. imposed an embargo on Cuban goods. Essentially, the revolution, Cuban exodus — because of the government takeover — and Cuban goods ban changed nearly everything about the future of the industry. That’s also a big reason why there are so many tobacco-growing regions today. Those who fled Cuba spread out across neighboring regions with places like Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras eventually becoming additional tobacco and cigar hubs.
There’s more to the story
Cigars weren’t invented yesterday. They weren’t even invented 100 years ago. Sure, it wasn’t until recently that they’ve been perfected in many ways, especially when it comes to premium blends and crafting, but people have been smoking tobacco for thousands of years.
As is true with any historical topic, this article cannot cover everything, and it is not a comprehensive look. You should know there are many nuances and minor events involved in the history of the invention of the cigar that are not discussed here. Moreover, there are many brands and names involved in the industry, some of which have been around for a long long time. La Aurora, for example, has been in the cigar trade for 120 years now.
That’s why I highly recommend doing some of your own research and reading about the history of cigars and tobacco if you want a more detailed and accurate story.
It is very interesting to me how history shaped what we know as the cigar industry today. For example, Nicaragua is the top or number one exporter of cigars — they export far, far more cigars than Cuba. Of course, that likely happened because of the Cuban revolution and U.S. embargo on Cuban goods which includes Cuban cigars and tobacco. Cuba still exports a lot to other regions of the world, but the ban has allowed different tobacco markets to take the lead, among other factors.
What’s even more wild is narrowing down the active field to around the last 20 years. So many unique and boutique brands have popped into existence and continue to thrive, with some truly incredible cigar blends that would have never been possible in the ancient world. Maybe the Mayans did have something like Deadwood’s Fat Bottom Betty or Warped’s La Colmena, but I highly doubt it. Don’t even get me started on Aganorsa, Plasencia, Padron, My Father… okay, someone got me started.
The point is, cigars have evolved considerably in just the last few years to make something like Metallica’s BLACKENED series now possible, or even brands like Lovely Cigars which are making a comeback. It’s nothing if not inspiring and despite how you feel personally about tobacco and cigars there’s no denying that they’ve been a mainstay of society, in one form or another, for thousands of years.
