According to historians, the cigars were not introduced to any part of Europe before 15th century. It was only after the great discovery of America by Columbus that it came into existence in Europe through American voyagers. In one of such voyages to Cuba, the sailors found that the Cubans used to smoke a primeval cigar with tobacco leaves rolled in some other plant’s leaves. Later, they too got this habit of smoking that primitive cigar which the native Cubans used to smoke.
Slowly it reached the Portugal and Spain and finally France. Through the efforts of Jean Nicot, the ambassador of France to Portugal, the cigar smoking culture spread rapidly like fire to Italy and then America to the Great Britain.
By the early sixteenth century, the cigar had already got familiar throughout the Europe. Four five decades later the cigars were being grown commercially in various parts of Europe and America. Initially, tobacco was considered to have healthy medicinal qualities but there were many who condemned it. The word Cigar has been evolved from Cikar, an ancient Mayan Indian term used for smoking. However cigars of these days were very different from what cigar is now.
Europe played a very unique role in the expansion of the cigar. Current day you can find a large selection of machine and hand rolled cigars throughout Europe. While South America will always hold the rights to fine cigars, Europe has produced some incredible smokes as well.