Cigars

Cigars

We stock a range of Cigars in store from hand rolled to machine made. Prices start at £10 up to £30. Cigars cutter available with your Cigar purchase

The earliest known cigar – or at least a rudimentary version of it – can be found on a ceramic pot discovered in Guatemala. It depicts an ancient Mayan puffing on tobacco leaves bound by string. This is an artefact that dates to the 10th century. This likely that the name cigar also comes from the Mayans, as their term for smoking was sikar. This seems to be a direct etymological ancestor of the Spanish cigarro.

It was in 1492 that Columbus famously discovered the Americas, leading to his discovery of tobacco and bringing it back to the shores of Europe. However, it was slightly later that tobacco began to spread beyond Spain in Europe. It was not until 1560 that Jean Nicot introduced tobacco to France (and thus gave a name to nicotine). From there it quickly spread to England. The first smoking Englishman to be recorded was apparently a sailor in Bristol who blew smoke from his nostrils. A strange and amusing sight for onlookers.

British Tradition

In the nineteenth-century cigar smoking became particularly popular. Whilst cigarettes were still somewhat rare and overall ill-formed. In Britain, this can be traced to its involvement in the Peninsular War. The conflict between Napoleon’s empire and the combined forces of Spain, Portugal, and Britain for control of the Iberian Peninsul during the Napoleonic Wars. British soldiers came back from this conflict with cigars that were bestowed upon them by their Spanish comrades.