Cigars

[Capt. Sterling]

I know there were cigars in Spain and it is not thought that they reached the colonies prior to 1760s? Any word and if yes what would a proper GAoP cigar look like length and ring gauge?

Hector

[Jack Roberts]

Aye, i've been thinking 'bout them myself. I second the question.

[Fox]

I thought cigar smoking came from the colonies?

According to Wikipedia

"The indigenous inhabitants of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerica have smoked cigars since at least the 900s AD, as evidenced by the discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan archaeological site in Uaxactún, Guatemala, decorated with the painted figure of a man smoking a primitive cigar. Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of smoking to Europe, an action which is often termed the "discovery" of smoking, despite his having borrowed the practice from the indigenous Americans.

Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have disembarked in Cuba and taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers."

In Europe (and amongst European colonists presumably) cigar smoking did not catch on until the last quarter of the 18thC. In 1779 Peter Wendler gained the first Papal license to make cigars in Rome, and in 1788 Hans Schlottmann opened the first cigar factory in Germany. (According to "The History of Smoking" Count Corti, London 1931)

So, it looks like cigar smoking is out for the GAoP, unless you happen to be a South American Indian.

[Dorian Lasseter]

interesting...

But pipe smoking, i.e. Tobacco smoking in general happened much earlier I presume?

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Well that is interesting.

The recent posting of the 1725 spanish sailor clothing and equipment drawing shows something translated as "Cigars and Tobacco".

Apparently, these drawings were made between 1717 and 1756. Maybe this one is not as early as it is proported to be.....

Just some thoughts.

GoF

[Fox]

Yup, pipe smoking amongst Europeans goes back well into the 16thC.

It's quite possible that an earlier Spanish drawing shows a cigar - the Spanish seem to have been the first to take up cigars, and presumably since the practice was adopted from the New World to the Old a large chunk of the early cigar smokers may well have been seamen. So, a Spanish seaman with cigars in, say, 1740 would not surprise, but it would perhaps have been unusual, a novelty.

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Well it must have been prevalent enough with the spanish (in 1725) to be incorporated into a Spanish clothing and equipment list....

or

Maybe the picture is actually closer to 1756 than to 1725?

Hmmmmm.....

GoF

[Capt. Sterling]

I thought cigar smoking came from the colonies?

Sorry let me clarify that more, the colonies that later became the United States... not the others...

Hector

[capnwilliam]

I thought cigar smoking came from the colonies?

According to Wikipedia

Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have disembarked in Cuba and taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers."

In Europe (and amongst European colonists presumably) cigar smoking did not catch on until the last quarter of the 18thC.

I recall reading of someone smoking a cigar the morning of the Battle of New Orleans (1815); that's the earliest reference I can think of, but I've not made any study of the topic.

Capt. William

[Slopmaker Cripps]

Greg,

My shipmate John was the first person to send out the spanish sailor info online (before it spread like wildfire all over the internet). The sketches were done in 1725, though the whole notebook spans from 1719-1756. It comes from the Marques de la Victoria's Notebook that is housed in the Museo Naval in Madrid. John sent me this stuff awhile back when I started researching spanish sailors clothing in hopes of producing a line. A bunch of us do War of Jenkins Ear guarda costa down in St. Augustine when we're not doing English. Anyway, the picture is from 1725 (shows the 1725 reforms in sailors garb).

The notebook also includes tons of other pictures of interest if you're truly into the age of sail.....

Cheers,

Adam C.

P.S. I am almost done with a prototype of the white linen shirt, and will let you know when I have pics up.

[Deadeye]

As far as thhe look, and size goes, I would imagine them to look somthing like a Backwoods. You can get them in any gas station or convenience store, they look very rustic, and claim to be "Hand rolled" though I doubt it, with the numbers they put out.

The problem with them of course is they are an aromatic, and though smell wonderful, do not have- what I would imagine, anyhow- a period aroma...

But I have been wrong before, and could be wrong again...