Cigars in the GAOP?

[Jolly Jack Blackwater]

I think it safe to say that pipe smoking was the predominate form of tobacco use, however is there any evidence of cigar use during this period? When did the Caribbean become the cigar and tobacco center it is today? (aside from the 59 Cuban revolution and it's resulting exodus of the major grower families.)

[JoshuaRed]

Somewhere around here is a thread about this already. Cigars did exist during the GAOP, but it doesn't seem they were in wide usage by Europeans, except occasionally in the West Indies. There, the Spanish seemed to have picked up the method of cigar making from the indigenous peoples (Can't remember the exact tribe...maybe the Arawaks?) who made big ones from whole tobacco leaves, called "sekars" which is where our modern word stems from.