LA HAVANA

The word cigar originated from "sikar," the Mayan-Indian word for smoking, which became 'cigarro' in Spanish, probably from Maya 'sicar' "to smoke rolled tobacco leaves," from 'sic' "tobacco;" or from or influenced by the Spanish word cigarra "grasshopper". Although the word itself, and variations on it, did not come into general use until 1730.
Explorer Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of tobacco to Europe. Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have encountered tobacco for the first time on the island of Hispaniola, when natives presented them with dry leaves that spread a peculiar fragrance. Tobacco was widely diffused among all of the islands of the Caribbean and therefore they again encountered it in Cuba where Columbus and his men had settled. His sailors reported that the Tainos on the island of Cuba smoked a primitive form of cigar, with twisted, dried tobacco leaves rolled in other leaves such as palm or plantain.