Part Two

You might have heard of Christopher Columbus the explorer, well, he pretty much kind of made me famous in Europe, let me explain.  On his travels in October 1492 he met some very nice American Indians in Central America who offered him and his fellow sailors dried tobacco leaves as a gift.  When Christopher and the other sailors all returned to Europe they all took a bit of my family with them, and this way Grandpa Tobacco got used and known in different countries, and with more and more people trying it, it became more popular.  The Spanish explorers returned with Cigars and in the beginning of the 16th Century beggars in Seville, Spain figured out a way of making the first paper rolled cigarettes.  They would pick up cigar butts that had been thrown on the ground, shred them and then roll them in scraps of paper.  The elite in Spain looked down on them as though they were a load of rubbish, however the beggars had the last laugh when in the 18th century they became popular and known as what I like to call my long lost brothers and sisters ‘cigarillos’.  Smoking became a thing across Europe for rich noblemen to do to prove how tough they were, which is no different to the reasons some kids smoke today.