- published: 18 Sep 2015
- views: 402086
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and the Eastern United States.
The word "cigar" originated from sikar, the Yucatec Mayan word for smoking, which became cigarro in Spanish, probably from the Mayan sikar ("to smoke rolled tobacco leaves" – from sik, "tobacco;") or from the Spanish word cigarra ("grasshopper"). However, the word itself, and variations on it, did not come into general use until 1730. New names for cigars include "Jules", "Havana", "Vitole" and "Puro".
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 Taínos 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.
Sitting in the back row, preoccupied
While the world is spinning around him
He is locked up inside
And the one that they look to for answers
Holds the shackles as a threat
To the little boy of which requirements
This little boy he has not met
Thrown in a dungeon of confinement that is devoid
Of the happiness that would help this little boy
Teased him with a rainbow
When they knew there was no pot of gold
But it wasn't the richest lie they'd ever told
Hook him up to machines
See what they say
Is he blind, dumb, or ignorant
Does he need a hearing aid
And with a six page readout
They had the answers and a plan
What they had was a blueprint
To turn this boy into a man
Thrown in a dungeon of confinement that is devoid
Of the happiness that would help this little boy
Teased him with a rainbow
When they knew there was no pot of gold
But it wasn't the richest lie they'd ever told