subject: Cohiba: History With The Europeans [print this page] After the Spanish explored the island of Cuba and returned with some of the tobacco, a passionate response to the Cuban tobacco was ignited in Europe. In Spain, the habit of smoking had gained a lot of loyal followers. In other areas, like Russia, Turkey, and Japan tobacco was ruled illegal and cruel punishments were set as penalty for disobeying the law.
As the prohibition on the use of tobacco products grew, so too did the use of tobacco for medicinal purposes. In England as early as the late sixteenth century, tobacco was being recommended as a cure for halitosis, cancer, toothaches, worms, and lockjaw, among other maladies.
In 1717, rebellions against the Spanish crown were incited by Cuban tobacco farmers when King Felipe V set up a royal monopoly, called a Factoria, on all of the tobacco grown on the island. Many of the honest tobacco farmers refused to grow crops under the governments restricted trade laws. This Tobacco Monopoly lasted for exactly one hundred years, until Royal Decree overturned it, allowing the island to open up free trade with the rest of the world. Even then, trade was always done through Spanish ports so that there was a degree of control.
Tobacco farming was done only by free men. Sugar farming and production was seen as an easier and rougher occupation which allowed the use of slaves, but tobacco farming required some skill and knowledge. The Spaniards urged thousands of immigrants from the Canary Islands to relocate to Cuba and work in the tobacco industry.
