Q 01/05

Which of the three components of a modern cigar is usually made from the highest-quality leaf?

A) The filler

B) The binder

C) The wrapper

D) The cap

Answer · why

C) The wrapper

Its color is so important that it is often used to describe the whole cigar, from claro to oscuro.

Q 02/05

The word 'cigar' ultimately derives from a word in which language?

A) Arabic

B) Mayan

C) Portuguese

D) Taino

Answer · why

B) Mayan

The English word only came into general use in 1730, by way of the Spanish 'cigarro'.

Q 03/05

European explorers first observed cigar smoking among which indigenous people in 1492?

A) The Aztecs of Mexico

B) The Inca of Peru

C) The Taino of Cuba

D) The Maya of Yucatan

Answer · why

C) The Taino of Cuba

Bartolomé de las Casas described Columbus's scouts finding men who sucked smoke from dry herbs wrapped in a leaf, which the locals called tabacos.

Q 04/05

Which French ambassador, who spread tobacco to France, gave his name to nicotine?

A) Jean Nicot

B) Jacques Cartier

C) Nicolas Fouquet

D) Michel de Montaigne

Answer · why

A) Jean Nicot

Sir Walter Raleigh's voyages did the same job for Britain, where pipes rather than cigars caught on first.

Q 05/05

Which Revolutionary War general is believed to have brought Havana cigars home from the Seven Years' War?

A) Nathanael Greene

B) Israel Putnam

C) Horatio Gates

D) Henry Knox

Answer · why

B) Israel Putnam

He also brought Cuban tobacco seeds and planted them near Hartford, reportedly leading to the famous shade-grown Connecticut wrapper.