Quote:
Originally Posted by Northviewcats
This thread is an example of why I love this site.
If you want to learn more about Israel Putman and how he was responsible of bringing cigars to the American colonies in the 1700s, you can check out a book by Eric Burns titled The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco. It was published in 2007. Chapter 6 begins with the story of Putman a war hero being exiled for a time in Cuba, by his friends the British. Putman turned against the British in Cuba, even got into an interesting confrontation with a British officer by outlasting him on a "sitting on a powder keg" duel. During his exile, Putman missed smoking the pipe and when presented a Cuban cigar decided that the cigar was more appropriate for men at war. Easier to handle during battle, and more manly. When he was returned to the colonies he brought cigar smoking back with him where it became popular with the anti-British faction. There are several more interesting stories about Putman in the chapter that made him a Revolutionary War hero in addition to introducing cigars to the colonialists.
I can easily see how this led to Putman being on tobacco advertising as Eric's cigar advertisement suggests.
Best regards,
Joe
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Joe,
This is great info. Just to clarify, I do not own the Old Put advertisement. I merely tracked down an image of it while doing a little research.
I also found this tidbit today, which seems to indicate the exact place in which cigar smoking in America began:
•1762: General Israel Putnam introduces cigar-smoking to the US. After a British campaign in Cuba, "Old Put" returns with three donkey-loads of Havana cigars; introduces the customers of his Connecticut brewery and tavern to cigar smoking
For those who may have an interest, the site can be accessed here:
http://archive.tobacco.org/resources...history18.html
Best Regards,
Eric