In 1936 Zino Davidoff installed what is reported to be the first climate-controlled storage facility for cigars in the basement of his famed shop on the Rue de la Confederation in Geneva, Switzerland.

Cigars were frequently awarded as prizes at Carnivals around the U.S. in the early 20th century. This is where the phrase “close, but no cigar” comes from. 

By the year 1900 there were a reported 27, 366 cigar factories of various sizes operating in the U.S.

Cigars took on a massive new popularity that endures to this day during the “Cigar Boom” of the 1990s. 

Alfred Dunhill’s initially expansion into the United States was in New York City, where you can still visit a Dunhill store today.

The oldest and longest-running cigar manufacturing company founded in the United States is Marsh Wheeling, founded by Mifflin M. Marsh in 1840.

A traditional cigar factory Lector read newspapers and novels aloud on the rolling floor to break up monotony and entertain the workers during shifts.

Founded in 1968, the CAO company started out as a manufacturer of tobacco pipes and humidors long before they began producing their own cigar lines.

Paul Garmirian’s book “The Gourmet Guide to Cigars” first hit stands in 1990.

The U.S. embargo on Cuban cigars was implemented on February 7, 1962.

The majority of cigars available to U.S. smokers in the 1970s were imported from the Canary Islands, Jamaica and Mexico.

J.C. Newman’s childhood home in Hungary was the only house made of brick in his village, and was a local gathering place for the townspeople.

Cohiba was originally Fidel Castro’s private blend before it was released to the public in 1982.

The first machine-made cigars were produced by the Cuban Por Larranaga brand in 1925.

Though it is widely rumored that Russian Tsaritsa Catherine The Great was the first to wrap her cigars in strips of silk, cigar historians credit Dutch-born Cuban cigarmaker Gustave Bock with the invention of the cigar band in the 1830s. Within two decades, banding of cigars exported from Havana became almost universal.

One of the best wrapper tobaccos available, Connecticut Broadleaf is said to have made its debut sometime during the 1820s.

In 1973 the US Government banned cigar companies from running any advertisements on Television. This ban still remains in place today.

Ulysses S. Grant was said to smoke 20 cigars a day. After a newspaper photo of the General chewing a cigar was published following the Battle at Fort Donelson in Tennessee in mid-February 1862, over 10,000 boxes of fine cigars were sent to Grant by his supporters, effectively increasing his habit. 

Elected in 1876, 19th president of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes was a notorious teetotaler who introduced a ban on smoking and drinking in the White House during his tenure.