According to western history books, the first recorded observation of people smoking tobacco occurred when Christopher Columbus sent two explorers inland from one of his landing sites in the New World. The men returned with fantastic tales...including a story of Indians with smoking heads! Less than 50 years later, in the mid-1500's, tobacco was already a valuable commodity in global trade.Today, tobacco is grown throughout the world. Cigar tobacco includes special varieties that require careful tending. If the leaves are intended for wrappers, the special growing process includes large tents for a shade-grown variety and careful harvesting to avoid blemishing the leaves. The best cigar tobacco is concentrated in the Tropics, but for wrapper tobacco there is one notable exception: the Connecticut River Valley of the United States.