The plant was used medicinally as well. Dried leaves were used for money and they were considered sacred by many Indians. Columbus brought cigars back to Queen Isabella. Tobacco was originally cultivated in Europe as a medicinal plant. The wild ancestors of tobacco are no longer known.
Tobacco is a tetraploid.
Good cigars are made from whole leaves of tobacco. The American Indians used tobacco as a snuff, smoked it in pipes, cigars, and chewed it. Tobacco cultivation started in Virginia in 1612. As the crop was a good source of revenue, cultivation has continued in the Southeastern up to the present . Tobacco cultivation is complicated.