WOMAN SMOKING A PIPE- 1952

 Tobacco was one of the indigenous plants cultivated by the Amerindians  when the Spaniards made their first permanent settlement at San Jose de  Oruna (St. Joseph) in 1592. The first peoples used the leaf mainly in  spirit-ceremonies. Dried tobacco and other narcotics would be powdered  and inhaled through the nostrils by piaii (shamans) to induce visions.

 When the famous British marauder and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh descended on the  island in 1595, he was introduced to tobacco since he made contact with  Amerindians at La Brea, Mucurapo and Erin. He took back to England, a  quantity of cured leaf which he smoked in cigars. Since this was a  pastime unknown in Europe, it is alleged that his manservant, seeing  smoke emanating from his master’s head, doused Raleigh with a bucket of  water. Tobacco continued to be a crop of importance in 17th century  Spanish Trinidad, along with cacao and cotton. Not only was it  cultivated on the conucos (smallholdings) of the Amerindians, but  several Spanish settlers grew it in the area known as Valsayn today and  in Maracas valley. Tobacco needs light, rich soil, good moisture and  generous spacing. The large leaves were semi-cured until golden brown  and then packed onto canoes at Puerto Grande (the confluence of the St.  Joseph and Caroni Rivers, then a shipping place) to be sent to the  principal seaport , Puerto de los Hispanioles (Port of Spain) .
  Trinidad also played a part in sparking off the American tobacco  industry which is still a billion dollar enterprise. John Rolfe, a  colonist from the Jamestown Settlement, was the first to grow tobacco in  America. He arrived in Virginia with tobacco seeds procured on an  earlier voyage to Trinidad, and in 1612 he harvested his inaugural crop  for sale on the European market. In 1784, 132,000 pounds of tobacco were  produced in the island. At the conquest of Trinidad by the British in  1797, tobacco was one of the crops noted by Sir Ralph Abercrombie as  being of significance. By 1820, sugar was king and most of the lands  devoted to the older order of cash crops (cotton, tobacco, indigo) were  converted to sugar cane and the production dwindled. Quantities of  tobacco were being imported from Tobago and Venezeula to supply the  local demand, but in the old Mission settlement of Siparia, tobacco was  still an important crop. This may have been so for in that little  village, the old ways of the first peoples still were strong and many of  the villagers were of mixed Amerindian ancestry. Writing in 1848, a  traveler recounts

 “I entered a neat Spanish mud casa where two  men were busily employed in rolling cigars, the quality of which is  deemed by smokers to be very good. The celerity with which each cigar  was fashioned was quite remarkable and between them, these two can make  over 900 a day”.

 Production of tobacco in Trinidad declined  steadily throughout the 19th century until in the 1880s, Sir L.A.A De  Verteuil could write

 “Trinidad tobacco, from the district of  Siparia, was judged at the Exhibition (London, 1880) as inferior only to  Havana (from which the world famous Cohiba cigars are made) , yet its  cultivation is limited only to a few acres of land , the quantity of  which is consumed on the spot where it is grown , whilst a sufficiency  might easily be raised for the entire island’s consumption. The annual  quantity of tobacco imported into this island is 318,300 pounds equal to  10,000 pounds sterling.”

 Another account from 1893 went thus :

 “The soil of certain districts of the colony is admirably adapted to  the growth of tobacco, and samples grown in the district of Siparia have  been pronounced by competent judges to be second only to the finest  Havana. As yet, however, the cultivation is confined to a few patches  scattered here and there throughout the colony, but principally in the  above-named district. During the administration of Sir William Robinson  the services of an expert from Cuba were engaged, and an experimental  cultivation established by the Government at Siparia. Although the  experiment has not proved a financial success, and has consequently been  brought to a close, it has, in other respects, been both useful and  profitable,”

 The 1892 report of the Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Gardens was as follows:

 “"The experiment of growing Tobacco at Siparia has been terminated. The  officer imported as specialist and employed temporarily by the  Government to superintend the culture decided at the conclusion of his  engagement to remain in the district and has purchased land on his own  account. This, I take it, is an encouraging feature, as in his hands I  believe the industry is likely to increase, the more so, as he has  identified himself with the people, and is prepared to settle for good  in the district. The last crop, like the former ones, was small, but  being of the nature of an experiment I could not advise the Government  to expend large sums in cultivating a sufficient area to become a  remunerative culture. The first question to be decided was : Can a  Tobacco of a suitable character for making good cigars be grown iu  Trinidad ? The second question : Can it be grown to pay ? is a question  which the industry of the people themselves should solve. The first ques  tion having been resolved in the affirmative, on the Report of London  brokers and manufacturers, on Reports of samples of cigars sent to  England, and on numerous Reports of local smokers, the second question  may safely be left to the hands of enterprising planters to whom it  properly belongs. In the meantime it may be said that the quality of the  produce of the district in which operations were conducted (always a  tobacco-producing one) has much improved. Tlie native cultivators having  seen and partially adopted the methods employed by the skilled  cultivator, and it may be confidently anticipated that the industry will  continue
 to make progress during future years."”

 The Sosa  family was involved with tobacco propagation in Siparia at least from  the 1870s. Much of the imported tobacco came from Venezuela and in the  early 20th century there were several small manufacturers of cigars and  cigarettes in POS, the principals being J. Orsini y Hijos and Machado.  These concerns lost out to the large-scale importation of Anchor  cigarettes beginning in the 1920s. Even so, pipe-smoking was commonplace  among men and even women of the lower classes. To supply this market,  small quantities of tobacco were still being grown locally. West Indian  Tobacco Co. opened here in 1948, but most of its raw material was  imported. Small quantities of tobacco were still being cultivated in  Siparia well into the 1960s for local consumption.