I found a bunch of sites about cigar store Indians. They apparently began in the 1800s.
We got tobacco from the Indians, but they never made cigars. Cigars require a special
kind of leaf to wrap around the leaves that had the desired flavor. Bel;ieve it or not
there ised to be quite a few tobacco leaf farms in New England. It was shade grown, which
improved its ability to hold the center together. And cigars became popular as a alternative
to a pipe. The stores used the wooden Indian the same way barber shops used the red and
white spiral cylinder as an eye catcher effective at a distance greater than a sign could be.
There was one lousy thing about cigars. They were hand made, and the wrapper leaf was
well moistened by the maker's saliva, which often contained tubercle bacilli. So in the twenties
there was a cigar ad "Spit is a horrid word, But it's worse on your cigar....."
