The History of Tobacco

WHAT IS
TOBACCO
?
Tobacco is a green, leafy plant that
is grown in warm climates. After it
is picked, it is dried, ground up, and
used in different ways. It can be
smoked in a cigarette, pipe, or cigar.
It can be chewed (called smokeless
tobacco or chewing tobacco) or
sniffed through the nose (called
snuff).

Nicotine
Nicotine is one of the more than
7,000 chemicals in cigarettes and its
smoke.
It is the chemical that makes tobacco
addictive or habit forming. Once we
smoke, chew, or sniff tobacco,
nicotine goes into our bloodstream,
and our body wants more. The
nicotine in tobacco makes it a drug.
This means that when we use
tobacco, it changes our body in
some way. Because nicotine is a
stimulant, it speeds up the nervous
system, so we feel like we have
more energy. It also makes the heart
beat faster and raises blood pressure.
Here are a few of the chemicals in tobacco smoke,
and other places they are found:
Acetone – found in nail polish remover
Acetic Acid – an ingredient in hair dye
Ammonia – a common household cleaner
Arsenic – used in rat poison
Benzene – found in rubber cement
Butane – used in lighter fluid
Cadmium – active component in battery acid
Carbon Monoxide – released in car exhaust fumes
Formaldehyde – embalming fluid
Hexamine – found in barbecue lighter fluid
Lead – used in batteries
Naphthalene – an ingredient in moth balls
Methanol – a main component in rocket fuel
Nicotine – used as insecticide
Tar – material for paving roads
Toluene - used to manufacture paint
 History of
Tobacco
Tobacco has a long history in the
Americas. It is believed that Tobacco
began growing in the Americas
about 6,000 B.C. The Mayan
Indians of Mexico carved drawings
in stone showing tobacco use. These
drawings date back to somewhere
between 600 to 900 A.D. Tobacco
was grown by American Indians
before the Europeans came. Native
Americans smoked tobacco through
a pipe for special religious and
medical purposes. They did not
smoke every day.
Tobacco was the first crop grown for
money in North America. In 1612
the settlers of the first American
colony in Jamestown, Virginia grew
tobacco as a cash crop. It was their
main source of money. Tobacco
helped pay for the American
Revolution. George Washington also
grew tobacco.
 History of
Tobacco
On October 15, 1492, Christopher
Columbus was offered dried tobacco
leaves as a gift from the American
Indians that he encountered. Soon
after, sailors brought tobacco back to
Europe, and the plant was being
grown all over Europe.
The major reason for tobacco's
growing popularity in Europe was
its supposed healing properties.
Europeans believed that tobacco
could cure almost anything, from
bad breath to cancer!
In 1632, 12 years after the
Mayflower arrived on Plymouth
Rock, it was illegal to smoke
publicly in Massachusetts! This had
more to do with the moral beliefs of
the day, than health concerns about
smoking tobacco.
 History of
Tobacco
The first commercial cigarettes were
made in 1865 by Washington Duke
on his 300-acre farm in Raleigh,
North Carolina. His hand-rolled
cigarettes were sold to soldiers at
the end of the Civil War.
It was not until James Bonsack
invented the cigarette-making
machine in 1881 that cigarette
smoking became widespread.
Bonsack’s cigarette machine could
make 120,000 cigarettes a day.
The first brand of cigarettes were
packaged in a box with baseball
cards and were called Duke of
Durham. Duke started the first
tobacco company in the U.S and
named it the American Tobacco
Company.
 Honus
Wagner
Legend has it that fewer than
200 cards of the Hall of Fame
shortstop were produced
because Wagner was not
happy with the card's
producer the American
Tobacco Company and the
smoking message it sent to
children. Wagner, however,
smoked and endorsed cigars,
leading some to believe he
was merely upset with not
being paid for his image. It
has sold to up to $2.8 million
at auction.
 History of
Tobacco
The American Tobacco Company
was the largest and most powerful
tobacco company until the early
1900’s. Several companies were
making cigarettes by the early
1900’s. In 1902 Philip Morris
company came out with its Marlboro
brand.
They were selling their cigarettes
mainly to men. Everything changed
during World War I (1914-18) and
World War II (1939-45). Soldiers
overseas were given free cigarettes
every day. At home production
increased and cigarettes were being
marketed to women too. More than
any other war, World War II brought
more independence for women.
Many of them went to work and
started smoking for the first time
while their husbands were away.
The Anti-Smoking
Campaign
In 1964 the Surgeon General of the
U.S. ( the chief doctor for the
country)wrote a report about the
dangers of cigarette smoking. He said
that the nicotineand tar in cigarettes
cause lung cancer.
In 1965 the Congress of the U.S.
passed the Cigarette Labelling and
Advertising Act. It said that every
cigarette pack must have a warning
label on its side stating “Cigarettes
may be hazardous to your health.”
By the 1980’s, the tobacco companies
had come out with new brands of
cigarettes with lower amounts of tar
and nicotine and improved filters to
keep their customers buying and to
help reduce their fears. The early
1980’s were called the “tar wars”
because tobacco companies competed
aggressively to make over 100 low tar
and “ultra” low tar cigarettes.
ECONOMICS
OF TOBACCO