A Bad Habit…
There was a time, not so long ago, when cigarettes were allowed in restaurants, airplanes, hotel rooms and even hospitals! I remember arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport (Paris, France) and, as soon as I got off the plane, being overwhelmed by the smell of Gauloise cigarettes… Times have changed!
History
Tobacco (or Nicotiana tabacum) and related products have a long history that stretches back to 6,000 BC. The Aztecs smoked a hollow reed or cane tube stuffed with tobacco. Other natives of Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America crushed tobacco leaves and rolled the shreds in corn (maize) husk or other vegetable wrappers.
In 1492, when he first set foot in America, Columbus got gifts from natives, including dried up leaves of the tobacco plant. As they were not edible and had a distinct smell, the leaves were thrown overboard. However, Columbus soon realized that dried tobacco leaves were a prized possession among the natives, as they traded them and often offered them as gifts.
Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres were the first Europeans to observe smoking. It was on Cuba and Jerez became a heavy smoker, bringing the habit back with him to Spain. Jerez’s neighbors were so petrified of the smoke coming out of his mouth and nose that he was soon arrested by the Holy Inquisition and held in captivity for nearly 7 years!!! However, thanks to seafarers, smoking became an entrenched habit in both Spain and Portugal before long.
Frenchman Jean Nicot, from whose name the word nicotine is derived, introduced tobacco to France in 1560. By the end of the 16th century, tobacco was present in almost all European countries, and doctors claimed that it had medicinal properties. For instance, in 1571, Nicolas Monardes wrote a book outlining 36 specific ailments that tobacco could supposedly cure…
In the US, tobacco products gained a strong foothold sometime around the Revolution. In 1776, tobacco was even used by revolutionaries as a guarantee for the loans they were getting from France. In 1882, James Albert Bonsack, the inventor of the cigarette-rolling machine, manufactured the Bonsack Cigarette Machine which prospered from the first as one machine could produce as many cigarettes as forty-eight people could make manually .