Tobacco
Overview
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves
of plants in the genus Nicotiana
. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines. It is most commonly used as a recreational drug, and is a valuable cash crop
for countries such as Cuba
, China
and the United States
.
In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking
, chewing
, snuff
ing, or dipping
tobacco.
Leaves
-History:Vocalist Arnar Gudjonsson was formerly the guitarist with Mower, and he was joined by Hallur Hallsson , Arnar Ólafsson , Bjarni Grímsson , and Andri Ásgrímsson . Late in 2001 they played with Emiliana Torrini and drew early praise from the New York Times...
of plants in the genus Nicotiana
Nicotiana
Nicotiana is a genus of herbs and shrubs of the nightshade family indigenous to North and South America, Australia, south west Africa and the South Pacific. Various Nicotiana species, commonly referred to as tobacco plants, are cultivated and grown to produce tobacco. Of all Nicotiana species,...
. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines. It is most commonly used as a recreational drug, and is a valuable cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
for countries such as Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
, chewing
Chewing tobacco
Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco (also known colloquially as hoobastank, backy, tobac, doogooos,Hogleg, chewpoos, chits, chewsky, chawsky, dip, flab, chowers, guy, or a wad, as well as referred to as dipsky, snuff, a pinch, a yopper, a Packing a bomb, a tobbackey or packing a...
, snuff
Snuff
Snuff is a product made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves. It is an example of smokeless tobacco. It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century...
ing, or dipping
Dipping tobacco
Dipping tobacco, traditionally referred to as moist snuff, is a type of finely ground or shredded, moistened smokeless tobacco product. It is commonly and idiomatically known by various terms – most often as dip and sometimes rub or chew...
tobacco.
Unanswered Questions
Discussions
Quotations
When I heard smoking will kill you I bought shares in Marlboro and Dunhill.
:Thomas Geraghty
Life is too short to not to blow; but you can always make the process a little slow!
:Gurdeepak Ahuja
Asthma doesn't seem to bother me any more unless I'm around cigars or dogs. The thing that would bother me most would be a dog smoking a cigar.
:Steve Allen
A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the the pit that is bottomless.
:James I of England
Gentlemen, you may smoke.
:[ending the long ban on smoking held by Queen Victoria in the early 20th Century]
:King Edward VII
I'll smoke anything anybody gives me, I'm not particular.
:Peter Falk
If smoking is not allowed in heaven, I shall not go.
:Mark Twain
If they made all cigars and cigarettes in the shape of a certain male body part, most men would stop smoking immediately. Maybe that wouldn't happen because cigars pretty much look like that anyway and you'll still see men licking and sucking on them as if they were hungrily welcoming a boyfriend who just came back from a long trip.
:Duane Alan Hahn
It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake.
:Mark Twain
It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.
:Mark Twain
Encyclopedia
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves
of plants in the genus Nicotiana
. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines. It is most commonly used as a recreational drug, and is a valuable cash crop
for countries such as Cuba
, China
and the United States
.
In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking
, chewing
, snuff
ing, or dipping
tobacco. Tobacco had long been in use as an entheogen
in the Americas, but upon the arrival of Europe
ans in North America, it quickly became popularized as a trade item and a recreational drug. This popularization led to the development of the southern economy of the United States
until it gave way to cotton. Following the American Civil War
, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed for the development of the cigarette
. This new product quickly led to the growth of tobacco companies, until the scientific controversy of the mid-1900s.
There are more than 70 species of tobacco in the plant genus Nicotiana. The word nicotiana (as well as nicotine
) is in honor of Jean Nicot
, French ambassador to Portugal, who in 1559 sent it as a medicine to the court of Catherine de Medici.
Because of the addictive properties of nicotine
, tolerance
and dependence develop. Absorption quantity, frequency, and speed of tobacco consumption are believed to be directly related to biological strength of nicotine dependence, addiction
, and tolerance. The usage of tobacco is an activity that is practiced by some 1.1 billion people, and up to 1/3 of the adult population. The World Health Organization
(WHO) reports it to be the leading preventable cause of death worldwide and estimates that it currently causes 5.4 million deaths per year. Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in developed countries, but continue to rise in developing countries.
Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seed
s are sown in cold frame
s or hotbeds to prevent attacks from insects, and then transplanted into the fields. Tobacco is an annual crop, which is usually harvested mechanically or by hand. After harvest, tobacco is stored for curing, which allows for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoid
s. This allows for the agricultural product to take on properties that are usually attributed to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Following this, tobacco is packed into its various forms of consumption, which include smoking, chewing, snuffing, and so on.
, the Arawakan language of the Caribbean
. In Taino, it was said to refer either to a roll of tobacco leaves (according to Bartolomé de las Casas
, 1552), or to the tabago, a kind of Y-shaped pipe for sniffing tobacco smoke (according to Oviedo; with the leaves themselves being referred to as cohiba).
However, similar words in Spanish and Italian were commonly used from 1410 to define medicinal herb
s, originating from the Arabic
طبق tabbaq, a word reportedly dating to the 9th century, as the name of various herbs.
; among some tribes, this was done only by experienced shamans
or medicine men
. Eastern North American tribes carried large amounts of tobacco in pouches as a readily accepted trade item, and often smoked it in peace pipes, either in defined sacred ceremonies, or to seal a bargain, and they smoked it at such occasions in all stages of life, even in childhood. It was believed that tobacco is a gift from the Creator, and that the exhaled tobacco smoke carries one's thoughts and prayers to heaven
.
Before the development of lighter Virginia and White Burley strains of tobacco, the smoke was too harsh to be inhaled traditionally by Native Americans in ceremonial use or by Europeans who used it recreationally in the form of pipes and cigars. Inhaling "rough" tobacco without seriously damaging the lungs in the short term required smoking only small quantities at a time using a pipe like the midwakh
or kiseru
or smoking newly invented waterpipes such as the bong
or the hookah
(See Thuoc lao for a modern continuance of this practice). Inhaling smoke was already common in the East with the introduction of cannabis
and opium
millennia before.
for the southern United States until it was replaced by cotton. Following the American civil war, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed inventor James Bonsack to create a machine that automated cigarette production.
This increase in production allowed tremendous growth in the tobacco industry until the scientific revelations of the mid-1900s.
In the 1970s, Brown & Williamson
cross-bred a strain of tobacco to produce Y1
. This strain of tobacco contained an unusually high amount of nicotine, nearly doubling its content from 3.2-3.5% to 6.5%. In the 1990s, this prompted the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) to use this strain as evidence that tobacco companies
were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigarette
s.
In 2003, in response to growth of tobacco use in developing countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) successfully rallied 168 countries to sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Convention is designed to push for effective legislation and its enforcement in all countries to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco. This led to the development of tobacco cessation products.
There are many species of tobacco in the genus of herbs Nicotiana. It is part of the nightshade family
(Solanaceae
) indigenous to North
and South America
, Australia
, South West Africa
and the South Pacific
.
Many plants contain nicotine
, a powerful neurotoxin
to insect
s. However, tobaccos contain a higher concentration of nicotine than most other plants. Unlike many other Solanaceae, they do not contain tropane alkaloid
s, which are often poisonous to humans and other animals.
Despite containing enough nicotine and other compounds such as germacrene
and anabasine
and other piperidine
alkaloids (varying between species) to deter most herbivore
s, a number of such animals have evolve
d the ability to feed on Nicotiana species without being harmed. Nonetheless, tobacco is unpalatable to many species, and accordingly some tobacco plants (chiefly tree tobacco, N. glauca) have become established as invasive weeds in some places.
. In Japan, during the Edo period
, prostitutes and their clients often approached one another under the guise of offering a smoke. The same was true in 19th century Europe.
Following the American Civil War
the usage of tobacco, primarily in cigars, became associated with masculinity
and power, and is an iconic image associated with the stereotypical capitalist
. Today, tobacco is often rejected; this has spawned quitting associations and anti-smoking campaigns. Bhutan
is the only country in the world where tobacco sales are illegal.
(WHO) reports that of the 58.8 million deaths occurring globally, 5.4 million are tobacco-attributed.
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The risks associated with tobacco use include diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks
, stroke
s, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), emphysema
, and cancer
(particularly lung cancer
, cancers of the larynx and mouth
, and pancreatic cancers).
The World Health Organization
estimates that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century. Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
describes tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide."
Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in the developed world. Smoking rates in the United States have dropped by half from 1965 to 2006, falling from 42% to 20.8% in adults. In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year.
When the market for tobacco reduced in the West, the industry looked to India and China for 'emerging markets'. In response, various activists in these markets have campaigned against tobacco products. One example is Dr. Sharad Vaidya
, a cancer surgeon in India who helped to add the study of tobacco's health effects to school curricula, to establish legislation banning public smoking, to stop sports sponsorship, and to prohibit sale to those under 21 years of age.
China is the world's largest tobacco market. Changes have been made to eliminate advertising, post health warnings, and ban smoking from public buildings. Many doctors, however, smoke and neglect to warn their patients that smoking increases their risk for disease. Judith Mackay
, a Hong Kong-based physician, has been a relentless and effective campaigner, assisting Chinese health officials in the effort to reduce smoking and its immense health, social, and economic costs. Among her projects is the Tobacco Atlas. Her work caused Time Magazine to name her to its 2007 list of the most influential figures across the globe. In a 2010 talk at the USC U.S.-China Institute, Mackay summarized the progress that's been made in China and the challenges that remain.
New research indicates that secondhand-smoke is also harmful.
In Indonesia, the lowest income group spends 15% of its total expenditures on tobacco. In Egypt, more than 10% of households expediture in low-income homes is on tobacco. The poorest 20% of households in Mexico spend 11% of their income on tobacco.
Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seed
s were at first quickly scattered onto the soil. However, young plants came under increasing attack from flea beetle
s (Epitrix cucumeris or Epitrix pubescens), which caused destruction of half the tobacco crops in United States in 1876. By 1890 successful experiments were conducted that placed the plant in a frame covered by thin cotton fabric. Today, tobacco is sown in cold frame
s or hotbeds, as their germination
is activated by light.
In the United States
, tobacco is often fertilized with the mineral apatite
, which partially starves the plant of nitrogen, to produce a more desired flavor. Apatite, however, contains radium
, lead 210, and polonium 210—which are known radioactive carcinogens.
After the plants are about eight inches tall, they are transplanted into the fields. Farmers used to have to wait for rainy weather to plant. A hole is created in the tilled earth with a tobacco peg, either a curved wooden tool or deer antler.
After making two holes to the right and left - you would move forward two feet, select plants from your bag and repeat. Various mechanical tobacco planters like Bemis, New Idea Setter, and New Holland Transplanter were invented in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to automate the process: making the hole, watering it, guiding the plant in — all in one motion.
Tobacco is cultivated annually, and can be harvest
ed in several ways. In the oldest method still used today, the entire plant is harvested at once by cutting off the stalk at the ground with a tobacco knife. It is then speared onto sticks, four to six plants a stick and hung in a curing barn. In the nineteenth century, bright tobacco began to be harvested by pulling individual leaves off the stalk as they ripened. The leaves ripen from the ground upwards, so a field of tobacco may go through several so-called "pullings," more commonly known as cropping. Before this the crop needs to be topped when the pink flowers develop. Topping always refers to the removal of the tobacco flower before the leaves are systematically removed and, eventually, entirely harvested. As the industrial revolution took hold, harvesting wagons used to transport leaves were equipped with man-powered stringers, an apparatus that used twine to attach leaves to a pole. In modern times, large fields are harvested mechanically, although topping the flower and in some cases the plucking of immature leaves is still done by hand.
Curing and subsequent aging allow for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoid
s in tobacco leaf. This produces certain compounds in the tobacco leaves, and gives a sweet hay, tea
, rose oil
, or fruity aromatic flavor that contributes to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Starch is converted to sugar, which glycates
protein, and is oxidized into advanced glycation endproduct
s (AGEs), a caramelization
process that also adds flavor. Inhalation of these AGEs in tobacco smoke contributes to atherosclerosis
and cancer
. Levels of AGE's is dependent on the curing method used.
Tobacco can be cured through several methods, including:
Every year 6.7 million tons of tobacco are produced throughout the world. The top producers of tobacco are China (39.6%), India (8.3%), Brazil (7.0%) and the United States (4.6%).
Around the peak of global tobacco production there were 20 million rural Chinese households producing tobacco on 2.1 million hectares of land. While it is the major crop for millions of Chinese farmers, growing tobacco, is not as profitable as cotton or sugar cane. This is because the Chinese government sets the market price. While this price is guaranteed, it is lower than the natural market price, because of the lack of market risk. To further control tobacco in their borders, China founded a State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) in 1982. STMA control tobacco production, marketing, imports and exports and contributes 12% to the nation's national income. As noted above, despite the income generated for the state by profits from state-owned tobacco companies and the taxes paid by companies and retailers, China's government has acted to reduce tobacco use. At the same time, increasing incomes has enabled more people in China to smoke and to consume more cigarettes.
Each year 5% of the total land of Pakistan is cultivated for Tobacco. It is widely grown in Southern Punjab and Khyberpakhtoonkhwa province of Pakistan.
In Brazil around 135,000 family farmers cite tobacco production as their main economic activity. Tobacco has never exceeded 0.7% of the country’s total cultivated area. In the southern regions of Brazil, Virginia and Amarelinho flue-cured tobacco as well as Burley and Galpao Comun air-cured tobacco are produced. These types of tobacco are used for cigarettes. In the northeast, darker, air- and sun-cured tobacco is grown. These types of tobacco are used for cigars, twists and dark-cigarettes.
Brazil’s government has made attempts to reduce the production of tobacco, but has not had a successful systematic anti-tobacco farming initiative. Brazil’s government, however, provides small loans for family farms, including those that grow tobacco, through the Programa Nacional de Fortalecimiento da Agricultura Familiar (PRONAF).
India's Tobacco Board is headquartered in Guntur
in the state of Andhra Pradesh
. India has 96,865 registered tobacco farmers and many more who are not registered. Around 0.25% of India’s cultivated land is used for tobacco production.
Since 1947, the Indian government has supported growth in the tobacco industry. India has seven tobacco research centers that are located in Madras (now known as Chennai, Tamil Nadu), Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Mysore, West Bengal, and Rajamundry. Rajahmundry houses the core research institute. The government has set up a Central Tobacco Promotion Council, which works to increase exports of Indian tobacco.
The Indian Government and several states have taken multiple measures to reduce Cigarette smoking. Smoking in public places is banned in many states, it is not allowed to be portrayed in movies, warnings are posted on cigarette packs.
Tobacco in the Philippines remained highly concentrated in 2009 and dominated by cigarette manufacturers Fortune Tobacco
Corporation and Philip Morris International
. The strength of these companies is due to their extensive distribution networks which encompass both traditional and non-traditional retail channels as well as their ability to offer their products at affordable prices. Top player Fortune Tobacco Corp maintained its leadership position throughout the review period as mass market cigarette smokers continued to purchase its economy cigarette brands, particularly leading brand Fortune International.
Cigarette prices in the Philippines are low, with the price of Marlboro (cigarette) being the second lowest for all ASEAN nations. The cigarette market has been dominated by menthol brands for several decades, although non-menthol volume has been steadily improving in recent years. La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Company and the Fortune Tobacco
Corporation (FTC) have been the two leading producers, and have had licensing agreements with PMI and RJ Reynolds (RJR) respectively. FTC commands a 67% market share, while La Suerte holds a 25% share.
In late 2009 reports were released by the London-based human-rights group Plan International, claiming that child labor was common on Malawi (producer of 1.8% of the world’s tobacco) tobacco farms. The organization interviewed 44 teens, who worked full-time on farms during the 2007-2008 growing season. The child-laborers complained of low pay, long hours as well as physical and sexual abuse by their supervisors. They also reported suffering from “green tobacco sickness,” a form of nicotine poisoning. When wet leaves are handled, nicotine from the leaves gets absorbed in the skin and causes nausea, vomiting and dizziness. Children were exposed to 50-cigarettes worth of nicotine through direct contact with tobacco leaves. This level of nicotine in children can permanently alter brain structure and function.
A large percent of the profits from tobacco production go to large tobacco companies rather than local tobacco farmers. Also many countries have government subsides for tobacco farming, which do not make economic sense. Major tobacco companies have encouraged global tobacco production. Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco each own or lease tobacco manufacturing facilities in at least 50 countries and buy crude tobacco leaf from at least 12 more countries. This encouragement, along with government subsidies has led to a glut in the tobacco market. This surplus has resulted in lower prices, which are devastating to small-scale tobacco farmers. According to the World Bank, between 1985 and 2000 the inflation-adjusted price of tobacco dropped 37%.
Tobacco is a crop that extracts nutrients, such as phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, from the soil at a rate higher than any other major crop. This leads to dependence on fertilizers.
Furthermore, the wood used for the curing of tobacco in some places leads to deforestation. While some big tobacco producers such as China and the United States have access to petroleum, coal and natural gas, which can be used as alternatives to wood, most developing countries still rely on wood in the curing process. Brazil alone uses the wood of 60 million trees per year for curing, packaging and rolling cigarettes.
Today young people are more conscientious than ever when it comes to the negative effects of tobacco advertising. Many colleges have anti-tobacco programs where students fight for their right not to be exposed to tobacco advertising and smoke.
Leaves
-History:Vocalist Arnar Gudjonsson was formerly the guitarist with Mower, and he was joined by Hallur Hallsson , Arnar Ólafsson , Bjarni Grímsson , and Andri Ásgrímsson . Late in 2001 they played with Emiliana Torrini and drew early praise from the New York Times...
of plants in the genus Nicotiana
Nicotiana
Nicotiana is a genus of herbs and shrubs of the nightshade family indigenous to North and South America, Australia, south west Africa and the South Pacific. Various Nicotiana species, commonly referred to as tobacco plants, are cultivated and grown to produce tobacco. Of all Nicotiana species,...
. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines. It is most commonly used as a recreational drug, and is a valuable cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
for countries such as Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
, chewing
Chewing tobacco
Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco (also known colloquially as hoobastank, backy, tobac, doogooos,Hogleg, chewpoos, chits, chewsky, chawsky, dip, flab, chowers, guy, or a wad, as well as referred to as dipsky, snuff, a pinch, a yopper, a Packing a bomb, a tobbackey or packing a...
, snuff
Snuff
Snuff is a product made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves. It is an example of smokeless tobacco. It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century...
ing, or dipping
Dipping tobacco
Dipping tobacco, traditionally referred to as moist snuff, is a type of finely ground or shredded, moistened smokeless tobacco product. It is commonly and idiomatically known by various terms – most often as dip and sometimes rub or chew...
tobacco. Tobacco had long been in use as an entheogen
Entheogen
An entheogen , in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Historically, entheogens were mostly derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts...
in the Americas, but upon the arrival of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans in North America, it quickly became popularized as a trade item and a recreational drug. This popularization led to the development of the southern economy of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
until it gave way to cotton. Following the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed for the development of the cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
. This new product quickly led to the growth of tobacco companies, until the scientific controversy of the mid-1900s.
There are more than 70 species of tobacco in the plant genus Nicotiana. The word nicotiana (as well as nicotine
Nicotine
Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...
) is in honor of Jean Nicot
Jean Nicot
Jean Nicot was a French diplomat and scholar.Born in Nîmes, in the south of France, he was French ambassador in Lisbon, Portugal from 1559 to 1561....
, French ambassador to Portugal, who in 1559 sent it as a medicine to the court of Catherine de Medici.
Because of the addictive properties of nicotine
Nicotine
Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...
, tolerance
Physiological tolerance
Physiological tolerance or drug tolerance is commonly encountered in pharmacology, when a subject's reaction to a drug is reduced at a later time even though the dose or concentration at the effect site is the same. This means that larger doses are required to achieve the same effect...
and dependence develop. Absorption quantity, frequency, and speed of tobacco consumption are believed to be directly related to biological strength of nicotine dependence, addiction
Substance use disorder
Substance use disorders include substance abuse and substance dependence. In DSM-IV, the conditions are formally diagnosed as one or the other, but it has been proposed that DSM-5 combine the two into a single condition called "Substance-use disorder"....
, and tolerance. The usage of tobacco is an activity that is practiced by some 1.1 billion people, and up to 1/3 of the adult population. The World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO) reports it to be the leading preventable cause of death worldwide and estimates that it currently causes 5.4 million deaths per year. Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in developed countries, but continue to rise in developing countries.
Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s are sown in cold frame
Cold frame
In agriculture and gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from cold weather. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via convection that would otherwise occur, particularly at night...
s or hotbeds to prevent attacks from insects, and then transplanted into the fields. Tobacco is an annual crop, which is usually harvested mechanically or by hand. After harvest, tobacco is stored for curing, which allows for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoid
Carotenoid
Carotenoids are tetraterpenoid organic pigments that are naturally occurring in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms like algae, some bacteria, and some types of fungus. Carotenoids can be synthesized fats and other basic organic metabolic building...
s. This allows for the agricultural product to take on properties that are usually attributed to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Following this, tobacco is packed into its various forms of consumption, which include smoking, chewing, snuffing, and so on.
Etymology
The Spanish word is thought to have originated in TainoTaíno language
Taíno, an Arawakan language, was the principal language of the Caribbean islands at the time of the Spanish Conquest, including the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Florida Keys, and the Lesser Antilles...
, the Arawakan language of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. In Taino, it was said to refer either to a roll of tobacco leaves (according to Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
, 1552), or to the tabago, a kind of Y-shaped pipe for sniffing tobacco smoke (according to Oviedo; with the leaves themselves being referred to as cohiba).
However, similar words in Spanish and Italian were commonly used from 1410 to define medicinal herb
Herb
Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
s, originating from the Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
طبق tabbaq, a word reportedly dating to the 9th century, as the name of various herbs.
History
Early developments
Tobacco had already long been used in the Americas when European settlers arrived and introduced the practice to Europe, where it became popular. Members of all Native American tribes traditionally used tobacco. It was often consumed as an entheogenEntheogen
An entheogen , in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Historically, entheogens were mostly derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts...
; among some tribes, this was done only by experienced shamans
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
or medicine men
Medicine man
"Medicine man" or "Medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples...
. Eastern North American tribes carried large amounts of tobacco in pouches as a readily accepted trade item, and often smoked it in peace pipes, either in defined sacred ceremonies, or to seal a bargain, and they smoked it at such occasions in all stages of life, even in childhood. It was believed that tobacco is a gift from the Creator, and that the exhaled tobacco smoke carries one's thoughts and prayers to heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
.
Before the development of lighter Virginia and White Burley strains of tobacco, the smoke was too harsh to be inhaled traditionally by Native Americans in ceremonial use or by Europeans who used it recreationally in the form of pipes and cigars. Inhaling "rough" tobacco without seriously damaging the lungs in the short term required smoking only small quantities at a time using a pipe like the midwakh
Midwakh
A midwakh, also spelled medwakh, is a small smoking pipe of Arabian origin, in which dokha, a sifted Iranian tobacco product mixed with aromatic leaf and bark herbs, is smoked. The bowl of a midwakh pipe is typically smaller than that of a traditional western tobacco pipe...
or kiseru
Kiseru
is a Japanese smoking pipe traditionally used for smoking kizami, a finely shredded tobacco product resembling human hair.The word kiseru comes from the Khmer word "ksher"....
or smoking newly invented waterpipes such as the bong
Bong
A bong is a filtration device/apparatus generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco,or other herbal substances.In construction and function a bong is similar to a hookah, except smaller and more portable...
or the hookah
Hookah
A hookah A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (Devanagari, (Nastaleeq) huqqah) also known as a waterpipe or narghile, is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) instrument for smoking in which the smoke is cooled by water. The tobacco smoked is referred to...
(See Thuoc lao for a modern continuance of this practice). Inhaling smoke was already common in the East with the introduction of cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
and opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
millennia before.
Popularization
Following the arrival of the Europeans, tobacco became increasingly popular as a trade item. It fostered the economyMarket economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
for the southern United States until it was replaced by cotton. Following the American civil war, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed inventor James Bonsack to create a machine that automated cigarette production.
This increase in production allowed tremendous growth in the tobacco industry until the scientific revelations of the mid-1900s.
Contemporary
Following the scientific revelations of the mid-1900s, tobacco became condemned as a health hazard, and eventually became encompassed as a cause for cancer, as well as other respiratory and circulatory diseases. In the United States, this led to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which settled the lawsuit in exchange for a combination of yearly payments to the states and voluntary restrictions on advertising and marketing of tobacco products.In the 1970s, Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
cross-bred a strain of tobacco to produce Y1
Y1 (tobacco)
Y1 is a strain of tobacco that was cross-bred by Brown & Williamson to obtain an unusually high nicotine content. It became controversial in the 1990s when the United States Food and Drug Administration used it as evidence that tobacco companies were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content...
. This strain of tobacco contained an unusually high amount of nicotine, nearly doubling its content from 3.2-3.5% to 6.5%. In the 1990s, this prompted the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) to use this strain as evidence that tobacco companies
Tobacco industry
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
s.
In 2003, in response to growth of tobacco use in developing countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) successfully rallied 168 countries to sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Convention is designed to push for effective legislation and its enforcement in all countries to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco. This led to the development of tobacco cessation products.
Nicotiana
There are many species of tobacco in the genus of herbs Nicotiana. It is part of the nightshade family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(Solanaceae
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
) indigenous to North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, South West Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
.
Many plants contain nicotine
Nicotine
Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...
, a powerful neurotoxin
Neurotoxin
A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
to insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s. However, tobaccos contain a higher concentration of nicotine than most other plants. Unlike many other Solanaceae, they do not contain tropane alkaloid
Tropane alkaloid
Tropane alkaloids are a class of alkaloids and secondary metabolites that contain a tropane ring in their chemical structure...
s, which are often poisonous to humans and other animals.
Despite containing enough nicotine and other compounds such as germacrene
Germacrene
Germacrenes are a class of volatile organic hydrocarbons, specifically, sesquiterpenes. Germacrenes are typically produced in a number plant species for their antimicrobial and insecticidal properties, though they also play a role as insect pheromones...
and anabasine
Anabasine
Anabasine is a pyridine alkaloid found in the Tree Tobacco plant, a close relative of the common tobacco plant . Chemically, it is similar to nicotine...
and other piperidine
Piperidine
Piperidine is an organic compound with the molecular formula 5NH. This heterocyclic amine consists of a six-membered ring containing five methylene units and one nitrogen atom...
alkaloids (varying between species) to deter most herbivore
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
s, a number of such animals have evolve
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
d the ability to feed on Nicotiana species without being harmed. Nonetheless, tobacco is unpalatable to many species, and accordingly some tobacco plants (chiefly tree tobacco, N. glauca) have become established as invasive weeds in some places.
Types
There are a number of types of tobacco including, but are not limited to:- Aromatic fire-cured is cured by smoke from open fires. In the United States, it is grown in northern middle Tennessee, central Kentucky and in VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Fire-cured tobacco grown in KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
and TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
are used in some chewing tobaccos, moist snuff, some cigarettes, and as a condiment in pipe tobacco blends. Another fire-cured tobacco is LatakiaLatakia (tobacco)Latakia tobacco is a specially prepared tobacco originally produced in Syria and named after the port city of Latakia. Now the tobacco is mainly produced in Cyprus. It is initially sun-cured like other Turkish tobaccos and then further cured over a pine or oak wood fire, which gives it an intense...
, which is produced from oriental varieties of N. tabacum. The leaves are cured and smoked over smoldering fires of local hardwoods and aromatic shrubs in CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
. - Brightleaf tobacco, Brightleaf is commonly known as "Virginia tobacco", often regardless of the state where they are planted. Prior to the American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, most tobacco grown in the US was fire-cured dark-leaf. This type of tobacco was planted in fertile lowlands, used a robust variety of leaf, and was either fire cured or air cured. Most Canadian cigarettes are made from 100% pure Virginia tobacco. - Burley tobaccoBurley (tobacco)Burley tobacco is a light air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigarette production. In the United States it is produced in an eight-state belt with approximately 70% produced in Kentucky. Tennessee produces approximately 20%, with smaller amounts produced in Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri,...
, is an air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigaretteCigaretteA cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
production. In the U.S., burley tobacco plants are started from palletized seeds placed in polystyrene trays floated on a bed of fertilized water in March or April. - CavendishCavendish TobaccoCavendish is more a process of curing and a method of cutting tobacco than a type of it. The processing and the cut are used to bring out the natural sweet taste in the tobacco...
is more a process of curing and a method of cutting tobacco than a type. The processing and the cut are used to bring out the natural sweet taste in the tobacco. Cavendish can be produced from any tobacco type, but is usually one of, or a blend of KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and burleyBurley (tobacco)Burley tobacco is a light air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigarette production. In the United States it is produced in an eight-state belt with approximately 70% produced in Kentucky. Tennessee produces approximately 20%, with smaller amounts produced in Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri,...
, and is most commonly used for pipe tobacco and cigars. - Criollo tobaccoCriollo tobaccoCriollo is a type of tobacco, primarily used in the making of cigars. It was, by most accounts, one of the original Cuban tobaccos that emerged around the time of Columbus...
is a type of tobacco, primarily used in the making of cigarCigarA cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
s. It was, by most accounts, one of the original CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n tobaccos that emerged around the time of ColumbusChristopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
. - DokhaDokhaDokha is a mild Arabian tobacco mixed with leaves, bark and herbs, generally inhaled in small single servings from a miniature smoking pipe called a midwakh. It is popular in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries....
, is a tobacco originally grown in IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, mixed with leaves, bark, and herbs for smoking in a midwakhMidwakhA midwakh, also spelled medwakh, is a small smoking pipe of Arabian origin, in which dokha, a sifted Iranian tobacco product mixed with aromatic leaf and bark herbs, is smoked. The bowl of a midwakh pipe is typically smaller than that of a traditional western tobacco pipe...
. - Turkish tobaccoTurkish tobaccoTurkish tobacco or Oriental tobacco is a highly aromatic, small-leafed variety of tobacco which is sun-cured. Historically, it was cultivated primarily in Thrace and Macedonia, now divided among Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey, but it is now also grown on the Black Sea...
, is a sun-cured, highly aromatic, small-leafed variety (Nicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacum, or cultivated tobacco, is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is found only in cultivation, where it is the most commonly grown of all plants in the Nicotiana genus, and its leaves are commercially grown in many countries to be processed into tobacco. It grows to heights between 1...
) that is grown in TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, BulgariaBulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and MacedoniaRepublic of MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
. Originally grown in regions historically part of the Ottoman EmpireOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, it is also known as "oriental". Many of the early brands of cigarettes were made mostly or entirely of Turkish tobacco; today, its main use is in blends of pipe and especially cigarette tobacco (a typical American cigarette is a blend of bright Virginia, burley and Turkish). - PeriquePeriquePerique is a type of tobacco from Saint James Parish, Louisiana, known for its strong, powerful, and fruity aroma. When the Acadians made their way into this region in 1776, the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes were cultivating a variety of tobacco with a distinctive flavor...
, a farmer called Pierre Chenet is credited with first turning this local tobacco into the Perique in 1824 through the technique of pressure-fermentation. Considered the truffle of pipe tobaccos, it is used as a component in many blended pipe tobaccos, but is too strong to be smoked pure. At one time, the freshly moist Perique was also chewed, but none is now sold for this purpose. It is typically blended with pure Virginia to lend spice, strength, and coolness to the blend. - Shade tobacco, is cultivated in ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Early Connecticut colonists acquired from the Native Americans the habit of smoking tobacco in pipes, and began cultivating the plant commercially, even though the Puritans referred to it as the "evil weed". The industry has weathered some major catastrophesDisasterA disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
, including a devastating hailHailHail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between and in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms...
storm in 1929, and an epidemic of brown spot fungus in 2000, but is now in danger of disappearing altogether, given the value of the land to real estate speculators. - White burley, in 1865, George Webb of Brown CountyBrown County, OhioAs of the census of 2000, there were 42,285 people, 15,555 households, and 11,790 families residing in the county. The population density was 86 people per square mile . There were 17,193 housing units at an average density of 35 per square mile...
, OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
planted red burleyBurley (tobacco)Burley tobacco is a light air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigarette production. In the United States it is produced in an eight-state belt with approximately 70% produced in Kentucky. Tennessee produces approximately 20%, with smaller amounts produced in Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri,...
seeds he had purchased, and found that a few of the seedlings had a whitish, sickly look. The air-cured leaf was found to be more mild than other types of tobacco. - Wild tobacco, is native to the southwestern United States, MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and parts of South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Its botanical name is Nicotiana rustica. - Y1Y1 (tobacco)Y1 is a strain of tobacco that was cross-bred by Brown & Williamson to obtain an unusually high nicotine content. It became controversial in the 1990s when the United States Food and Drug Administration used it as evidence that tobacco companies were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content...
is a strain of tobacco cross-bred by Brown & WilliamsonBrown & WilliamsonBrown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
in the 1970s to obtain an unusually high nicotineNicotineNicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...
content. In the 1990s, the United States Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) used it as evidence that tobacco companiesTobacco industryThe tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigaretteCigaretteA cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
s.
Social
Smoking in public was for a long time something reserved for men, and when done by women was sometimes associated with promiscuityPromiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
. In Japan, during the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, prostitutes and their clients often approached one another under the guise of offering a smoke. The same was true in 19th century Europe.
Following the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
the usage of tobacco, primarily in cigars, became associated with masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
and power, and is an iconic image associated with the stereotypical capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. Today, tobacco is often rejected; this has spawned quitting associations and anti-smoking campaigns. Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
is the only country in the world where tobacco sales are illegal.
Demographic
Research is limited mainly to tobacco smoking, which has been studied more extensively than any other form of consumption. As of 2000, smoking is practiced by some 1.22 billion people, of which men are more likely to smoke than women (however the gender gap declines with age), poor more likely than rich, and people in developing countries or transitional economies more likely than people in developed countries. As of 2004, the World Health OrganizationWorld Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO) reports that of the 58.8 million deaths occurring globally, 5.4 million are tobacco-attributed.
Health
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
s, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , also known as chronic obstructive lung disease , chronic obstructive airway disease , chronic airflow limitation and chronic obstructive respiratory disease , is the co-occurrence of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a pair of commonly co-existing diseases...
(COPD), emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
, and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
(particularly lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, cancers of the larynx and mouth
Cancer of the larynx
Laryngeal cancer may also be called cancer of the larynx or laryngeal carcinoma. Most laryngeal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, reflecting their origin from the squamous cells which form the majority of the laryngeal epithelium....
, and pancreatic cancers).
The World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
estimates that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century. Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
describes tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide."
Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in the developed world. Smoking rates in the United States have dropped by half from 1965 to 2006, falling from 42% to 20.8% in adults. In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year.
When the market for tobacco reduced in the West, the industry looked to India and China for 'emerging markets'. In response, various activists in these markets have campaigned against tobacco products. One example is Dr. Sharad Vaidya
Sharad Vaidya
Sharad Vaidya was an Indian surgeon who specialized in cancer surgery. He established the Goa Cancer Society and founded the Gosalia Memorial Cancer Hospital and the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication.NOTE...
, a cancer surgeon in India who helped to add the study of tobacco's health effects to school curricula, to establish legislation banning public smoking, to stop sports sponsorship, and to prohibit sale to those under 21 years of age.
China is the world's largest tobacco market. Changes have been made to eliminate advertising, post health warnings, and ban smoking from public buildings. Many doctors, however, smoke and neglect to warn their patients that smoking increases their risk for disease. Judith Mackay
Judith Mackay
Judith Longstaff Mackay is a British-born and Hong Kong–based medical doctor and anti-smoking advocate who led a campaign against tobacco in Asia from 1984 onwards, campaigning for tax increases to discourage youth smoking, for the creation of smoke-free areas, and against tobacco promotion...
, a Hong Kong-based physician, has been a relentless and effective campaigner, assisting Chinese health officials in the effort to reduce smoking and its immense health, social, and economic costs. Among her projects is the Tobacco Atlas. Her work caused Time Magazine to name her to its 2007 list of the most influential figures across the globe. In a 2010 talk at the USC U.S.-China Institute, Mackay summarized the progress that's been made in China and the challenges that remain.
New research indicates that secondhand-smoke is also harmful.
Economic
"Much of the disease burden and premature mortality attributable to tobacco use disproportionately affect the poor", and of the 1.22 billion smokers, 1 billion of them live in developing or transitional economies.In Indonesia, the lowest income group spends 15% of its total expenditures on tobacco. In Egypt, more than 10% of households expediture in low-income homes is on tobacco. The poorest 20% of households in Mexico spend 11% of their income on tobacco.
Cultivation
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s were at first quickly scattered onto the soil. However, young plants came under increasing attack from flea beetle
Flea beetle
Flea beetles is a general name applied to the small, jumping beetles of the leaf beetle family . They make up the tribe Alticini, which is a part of the subfamily Galerucinae, though they were historically classified as a subfamily in their own right...
s (Epitrix cucumeris or Epitrix pubescens), which caused destruction of half the tobacco crops in United States in 1876. By 1890 successful experiments were conducted that placed the plant in a frame covered by thin cotton fabric. Today, tobacco is sown in cold frame
Cold frame
In agriculture and gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from cold weather. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via convection that would otherwise occur, particularly at night...
s or hotbeds, as their germination
Germination
Germination is the process in which a plant or fungus emerges from a seed or spore, respectively, and begins growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example the...
is activated by light.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, tobacco is often fertilized with the mineral apatite
Apatite
Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually referring to hydroxylapatite, fluorapatite, chlorapatite and bromapatite, named for high concentrations of OH−, F−, Cl− or Br− ions, respectively, in the crystal...
, which partially starves the plant of nitrogen, to produce a more desired flavor. Apatite, however, contains radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
, lead 210, and polonium 210—which are known radioactive carcinogens.
After the plants are about eight inches tall, they are transplanted into the fields. Farmers used to have to wait for rainy weather to plant. A hole is created in the tilled earth with a tobacco peg, either a curved wooden tool or deer antler.
After making two holes to the right and left - you would move forward two feet, select plants from your bag and repeat. Various mechanical tobacco planters like Bemis, New Idea Setter, and New Holland Transplanter were invented in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to automate the process: making the hole, watering it, guiding the plant in — all in one motion.
Tobacco is cultivated annually, and can be harvest
Harvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
ed in several ways. In the oldest method still used today, the entire plant is harvested at once by cutting off the stalk at the ground with a tobacco knife. It is then speared onto sticks, four to six plants a stick and hung in a curing barn. In the nineteenth century, bright tobacco began to be harvested by pulling individual leaves off the stalk as they ripened. The leaves ripen from the ground upwards, so a field of tobacco may go through several so-called "pullings," more commonly known as cropping. Before this the crop needs to be topped when the pink flowers develop. Topping always refers to the removal of the tobacco flower before the leaves are systematically removed and, eventually, entirely harvested. As the industrial revolution took hold, harvesting wagons used to transport leaves were equipped with man-powered stringers, an apparatus that used twine to attach leaves to a pole. In modern times, large fields are harvested mechanically, although topping the flower and in some cases the plucking of immature leaves is still done by hand.
Curing
Carotenoid
Carotenoids are tetraterpenoid organic pigments that are naturally occurring in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms like algae, some bacteria, and some types of fungus. Carotenoids can be synthesized fats and other basic organic metabolic building...
s in tobacco leaf. This produces certain compounds in the tobacco leaves, and gives a sweet hay, tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
, rose oil
Rose oil
Rose oil, meaning either rose otto or rose absolute, is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose...
, or fruity aromatic flavor that contributes to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Starch is converted to sugar, which glycates
Glycation
Glycation is the result of the bonding of a protein or lipid molecule with a sugar molecule, such as fructose or glucose, without the controlling action of an enzyme. All blood sugars are reducing molecules. Glycation may occur either inside the body or outside the body...
protein, and is oxidized into advanced glycation endproduct
Advanced glycation endproduct
An advanced glycation end-product is the result of a chain of chemical reactions after an initial glycation reaction. The intermediate products are known, variously, as Amadori, Schiff base and Maillard products, named after the researchers who first described them. An advanced glycation...
s (AGEs), a caramelization
Caramelization
Caramelization is the browning of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor....
process that also adds flavor. Inhalation of these AGEs in tobacco smoke contributes to atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...
and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Levels of AGE's is dependent on the curing method used.
Tobacco can be cured through several methods, including:
- Air cured tobacco is hung in well-ventilated barns and allowed to dry over a period of four to eight weeks. Air-cured tobacco is low in sugar, which gives the tobacco smoke a light, mild flavor, and high in nicotine. Cigar and burley tobaccos are air cured.
- Fire cured tobacco is hung in large barns where fires of hardwoods are kept on continuous or intermittent low smoulder and takes between three days and ten weeks, depending on the process and the tobacco. Fire curing produces a tobacco low in sugar and high in nicotine. Pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff are fire cured.
- Flue cured tobacco was originally strung onto tobacco sticks, which were hung from tier-poles in curing barns (Aus: kilnKilnA kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
s, also traditionally called Oasts). These barns have flues run from externally-fed fire boxes, heat-curing the tobacco without exposing it to smoke, slowly raising the temperature over the course of the curing. The process generally takes about a week. This method produces cigarette tobacco that is high in sugar and has medium to high levels of nicotine. - Sun-cured tobacco dries uncovered in the sun. This method is used in Turkey, Greece and other Mediterranean countries to produce oriental tobacco. Sun-cured tobacco is low in sugar and nicotine and is used in cigarettes.
Consumption
Tobacco is consumed in many forms and through a number of different methods. Below are examples including, but not limited to, such forms and usage.- BeediBeediA beedi is a thin, South Asian cigarette filled with tobacco flake and wrapped in a tendu leaf tied with a string at one end.The word comes from beeda, Marwari for a leaf wrapped in betel nuts, herbs, and condiments....
are thin, often flavored, south Asian cigarettes made of tobacco wrapped in a tenduTenduTendu means "stretched" or "pulled" in French. It also may refer to:* Tendu, Indre, a commune in France* tendu, local name of the tree Diospyros melanoxylon * battement tendu, a dance or ballet movement...
leaf, and secured with colored thread at one end. - Chewing tobaccoChewing tobaccoChewing tobacco Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco (also known colloquially as hoobastank, backy, tobac, doogooos,Hogleg, chewpoos, chits, chewsky, chawsky, dip, flab, chowers, guy, or a wad, as well as referred to as dipsky, snuff, a pinch, a yopper, a Packing a bomb, a tobbackey or packing a...
is the oldest way of consuming tobacco leaves. It is consumed orally, in two forms: through sweetened strands, or in a shredded form. When consuming the long sweetened strands, the tobacco is lightly chewed and compacted into a ball. When consuming the shredded tobacco, small amounts are placed at the bottom lip, between the gum and the teeth, where it is gently compacted, thus it can often be called dipping tobacco. Both methods stimulate the saliva glands, which led to the development of the spittoonSpittoonA spittoon is a receptacle made for spitting into, especially by users of chewing and dipping tobacco. It is also known as a cuspidor , although that term is also used for a type of spitting sink used in dentistry."Spittoon" can also be slang American English...
. - CigarCigarA cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
s are tightly rolled bundles of dried and fermented tobacco, which is ignited so its smoke may be drawn into the smoker's mouth. - Cigarettes are a product consumed through inhalation of smoke and manufactured from cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, often combined with other additives, then rolled or stuffed into a paper cylinder.
- Creamy snuffCreamy snuffCreamy snuff is a tobacco paste, consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor, and sold in a toothpaste tube. It is marketed mainly to women in India, and is known by the brand names IPCO . According to the U.S NIH-sponsored Smokeless Tobacco Fact Sheet, it is...
s are tobacco paste, consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor, and sold in a toothpaste tube. It is marketed mainly to women in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and is known by the brand names Ipco (made by Asha Industries), Denobac, TonaTonaTona is a municipality in the province of Barcelona, part of the autonomous community of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It located in the Plain of Vic, in the comarca of Osona.As of 2007, the estimated population stands at 7,800. -External links:***...
, Ganesh. It is locally known as "mishri" in some parts of Maharashtra. - Dipping tobaccoDipping tobaccoDipping tobacco, traditionally referred to as moist snuff, is a type of finely ground or shredded, moistened smokeless tobacco product. It is commonly and idiomatically known by various terms – most often as dip and sometimes rub or chew...
s are a form of smokeless tobaccoSmokeless tobaccoSmokeless Tobacco may refer to:* Dipping tobacco, a type of tobacco that is placed between the lower or upper lip and gums.* Chewing tobacco, a type of tobacco that is chewed.* Snuff, a type of tobacco that is insufflated or "snuffed" through the nose....
. Dip is occasionally referred to as "chew", and because of this, it is commonly confused with chewing tobaccoChewing tobaccoChewing tobacco Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco (also known colloquially as hoobastank, backy, tobac, doogooos,Hogleg, chewpoos, chits, chewsky, chawsky, dip, flab, chowers, guy, or a wad, as well as referred to as dipsky, snuff, a pinch, a yopper, a Packing a bomb, a tobbackey or packing a...
, which encompasses a wider range of products. A small clump of dip is 'pinched' out of the tin and placed between the lower or upper lip and gums. - GutkaGutkaGutka is a preparation of crushed areca nut , tobacco, catechu, paraffin, lime and sweet or savory flavorings. It is manufactured in India and exported to a few other countries...
is a preparation of crushed betel nut, tobacco, and sweet or savory flavorings. It is manufactured in India and exported to a few other countries. A mild stimulant, it is sold across India in small, individual-size packets. - HookahHookahA hookah A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (Devanagari, (Nastaleeq) huqqah) also known as a waterpipe or narghile, is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) instrument for smoking in which the smoke is cooled by water. The tobacco smoked is referred to...
is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) water pipe for smoking. Originally from India, the hookah has gained immense popularity, especially in the Middle East. A hookah operates by water filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits or cannabisCannabisCannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
. - Kreteks are cigarettes made with a complex blend of tobacco, cloves and a flavoring "sauce". It was first introduced in the 1880s in Kudus, Java, to deliver the medicinal eugenolEugenolEugenol is a phenylpropene, an allyl chain-substituted guaiacol. Eugenol is a member of the phenylpropanoids class of chemical compounds. It is a clear to pale yellow oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil and bay leaf. It is slightly...
of cloves to the lungs. - Roll-Your-OwnRoll-your-ownRoll-your-own cigarettes refer to a cigarette made from loose tobacco and rolling papers. Roll-your-own products are sold as a pouch of tobacco for rolling hand-rolled cigarettes, sometimes with the rolling papers provided in the pouch...
, often called rollies or roll ups, are very popular, particularly in European countries. These are prepared from loose tobacco, cigarette papers and filters all bought separately. They are usually much cheaper to make. - Pipe smoking typically consists of a small chamber (the bowl) for the combustion of the tobacco to be smoked and a thin stem (shank) that ends in a mouthpiece (the bit). Shredded pieces of tobacco are placed into the chamber and ignited.
- SnuffSnuffSnuff is a product made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves. It is an example of smokeless tobacco. It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century...
is a generic term for fine-ground smokeless tobacco products. Originally the term referred only to dry snuff, a fine tan dust popular mainly in the eighteenth century. Snuff powder originated in the UK town of Great HarwoodGreat HarwoodGreat Harwood is a small town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, north-east of Blackburn.-History:Great Harwood is a town with a industrial heritage. The Mercer Hall Leisure Centre in Queen Street and the town clock pay tribute to John Mercer , the 'father' of Great Harwood, who...
, and was famously ground in the town's monument prior to local distribution and transport further up north to Scotland. There are two major varieties: European (dry) and American (moist)—though American snuff is often called dipping tobacco. - SnusSnusSnus , or Swedish snuff, is a moist powder tobacco product originated from a variant of dry snuff in the early 19th century in Sweden, consumed by placing it under the lip for extended periods of time. The precursor of snus, the dry form of snuff inhaled through the nose, was introduced in Europe...
is a steam-cured moist powder tobacco product that is not fermented, and does not induce salivation. It is consumed by placing it in the mouth against the gums for an extended period of time. It is a form of snuffSnuffSnuff is a product made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves. It is an example of smokeless tobacco. It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century...
used in a manner similar to American dipping tobaccoDipping tobaccoDipping tobacco, traditionally referred to as moist snuff, is a type of finely ground or shredded, moistened smokeless tobacco product. It is commonly and idiomatically known by various terms – most often as dip and sometimes rub or chew...
, but does not require regular spitting. - Topical tobacco paste is sometimes recommended as a treatment for waspWaspThe term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
, hornetHornetHornets are the largest eusocial wasps; some species can reach up to in length. The true hornets make up the genus Vespa and are distinguished from other vespines by the width of the vertex , which is proportionally larger in Vespa and by the anteriorly rounded gasters .- Life cycle :In...
, fire antFire antFire ants are a variety of stinging ants with over 285 species worldwide. They have several common names, including ginger ants, tropical fire ants and red ants.- Appearance :...
, scorpionScorpionScorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
, and bee stingBee stingA bee sting is strictly a sting from a bee . In the vernacular it can mean a sting of a bee, wasp, hornet, or yellow jacket. Some people may even call the bite of a horse-fly a bee sting...
s. An amount equivalent to the contents of a cigarette is mashed in a cup with about a 0.5 to 1 teaspoon of water to make a paste that is then applied to the affected area. - Tobacco waterTobacco waterTobacco water or tobacco dust juice is a traditional organic insecticide used in domestic gardening. In The English Physician Enlarged of 1681, Nicholas Culpeper recommends tobacco juice to kill lice on children's heads, referencing it as an insecticide poison...
is a traditional organicOrganic farmingOrganic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
insecticideInsecticideAn insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind...
used in domestic gardeningGardeningGardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
. Tobacco dust can be used similarly. It is produced by boiling strong tobacco in water, or by steeping the tobacco in water for a longer period. When cooled, the mixture can be applied as a spray, or 'painted' on to the leaves of garden plants, where it kills insects. Tobacco is however banned from use as pesticide in certified organic production.
Trends
Production of tobacco leaf increased by 40% between 1971, during which 4.2 million tons of leaf were produced, and 1997, during which 5.9 million tons of leaf were produced. According to the Food and Agriculture organization of the UN, tobacco leaf production was expected to hit 7.1 million tons by 2010. This number is a bit lower than the record high production of 1992, during which 7.5 million tons of leaf were produced. The production growth was almost entirely due to increased productivity by developing nations, where production increased by 128%. During that same time period, production in developing countries actually decreased. China’s increase in tobacco production was the single biggest factor in the increase in world production. China’s share of the world market increased from 17% in 1971 to 47% in 1997. This growth can be partially explained by the existence of a high import tariff on foreign tobacco entering China. While this tariff has been reduced from 64% in 1999 to 10% in 2004, it still has led to local, Chinese cigarettes being preferred over foreign cigarettes because of their lower cost.Every year 6.7 million tons of tobacco are produced throughout the world. The top producers of tobacco are China (39.6%), India (8.3%), Brazil (7.0%) and the United States (4.6%).
China
Around the peak of global tobacco production there were 20 million rural Chinese households producing tobacco on 2.1 million hectares of land. While it is the major crop for millions of Chinese farmers, growing tobacco, is not as profitable as cotton or sugar cane. This is because the Chinese government sets the market price. While this price is guaranteed, it is lower than the natural market price, because of the lack of market risk. To further control tobacco in their borders, China founded a State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) in 1982. STMA control tobacco production, marketing, imports and exports and contributes 12% to the nation's national income. As noted above, despite the income generated for the state by profits from state-owned tobacco companies and the taxes paid by companies and retailers, China's government has acted to reduce tobacco use. At the same time, increasing incomes has enabled more people in China to smoke and to consume more cigarettes.
Pakistan
Each year 5% of the total land of Pakistan is cultivated for Tobacco. It is widely grown in Southern Punjab and Khyberpakhtoonkhwa province of Pakistan.
Brazil
In Brazil around 135,000 family farmers cite tobacco production as their main economic activity. Tobacco has never exceeded 0.7% of the country’s total cultivated area. In the southern regions of Brazil, Virginia and Amarelinho flue-cured tobacco as well as Burley and Galpao Comun air-cured tobacco are produced. These types of tobacco are used for cigarettes. In the northeast, darker, air- and sun-cured tobacco is grown. These types of tobacco are used for cigars, twists and dark-cigarettes.
Brazil’s government has made attempts to reduce the production of tobacco, but has not had a successful systematic anti-tobacco farming initiative. Brazil’s government, however, provides small loans for family farms, including those that grow tobacco, through the Programa Nacional de Fortalecimiento da Agricultura Familiar (PRONAF).
India
India's Tobacco Board is headquartered in Guntur
Guntur
Guntur , is a city and a municipal corporation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, located to the north and west of the Bay of Bengal. It is approximately to the south of the national capital, New Delhi and south east of state capital, Hyderabad. Guntur is the fourth largest city in Andhra...
in the state of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
. India has 96,865 registered tobacco farmers and many more who are not registered. Around 0.25% of India’s cultivated land is used for tobacco production.
Since 1947, the Indian government has supported growth in the tobacco industry. India has seven tobacco research centers that are located in Madras (now known as Chennai, Tamil Nadu), Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Mysore, West Bengal, and Rajamundry. Rajahmundry houses the core research institute. The government has set up a Central Tobacco Promotion Council, which works to increase exports of Indian tobacco.
The Indian Government and several states have taken multiple measures to reduce Cigarette smoking. Smoking in public places is banned in many states, it is not allowed to be portrayed in movies, warnings are posted on cigarette packs.
Minor producer
Philippines
Tobacco in the Philippines remained highly concentrated in 2009 and dominated by cigarette manufacturers Fortune Tobacco
Fortune Tobacco
Fortune Tobacco Corporation used to be a private Philippine tobacco company that produces cigarettes, and with subsidiaries Tanduay Distillers and Asia Brewery, produces beer, liquor and bottled water....
Corporation and Philip Morris International
Philip Morris International
Philip Morris International is an international tobacco company, with products sold in over 160 countries. In 2007, it held a 15.6% share of the international cigarette market outside of the USA and reported revenues net of excise taxes of $22.8 billion and operating income of $8.9 billion.Until...
. The strength of these companies is due to their extensive distribution networks which encompass both traditional and non-traditional retail channels as well as their ability to offer their products at affordable prices. Top player Fortune Tobacco Corp maintained its leadership position throughout the review period as mass market cigarette smokers continued to purchase its economy cigarette brands, particularly leading brand Fortune International.
Cigarette prices in the Philippines are low, with the price of Marlboro (cigarette) being the second lowest for all ASEAN nations. The cigarette market has been dominated by menthol brands for several decades, although non-menthol volume has been steadily improving in recent years. La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Company and the Fortune Tobacco
Fortune Tobacco
Fortune Tobacco Corporation used to be a private Philippine tobacco company that produces cigarettes, and with subsidiaries Tanduay Distillers and Asia Brewery, produces beer, liquor and bottled water....
Corporation (FTC) have been the two leading producers, and have had licensing agreements with PMI and RJ Reynolds (RJR) respectively. FTC commands a 67% market share, while La Suerte holds a 25% share.
Child labor
The International Labour Office reported that the most child-laborers work in agriculture, which is one of the most hazardous types of work. The tobacco industry houses some of these working children. There is widespread use of children on farms in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. While some of these children work with their families on small family-owned farms, others work on large plantations.In late 2009 reports were released by the London-based human-rights group Plan International, claiming that child labor was common on Malawi (producer of 1.8% of the world’s tobacco) tobacco farms. The organization interviewed 44 teens, who worked full-time on farms during the 2007-2008 growing season. The child-laborers complained of low pay, long hours as well as physical and sexual abuse by their supervisors. They also reported suffering from “green tobacco sickness,” a form of nicotine poisoning. When wet leaves are handled, nicotine from the leaves gets absorbed in the skin and causes nausea, vomiting and dizziness. Children were exposed to 50-cigarettes worth of nicotine through direct contact with tobacco leaves. This level of nicotine in children can permanently alter brain structure and function.
Economy
The cultivation of tobacco can be economically detrimental to developing countries. When resources are put into tobacco production they are taken away from food production. Large amounts of firewood that could be used domestically for fuel and heating are instead used for the curing of tobacco.A large percent of the profits from tobacco production go to large tobacco companies rather than local tobacco farmers. Also many countries have government subsides for tobacco farming, which do not make economic sense. Major tobacco companies have encouraged global tobacco production. Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco each own or lease tobacco manufacturing facilities in at least 50 countries and buy crude tobacco leaf from at least 12 more countries. This encouragement, along with government subsidies has led to a glut in the tobacco market. This surplus has resulted in lower prices, which are devastating to small-scale tobacco farmers. According to the World Bank, between 1985 and 2000 the inflation-adjusted price of tobacco dropped 37%.
Environment
Tobacco production requires the use of a large amount of pesticides; tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field. Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to produce larger crops in less time because of the decreasing market value of tobacco. Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides, as well as fertilizers, end up in the soil, the waterway and the food chain. Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat. Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk as well as harm his or her nervous and immune systems.Tobacco is a crop that extracts nutrients, such as phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, from the soil at a rate higher than any other major crop. This leads to dependence on fertilizers.
Furthermore, the wood used for the curing of tobacco in some places leads to deforestation. While some big tobacco producers such as China and the United States have access to petroleum, coal and natural gas, which can be used as alternatives to wood, most developing countries still rely on wood in the curing process. Brazil alone uses the wood of 60 million trees per year for curing, packaging and rolling cigarettes.
Advertising
Tobacco advertising is the advertising of tobacco products or use (typically cigarette smoking) by the tobacco industry through a variety of media including sponsorship, particularly of sporting events. It is now one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing. Some or all forms of tobacco advertising are banned in many countries.Today young people are more conscientious than ever when it comes to the negative effects of tobacco advertising. Many colleges have anti-tobacco programs where students fight for their right not to be exposed to tobacco advertising and smoke.
Cinema
- SommersbySommersbySommersby is a 1993 romantic drama film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Richard Gere, Jodie Foster, Bill Pullman and James Earl Jones.Set in the Reconstruction period following the U.S...
- Thank You for SmokingThank You for SmokingThank You for Smoking is a 2005 black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley...
- The InsiderThe Insider (film)The Insider is a 1999 film based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series segment, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because of objections by CBS’ then-owner, Laurence Tisch, who...
Gallery
Further reading
- Breen, T. H. (1985). Tobacco Culture. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00596-6. Source on tobacco culture in eighteenth-century Virginia pp. 46–55
- Burns, Eric. The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007.
- W.K. Collins and S.N. Hawks. "Principles of Flue-Cured Tobacco Production" 1st Edition, 1993
- Fuller, R. Reese (Spring 2003). Perique, the Native Crop. Louisiana Life.
- Gately, Iain. Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization. Grove Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8021-3960-4.
- Graves, John. "Tobacco that is not Smoked" in From a Limestone Ledge (the sections on snuff and chewing tobacco) ISBN 0-394-51238-3
- Grehan, James. “Smoking and “Early Modern” Sociability: The Great Tobacco Debate in the Ottoman Middle East (Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries)”. The American Historical Review, Vol. III, Issue 5. 2006. 22 March 2008 online
- Hahn, Barbara. Making Tobacco Bright: Creating an American Commodity, 1617-1937 (Johns Hopkins University Press; 2011) 248 pages; examines how marketing, technology, and demand figured in the rise of Bright Flue-Cured Tobacco, a variety first grown in the inland Piedmont region of the Virginia-North Carolina border.
- Killebrew, J. B. and Myrick, Herbert (1909). Tobacco Leaf: Its Culture and Cure, Marketing and Manufacture. Orange Judd Company. Source for flea beetle typology (p. 243)
- Murphey, Rhoads. Studies on Ottoman Society and Culture: 16th-18th Centuries. Burlington, VT: Ashgate: Variorum, 2007 ISBN 978-0-7546-5931-0 ISBN 0-7546-5931-3
- Price, Jacob M. “Tobacco Use and Tobacco Taxation: A battle of Interests in Early Modern Europe”. Consuming Habits: Drugs in History and Anthropology. Jordan Goodman, et al. New York: Routledge, 1995 166-169 ISBN 0-415-09039-3
- Poche, L. Aristee (2002). Perique tobacco: Mystery and history.
- Tilley, Nannie May The Bright Tobacco Industry 1860–1929 ISBN 0-405-04728-2. Source on flea beetle prevention (pp. 39–43), and history of flue-cured tobacco
- Rivenson A., Hoffmann D., Propokczyk B. et al. Induction of lung and pancreas exocrine tumors in F344 rats by tobacco-specific and areca-derived N-nitrosamines. Cancer Res (48) 6912–6917, 1988. (link to abstract; free full text pdf available)
- Schoolcraft, Henry R. Historical and Statistical Information respecting the Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia, 1851–57)
- Shechter, Relli. Smoking, Culture and Economy in the Middle East: The Egyptian Tobacco Market 1850–2000. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2006 ISBN 1-84511-137-0
External links
- International Tobacco Growers' Association
- Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Sheet - Wild tobacco
- Ottoman Back Archives and Research Centre
- Questions on European Union partial ban on some smokeless tobacco products (i.e. snus)
- Scientists Search for Healthy Uses for Tobacco
- Timeline of tobacco history
- The European tobacco growers website
- The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
- UCSF Tobacco Industry Videos Collection
- CDC - Smoking and Tobacco Use Fact Sheet
- TobReg - WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation
- - Statistics and general information about the effects of secondhand-smoke
- Medicinal history http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1079499/