A Brief History of Tobacco

Once upon a time. A long, long time ago. Cave men discovered the tobacco plant. It was large, covered in a scale like material. First used to keep them warm, but the plant gave off such a pleasant smell when it was burned it was used for many different applications. One was to bath in the smoke to remove their smell for hunting and mating. However, A large asteroid, known as Chicxulub, was coming towards the planet. Its impact off the coast of Mexico would change everything. Wiping them off the map and all the uses and knowledge was lost.

                Tobacco is a plant that grows native to South and North America. Part of the same family as potatoes, peppers and poisonous nightshade. It goes back to about 2 thousand years ago. It was used in various Medical and religious ceremonies by the Indians. Tobacco was commonly carried in a pouch by the Taino Indians in South America and used in trade. Tobako was not originally used to describe the leaves of the plant. It described the Y shaped pipe that was used to smoke the plant through the nose. The plant was originally called Kohiba. It was seen as a cure all for dressing wounds, killing pain, killing colds and tooth aches when applied inside the mouth.

In Hispaniola in 1535, it was first observed that the Indians would smoke a pipe that was a reed with a Y shaped end that would be place inside the nose. Breathing in the smoke through their nose and blowing it out of their mouths.

                It is said that it was first discovered and used in the Dominican Republic or Cuba, but no one really knows where it was first used and cultivated.

                Tobacco was first introduced to Europe through Columbus when landed in North America in 1492. It was given to him as a gift and taken back to Europe, where it became a staple of use and grown as well. Tobacco was believed to have many medical uses and healing properties.

Tobacco was a commodity that was used a staple of trade for a long time. The Indians used it as a commodity of exchange as did the colonists of the new land which would become known as the United States. Whenever the value of money dropped for the colonists, to the point a loaf of bread was 1000 dollars, tobacco would hold its value as did cotton as a method of trade for goods and services.

Modern domesticated strains of tobacco are less potent. The nicotine content is about 3%. It is estimated that the older strains of tobacco that the Indians used to smoke contained 9% nicotine.

Tobacco was also used during the Revolutionary war to finance loans to France. The tobacco was the collateral from the American borrowers used to fund their war for independence from England. It was a commodity that always maintained its value due to its wide uses and time invested to grow and farm. The French also gave the colonists weapons and other resources to fight the English because they di not much care for them.