The saga of tobacco

Tobacco was believed to be a sacred plant and was used as a medicine by the medicine men and priests. It was also used to establish communication with the spirits and appease pain.

The tobacco plant originated form America. In 1492, Christopher Columbus the discoverer of America discovered tobacco in Cuba and imported tobacco for the first time to Europe.

Tobacco seeds were brought back to France for the first time in 1556 by André THEVET, monk from the Angoulême region where the queen was convinced of the medicinal properties of the plant. The use of Tobacco was promoted by Jean Nicot de Villemain, France’s ambassador to Portugal in 1560. By the efforts of Jean Nicot for the first time queen Catherine of Medici agreed to use tobacco powder as medicine in order to treat the painful migraines of her son François II.

The treatment was successful and tobacco became the “Queen's herb” whose sale in powder form was restricted to apothecaries. In homage to Jean NICOT, tobacco was henceforth called “Nicotiana Tabacum”. Then in 16th century tobacco became a fashion for Europeans.

It was smoked in regular parties and during ceremonies. Tobacco was produced commercially for the first time in the British colony of Virginia in 1612. In the cultivation of the crop the labors used were slaves brought form native countries.

Within seven years from that time Virginia became the largest exporters of commercial tobacco in the British colony.

Earlier tobacco was produced primarily for pipe smoking, chewing and snuff.

In 1600s cigarettes came into being after the civil wars in America which introduced a specially cured yellow leaf known as "bright" tobacco which is grown in Virginia and north California. In the beginning and role cigarettes were in the market which produced at the rate of three per minute.

In 1880 the first working cigarette making machine was invented which could produce 200 cigarettes a minute Which gave pace to the cigarette industry and now the fastest machines can produce 16000 cigarettes a minute. Making so many inventions in the tobacco industry the zygote of tobacco is an extremely labor intensive job.

References:
http://www.france-tabac.com/us/histoire.htm

Golden Leaf Barren Harvest