The history of smoking and the use of tobacco for chewing initially started around 1000 BC. The Mayans and other early civilizations in Central America are presumed to be the first ones to use the tobacco plant for this express purpose. How and why it was developed for this use is lost in the pages of the history of smoking. The use of tobacco for smoking and chewing eventually spread around the Americas, most significantly in South America and Central America.

Tobacco in Europe

The history of smoking further discloses that in 1493 AD, a certain Rodrigo de Jerez was put in jail for smoking in Spain. Jerez was supposed to be one of the colleagues of Christopher Columbus and undoubtedly he picked up the nasty habit of smoking during one of their explorations. The history of smoking notes that he was thrown in jail for three years for this offense.

In the history of smoking, three people are suspected to have brought tobacco to England. These three were Sir John Hawkins (around 1532-1595), Sir Francis Drake (1541-1596) and Richard Grenville (1542-1591). All three were mariners who traveled the seas and are the most probable to have introduced tobacco to England. In the year 1565, the history of smoking notes that the very first shipment of tobacco has reached Great Britain’s shores.

Throughout the history of smoking, tobacco has been denounced as “an invention of Satan” by King James I and the use of it a deadly sin by a Russian Czar. Other countries threatened death for anyone who smoked tobacco while other punishments were flogging.

In the year 1832, the history of smoking took a turn for paper rolled tobacco. By the early 1900’s, most of Great Britain has accepted smoking and it became a tradition in the form of an after dinner cigar. Before this, there have already been some health issues concerning smoking. The history of smoking once again notes that in the year 1964, smoking was declared to be the cause of most lung cancer.

Since then, there have been many uphill battles regarding the health of smokers and the dangers that smoking represents. There have been numerous studies regarding the harmful effects of smoking both to smokers and non smokers. Countless researches have been done to establish the role of smoking in our health yet cigarettes and other tobacco products are still available. The most that the government can do is slap a warning on the labels of cigarettes and ban the sale of cigarettes to minors.