Who was the first to discover tobacco? The history of the appearance of cigarettes. History of tobacco in Russia

“This vice will be condemned, and people will always be drawn to it.”

Bernardino Ramasini.

Somehow, an idea came to me - should I write an article about tobacco, the history of its origin, and then continue the logical chain to the present day. I liked the idea, because tobacco has long entered our culture and taken its strong place in it.

According to studies conducted in 2009, about 40% of the adult population in Russia smoke. Serious numbers, I would say. It follows from this that the issue of tobacco smoking deserves the closest attention and investigation.

But in fact we have a completely different picture. After searching for information on the Internet, it became clear that nothing had been written on this topic. More precisely, it is written, but in such a form and so fragmented that, as they say, “the devil himself will break his head.” Therefore, I decided to fill this gap, at least partially.

Whether I coped with this task or not is up to you to decide.

“Now they write so much about the dangers of smoking that I have firmly decided to stop reading.”

Joseph Cutten.

Fasten your seat belts, the journey begins...

Travel to America.

“When the earth was empty and people were starving, the Great Spirit sent a woman to save humanity. She walked through the world and wherever her right hand touched the ground, potatoes grew, and where her left hand touched the ground, corn grew. And when the world became rich and fertile, she sat down to rest. When she got up, tobacco grew in that place..."

Legend of the Huron Indian tribe.

Christopher Columbus can be considered the discoverer of tobacco. Having “discovered” America, so to speak, during his expedition to India, he also “discovered” the custom of smoking. Having landed on the island of San Salvador (Guanahani), he and his team met the local aborigines, misunderstanding them for the inhabitants of India and calling them Indians. Subsequently, this name stuck with them.

On November 15, 1492, Columbus described tobacco in his journal, the first written evidence of the unusual plant. He and his team were amazed to see locals rolling up tobacco leaves, setting one end on fire and inhaling the smoke through their mouths.

But Columbus was only the discoverer of tobacco; one should not attribute its spread to him, as many do today. Columbus didn't spread anything.

The Indian brings tobacco as a gift to De Jerez.

The Aborigines gave him some dried tobacco leaves, which he brought with him (some say that he threw them overboard), according to another version, the tobacco leaves were secretly smuggled by members of his expedition from other ships. I think it’s impossible to find out what it really was like.

Overall, the Columbus team perceived smoking negatively. Of the entire team, only two decided to try smoking tobacco. These were Luis de Torres and Rodrigo de Jerez. Upon arrival in Spain, Rodrigo de Jerez decided to demonstrate his new “skills” acquired during the voyage, for which he was convicted by the Inquisition and imprisoned (blowing smoke through his nose and mouth was regarded as a connection with evil spirits).

Rodrigo de Jerez can rightfully be considered the first smoker in Europe. In total, for his act, he spent 7 years in prison.

For those who don’t understand, and I’m sure there will be some kind of “finger pointer”, I’ll repeat it again.

Columbus brought with him only tobacco leaves, he did not bring seeds.

But what if Columbus only described tobacco? By the way, the origin of the word “tobacco” has not yet been established for certain; it is believed that this is what the aborigines called it - “tobacco”; according to another version, it got its name from the island "Tobago". Then who brought the seeds to Europe?

By seed and fruit.

It is believed that the first tobacco seeds were brought to Spain by the monk Froy Roman Pano in 1496, who participated in Columbus’s second expedition to the New World. But they began to spread from Portugal, because Spain and Portugal at that time were considered the largest maritime competing countries and both took part in the plunder of America.

The name of Roman Pano is almost never associated with tobacco; later names such as Andre Theve and Jean Nicot entered the story.

André Theve (1516 - 1590)

André Thévet was a French monk traveler who took part in Admiral Nicolas Villegagnon's expedition to South America in 1555. From there he brought the first tobacco seeds to France.

During the expedition, he instructed the Indians on the “true path”, took notes with sketches in his diary, and also studied in detail the strange custom of smoking tobacco by the Indians. He describes all these customs, the process of growing, collecting and drying tobacco in his essay “Les Singularitez...” (1557).

“They have an unusual herb which they call “petun” and which they use for many purposes. They wrap the dried herb in a palm leaf and roll it into a tube the length of a candle. Then they set fire to the end of the tube and inhale the smoke with their mouth, releasing it through the nose, because It attracts and distils fluids flowing in the brain and even makes the feeling of hunger go away, which is the reason for using it constantly. Even when talking to you, they first draw smoke and then talk, and do this up to 200 times. Women also use this herb , but less frequently. The Christians who were there liked the smoke. At first it is not safe to use, for before you get used to it, the smoke causes weakness, even to the point of fainting, as I found out myself. I can be proud that I was he was the first in France to bring the seeds of this plant to France, sowed it and named it Angumoise grass.”

Andre Teve.

With his colorful stories about America, Teve captivated the mind of Queen Catherine de Medici, for which she made him her confessor.

Andre Theve is considered one of the first to popularize tobacco in Europe.

The starting point, or more precisely, the breakthrough in the mass spread of tobacco throughout Europe, can be considered 1560, when the French diplomat Jean Villeman Nicot, compiler of one of the first French dictionaries, brought snuff from Portugal, where he was ambassador, to France.

In France, Nico presented tobacco as a panacea for all diseases, especially for migraines, which either the Queen of France Catherine de Medici or her son Charles IX suffered from (I was never able to understand this issue, but I think this is not important for us).

The queen liked the tobacco, apparently it really distracted from pain, and after the queen, as they say after her example, tobacco began to become fashionable among the highest nobility of France. And this is not surprising; at all times, the nobility tried to imitate the kings in everything.

Snuff was called "poudre a la reine" ("queen's powder").

Later, Jean Nicot wrote a voluminous collection in which he listed the diseases that tobacco treats. These diseases included: colic, nephritis, hysteria, dysentery, toothache, migraines, ulcers, neuroses, ailments, runny nose and much more, you can’t count them all.

Also, a little later, the master of the Order of Malta liked tobacco, who was not slow in distributing it among his adherents.

Tobacco was beginning to become increasingly popular, especially noticeable in Paris.

As a result, the plant was given the name “herbe nicotiniane” (“nicotine grass”), in honor of Jean Nicot. Later, an alkaloid contained in tobacco - "nicotine" - would be named after Niko.

Much later, in 1735, the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus classified tobacco and gave its two species names in honor of the same Jean Nicot: “Nicotiana rustica” and “Nicotiana tabacum”. That is what they are called to this day.

From the state to "effective private hands", a chronicle of events.

“This vice brings the treasury 100 million francs in taxes a year. I would ban it even now if you find an equally profitable virtue.”

Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon III).

It is not difficult to guess that soon there were people who realized that they could make good money on tobacco.

In 1636, the first fully state-owned tobacco company, Tabacalera, was founded in Spain. She was engaged in the production of cigars - from Spanish. "cigarro" (Read about the symbolism of the cigar here - link, 18+).

Subsequently, all other countries also began to try to establish a state monopoly on the sale of tobacco.

At the same time (around 1636), the first cigarettes were born.

The poor people of Seville, who worked in tobacco factories, collected cigar scraps, which they crushed and wrapped in thin paper. So we got the word formation “cigar - cigarette”, that is, a cigarette is a kind of “under-cigarette” (“cigarette” - the word was coined by Théophile Gautier in 1833, after visiting a factory in Seville).

But the tobacco business was too profitable to remain in the hands of the state; its market was constantly growing. Private capital became interested in tobacco, as a result of which the tobacco industry began to develop exponentially.

In 1854, Philip Morris began producing cigarettes.

In 1864, the first cigarette factory opened in the United States.

In 1881, Engineer James Albert Bohnsack received a patent for the world's first machine for rolling cigarettes, which he invented, which made it possible to reduce manual labor and switch to a conveyor type of production.

In 1902, Philip Morris opened a representative office of its company in the USA.

in 1914, the first tobacco production monopoly in Russia was formed - the St. Petersburg Export and Trade Joint Stock Company, which covered thirteen tobacco factories in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Feodosia.

In 1917, all tobacco enterprises in Russia were nationalized.

In 1932, George J. Blaisdell began producing the famous Zippo lighters, which became very popular among the military during World War II.

The First World War (1914 - 1918) marked a sharp turn in the development of the tobacco industry, as tobacco was introduced into the army diet of almost all countries of the world." To win the war we need tobacco as much as we need bullets.", said American General John Pershing. The result is a huge number of men smoking.

The second major round of development of the tobacco industry was, oddly enough, the Second World War (1939 - 1945), cigarettes were introduced into soldiers' rations as food. Tobacco companies send millions of free cigarettes to the front. The result is that men become increasingly addicted to smoking.

And don’t think that the spread of cigarettes in the army is an accident. I'll tell you a secret, there are no coincidences.

But the biggest contribution to the spread of tobacco was made by cinema. Beginning in the late 1940s and early 1950s, film actors made the cigarette an integral part of their image. But we'll talk about this later.

Herbal journey or “how tobacco went around the world.”

Attitudes towards smoking in all countries of the world, at first, were equally negative. The churches regarded this act as a connection with the Devil, and the authorities cruelly punished.

Spain - Italy - Portugal.

I guess, that Spain can safely be called the first country to try tobacco and begin its distribution (namely tobacco, not its seeds). It was the Spaniards who “discovered” America, it was the Spaniards who robbed it, it was the Spaniards who made America their colony and that is why Spain became the strongest power in Europe at that time. The first tobacco plantations were also established by the Spaniards in the American colonies.

At first, when tobacco appeared in Spain, the Inquisition harshly suppressed all acts of smoking, but soon it was allowed (legalized, so to speak). The exact years when this happened are unknown, but if Rodrigo de Jerez was sent to prison for smoking in 1501 and he sat in it for 7 years, then it can be assumed that by 1508 the views of the Inquisition softened, but not completely, since the boom in the spread of tobacco It spread throughout the countries from the middle of the 16th century, but before that it was somehow possible to contain it.

As a result, in Spain (and Italy) even priests became addicted to tobacco and were no longer embarrassed to smoke in the churches themselves during services (mass). In 1624, Pope Urban VIII responded to these daring antics with a decree in which he threatened to renounce the church to anyone who smoked or sniffed tobacco in holy places (renunciation of the church, by the way, was the worst punishment at that time).

Portugal was the second of the two most powerful powers in Europe. The peak of its development occurred at the beginning of the 16th century.

The clearest example of the power of two states of that time is the Treaty of Tordesillas between Portugal and Spain, on the basis of which the countries divided the zones of world influence into two parts.

To explain roughly and briefly, the world was divided into two parts by a line, the territory on the right side of the meridian belonged to Portugal, and the one on the left belonged to Spain. This entire agreement was based on the ideas of that time that the Earth was flat.

But from 1580 to 1640, Portugal also became subject to Spain.

It is not known exactly who first brought tobacco to Portugal; it is assumed that it was done by Juan Ponce de Leon, who later went to South America in search of tobacco, where he laid down his violent head. What is known for sure is that by the end of the 15th century, Portugal already knew about tobacco.

England.

In England, tobacco appeared thanks to the English admiral Sir John Hawkins in 1564 (there is a version that Francis Drake also contributed to the spread of tobacco in England in 1573), but tobacco does not gain much popularity; it is smoked only by sailors.

The popularity of tobacco in England is associated with the name of Walter Raleigh, a courtier of Elizabeth I and part-time navigator (this was a common occurrence at that time). In 1585, he returned from an expedition to America, from where he brought tobacco seeds and the addiction itself.

It was he who introduced Queen Elizabeth to smoking, after which the fashion also began to spread among her courtiers (many say that Elizabeth I fought hard against tobacco, perhaps this is true, but it was definitely before she became addicted herself).

“I have seen many men turn their gold into smoke, but you are the first to turn smoke into gold.”

Elizabeth I to Sir Walter Raleigh.

The story spread throughout London that when Raleigh first lit a cigarette in the presence of his servant, the servant yelled, “The master is on fire!” - and poured a jug of water on Sir Walter's head.

By the way, Walter Raleigh is the one who first went in search of Eldorado, a city of pure gold, that so attracted Europeans.

In 1603, King James I, who was an ardent opponent of smoking, came to power in England. He is the first in the world to write about the dangers of smoking (“Protest to Tobacco”).

In 1618, James I sentenced Raleigh to death by beheading. This was connected with a conspiracy against the crown, but some considered the reason for the execution to be tobacco smoking, which is where the myth originates that in England heads were cut off for smoking.

Raleigh's last wish before his death was to smoke a pipe of tobacco.

After the execution of Walter Raleigh, no one else “lost their heads” from smoking.

“The custom is disgusting to the eyes, disgusting to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and this black, stinking smoke, most of all reminiscent of the terrible hellish smoke from the underworld.”

James I, 1604.

Jacob's fight against tobacco ended with him imposing a "draconian" tax on it (I don't know if this is true, but I came across a figure of 4000%).

England became the trendsetter for smoking pipes.

France.

In France, smoking tobacco began under Louis XIII (reign: 1610 - 1643), before that it was mainly sniffed. In 1621, by decree of King Armand's chief minister, Jean du Plessis, the cultivation and sale of tobacco was allowed in France.

Germany.

In 1565, tobacco entered Germany. There it receives the name "heilige kraut" ("holy grass"). Tobacco in Germany, just like in France, was snorted; the fashion for smoking it came from England in the 1620s.

Johann Sebastian Bach, who was a heavy smoker, even wrote the following poems:

"Tobacco makes my mind clearer.

O pipe, you are my faithful friend!

I'm not breaking up - oh no! - I'm with her,

My leisure time with her is pleasant".

Asian countries.

“The Prophet Muhammad was once walking through the desert in winter and found a half-frozen snake, picked it up and, out of the kindness of his heart, warmed it in his bosom. When the snake came to its senses, it said to Muhammad: “I must bite you because I made such an oath.” “In that case, you must keep your word,” said the prophet and put out his hand. Then, shaking off the snake, he sucked the poison from the wound and spat on the ground. In this place grew a plant that had both the poisonousness of the snake and the meekness of the prophet - tobacco." .

Eastern legend.

From Western Europe, in the second half of the 16th century, tobacco entered Turkey, and through it quickly spread throughout the rest of Asia.

In Muslim countries, tobacco was treated more harshly than in Europe, because the Koran forbids harming oneself. Actually, if you look at it, the Bible also prohibits harming yourself and others, but this did not stop anyone, because many were treated with tobacco and considered it for some time a panacea for everything.

"The Prophet permits everything good, positive, useful. And forbids everything nasty, bad, harmful."

Holy Quran, 7:157.

"Don't kill yourself."

Holy Quran, 4:29.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God’s.”

1 Cor. 6:19,20.

IN Turkey For smoking they were subjected to corporal punishment, shameful ceremonies and even sentenced to death.

Sultan Murad IV (reign: 1623 - 1640) secretly went out onto the streets of Istanbul and asked street vendors to sell him tobacco. If anyone did this, thereby breaking the law, then his head was immediately cut off or quartered, leaving the body on the street as a warning to other offenders.

In general, Murad IV himself was a very cruel ruler; during his reign, according to general estimates, up to 25,000 people were executed.

In 1647, tobacco in Turkey was equated with coffee, wine and opium. Death awaited the violators.

IN Iran Shah Sefi I (reign: 1628 - 1642) poured molten lead down the throats of two merchants for trying to sell tobacco.

Smoking in China.

IN China tobacco arrives at the beginning of the 17th century. There is a version that it was brought there by traders from Europe, but I think that the version with Turkey is more plausible.

Very soon (in the same century), in addition to smoking tobacco, the Chinese learned to smoke opium, which led to mass drug addiction among the population.

We will not touch on opium in the article (for those who are interested, I refer you to the “opium wars”).

In 1638 - 1641, the Chinese Emperor Ming introduced laws prohibiting the trade in tobacco and its smoking. But these laws did not last long.

In 1644, the Ming Dynasty was overthrown and all restrictions on the sale and smoking of tobacco were lifted. From now on, China becomes the largest smoking country. By the way, China still defends this vague “palm of championship” today - today, the number of smokers in China exceeds 300,000,000 people.

Smoking woman. Japan.

IN Japan tobacco cultivation dates back to 1603.

Smoking here is also spreading rapidly among the population. In this regard, Emperor Tokugawa introduces smoking bans. But these measures do not stop smokers, nor do punishments (fines, confiscations, prison) scare them, and from 1650 to 1675 all tobacco bans in Japan were also lifted.

By the end In the 18th century, tobacco reached almost every country in the world.

For greater clarity, I drew a map of the distribution of tobacco around the world.

The spread of tobacco around the world.

How tobacco came to Russia.

“When God, angry with the devils, threw them out of the sky, one devil flew and flew and fell on the top of a dry oak tree. The devil hung on the tree until he began to rot. Rotten dust began to fall from it to the ground, and from this "Tobacco grew from the dust. People began to smoke and sniff it, and then plant it in their gardens."

Russian legend.

The word “smoke” is of ancient common Slavic origin, formed with the help of the suffix “iti” from the root stem “kur”, which means “smoke”, “stench”.

The history of tobacco in Russia begins in 1553, and not with Peter I, as many believe today.

“Meanwhile, our people learned that this country was called Russia, or Muscovy, and that Ivan Vasilyevich (that was the name of their then king) ruled lands that stretched far inland. The Russian barbarians, in turn, asked ours where they were from and why they arrived, to which they received the answer that the English had arrived, sent to these shores by the most excellent King Edward the sixth with orders to make their king a message about certain matters, that they were looking for nothing except his friendship and the opportunity to trade with his subjects, from which great profit would be for subjects of both kingdoms."

Richard Chancellor.

It is impossible to say for sure whether Chancellor himself brought tobacco to Russia or subsequent merchant ships. It is only known that from this moment tobacco appears in Russia and English sailors supply it to us, and they do this earlier than in their homeland (see section England).

Ivan The fourth man was a stern man, and therefore, I think, he punished smoking strictly, although under his rule it could not yet take root much.

Tobacco smoking began to spread en masse during the reign of the Romanovs.

In 1634, Mikhail Fedorovich prohibited smoking tobacco throughout Russia. In the “Cathedral Code” of 1649, it was forbidden to smoke tobacco, drink it and keep it at home (“drink” - the poor drank tobacco tincture).

“And those archers and walkers and all sorts of people with tobacco will be in the drive twice, or thrice, and torture those people and not the same, and beat them with a whip on a goat, or on the market, and for many drives such people will have their nostrils flogged and their noses cut, and after torture and punishment, exile to distant cities, where the sovereign will indicate that, no matter what, it is inappropriate for others to do so.”

Chapter XXV, 16. Council Code of 1649

“Those who use snuff have their nostrils ripped out, and you can find many of these in Muscovy.”

Balthasar Coyette, 1676.

Fedor III Alekseevich (reign: 1676 - 1682), grandson of Mikhail Fedorovich, was more loyal to tobacco; it was smoked even at the royal court.

* * *

I love you, Petra's creation,

I love your strict, slender appearance,

Neva sovereign current,

Its coastal granite...

A.S. Pushkin

Peter I smokes a pipe.

Peter I, considered the main promoter of smoking in Russia, was initially against tobacco and continued the policy of punishment for its use.

In 1696, smoking was punished in different ways: serving people were given a whip for smoking, and other smokers and traders were fined - 5 rubles per merchant and 1 ruble per commoner, for the second drive - 50 rubles per merchant and beating the commoner, for the third drive - 100 rubles fine or exile.

Peter's attitude towards tobacco changed dramatically after his trip to Europe (1697 - 1698). In England, he became more familiar with the culture of tobacco smoking (tobacco was smoked there mainly through a pipe), but it is believed that his employee, a Scot by origin, Patrick Gordon, got Peter into smoking, after which Peter changed his views on tobacco.

By a decree of 1697, Russian traders were allowed to sell tobacco, but foreign traders, on the contrary, were prohibited, " so that by collecting money from the treasury there is no shortage".

Under Peter, in 1716, the first tobacco plantation in Russia was created, located on the territory of Ukraine (since there are still the most fertile lands there), but domestic tobacco was not in great demand (everything is the same as today).

Beginning with XVIII century, tobacco in Russia is gaining popularity. Before this, ordinary people did not smoke or smell it, but preferred to drink tinctures based on it, but this was done mainly by “walking” people. For the most part, people had a negative attitude towards tobacco, as evidenced by many sayings on this topic: " If you smoke, you'll ruin yourself", "Tobacco and wine are at one with the drunkard", "He who is harsh with himself is healthy".

Until 1810, preference in Russia was given to snuff, imported mainly from Turkey. Catherine the Great was a big fan of snuff, preferring Spanish tobacco.

In 1848, due to frequent fires, smoking in public places was prohibited by police decree. Smoking was allowed only in establishments specially designated for this - taverns (just like today).

Since about 1844, cigarettes have become fashionable, and I think this was the reason for frequent fires, as smokers threw the cigarettes anywhere. Later, for fire safety and cleanliness of the streets, they came up with the idea of ​​placing trash cans, which were made of stone or bronze.

The first cigarettes in Russia were produced by only one factory - the factory of A.F. Miller.

Factory S. Gabay, founded in 1856 (now "Java").

Dukat factory, founded in 1891.

Brainwashing. Tobacco manipulation.

"Give me a cigarette, your trousers have stripes..."

From the film "Heart of a Dog".

The appearance of cigarettes, and after them cigarettes, can easily be called a new era of the tobacco business, already completely private. Even in Russia, the first cigarette factories belonged to private foreign capital.

First American cigarette pack. 1880

At the very beginning of the 20th century, the president of the Lucky Strike company (translated as “lucky strike” - according to legend, factory workers went on strike, as a result of which a batch of tobacco spoiled, but the owner mixed it with good tobacco and got a new taste) turned to E. Bernays, has already proven itself, with the goal of increasing cigarette sales among women (entering a new market, so to speak).

Bernays came up with a brilliant manipulative move. To achieve his goals, he recruited New York City feminists (then called "suffragettes"), who fought for equal political rights with men and organized annual marches around the city.

One of the suffragette marches in New York.

Led by several famous actresses also invited by Bernays, the women made a huge march through the city, smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes (many of them coughing as they smoked for the first time), this was a kind of demonstration of equality, since smoking had previously been considered the privilege of men.

Thus, the cigarette became a symbol of equality, it was called the “torch of freedom.” This is where mass smoking among women began. Tobacco companies are urgently beginning to reorient their products towards women.

So in 1924, Philip Morris created the Marlboro brand of women's cigarettes, named after the street in London where the company's first factory was located. Marlboro is sold under the slogan “Mild as May”.

Anti-tobacco movements.

“Smoking makes you stupid. It is not compatible with creative work. Smoking is good only for inactive people.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Painting by Vincent van Gogh 1886

The first anti-tobacco slogan appeared in 1915:

"TO the boy who is screaming need not worry about his future - he has no future"

Davis Starr Jordan.

In 1936, German scientist Fritz Licking introduced the concept of “passive smoking”.

The first state in the world to support the anti-smoking campaign was Germany during the reign of A. Hitler.

Hitler was an ardent opponent and fighter against smoking (by the way, Hitler was also a vegetarian and reproached his subordinates if they ate soup with meat broth; he called such dishes “cadaver extract”).

A broad approach to the problem and various propaganda methods to combat smoking have borne fruit. From 1939 to 1945, the number of smokers in Germany decreased by 23.4%.

By the way, all these methods are used all over the world today, no one has come up with anything new.

“Nothing is easier than quitting smoking - I’ve already quit thirty times.”

Mark Twain.

A little-known fact, but I.V. Stalin quit smoking three and a half months before his death. He was very proud of this, since all his life he did not let go of his favorite smoking pipe, which even became, in some way, his symbol.

After the war, due to new scientific data on the dangers of smoking, which seriously worried society, tobacco companies had to resort to new tricks.

The history of tobacco smoking began so long ago that there is no documentary evidence of it. It is unlikely that in those days people knew how to write anything at all.

It is known that tobacco in its modern form was formed approximately 6 thousand years BC. And the earliest mention of tobacco smoking dates back to the first millennium BC. It’s difficult to call it a document - a fragment of ceramics with an image of a smoking man, found in the ruins of the Mayan civilization.

The spread of tobacco beyond the American continents began at the end of the 15th century, when the Indians gave Columbus dried leaves of this plant.

For the Europeans, the purpose of the gift was not obvious, and therefore they threw most of the gifts they received overboard. But sailors are curious people, some of them learned from the natives what they do with tobacco, and followed suit. Namely, he filled his pipe with tobacco and lit it.

40 years later, the Spaniards began purposefully growing tobacco in their Caribbean colonies. After another quarter of a century, tobacco seeds were brought to Europe and sprouted. This can be considered the beginning of the spread of tobacco in Europe. The price of the new product immediately determined the social status of tobacco at the beginning of its European history as a product for high society.

Tobacco was not only smoked. Throughout history, tobacco has been chewed and snorted, but it became widespread among ordinary people in the second half of the 19th century, with the advent of cigarettes. Rolling paper cigarettes allowed workers and soldiers to smoke quickly and without unnecessary ceremony.

Thus, cigarettes have become a new format for tobacco consumption. Unlike previous methods, cigarettes did not require special time and place, and therefore they could be smoked anytime and anywhere.

Forms have changed, new technologies have appeared, but the essence of cigarettes has remained unchanged since their inception.

England has been the legislator of the tobacco market for a very long time. All trends in smoking came from there. Foggy Albion has become the birthplace of many now famous brands.

Growing tobacco

We rarely think about it, but the journey of every cigarette begins the same way as the journey of most food products. Namely, on an agricultural farm.

The closest relatives of tobacco are the familiar potatoes, eggplant, tomato and pepper. All these plants are representatives of the nightshade family.

Like any agricultural crop, tobacco requires special growing conditions. This applies to climate, soil, and fertilizers. Tobacco grows well in warm climates, in moderately moist soil rich in nutrients. It is the fertilization of the soil that affects such properties of tobacco as its combustion, saturation with nicotine, sugar, and so on.

Despite the fact that, unlike tomatoes, tobacco does not bear fruit, growing it is a difficult and labor-intensive task. Maintaining the balance of soil nutrition, combating various pests and weeds - all these concerns fall on the shoulders of farmers, who approach tobacco with the same responsibility as food crops.

The harvest deserves special attention. It must be produced at a certain stage of plant development. Each variety has its own characteristics, indicating that the time has come for collection. For the quality of the final product, it is very important not to harvest too early, as this will interfere with the proper “ripening” of the tobacco.

After harvesting, the tobacco must be dried. One drying method involves hanging tobacco leaves in small bunches in special drying chambers. And after drying, the tobacco is put into piles, allowing it to rest. Having “prepared” the tobacco in this way, farmers send it to factories. In short, growing tobacco is a large-scale process that requires knowledge and experience.

It is this activity that is a significant source of income for hundreds of thousands of farms in China, Brazil, the USA, Greece, Italy and many other countries.

So, tobacco is difficult to ferment. It takes him some time to do this, during which a special component is produced in the leaves.

A representative of the tobacco factory comes to the farm and inspects each pile of tobacco, because improper storage conditions can lead to the tobacco spoiling and being rejected.

Tobacco companies work only with trusted suppliers, but even raw materials from reputable farms require verification every time in order to maintain quality.

The next stage is transportation. Being a crop of plant origin, tobacco requires extremely delicate transportation conditions.

The quality of the transport company’s services must be at the highest level in order to maintain temperature and humidity conditions when transporting tobacco.

Before getting onto the conveyor, the leaves go through another screening stage. It is produced partly manually, partly automatically.

The conveyor operator selects leaves that do not visually meet the requirements. Specialists working at this stage are able to distinguish more than 20 shades of tobacco leaves by eye, determining the grade and quality.

The machine selects particles that are too large and pours out particles that are too small, sending only those that meet the standards further down the conveyor.

The equipment used in the factories are special high-precision machines that operate at a speed of 12,000 cigarettes per minute. In addition, their settings allow you to adjust all the parameters of the cigarette: packing density, thickness, etc.

Production control is carried out at all stages - from raw materials to finished products. Even after this, a control sample is carried out to examine the quality of printing, packaging, printing, tar and nicotine content and ensure a consistently high standard of product quality.

The evolution of the cigarette pack

Have you ever thought about the origin of such a familiar thing for a smoker as a pack of cigarettes? Meanwhile, the history of the cigarette pack is a whole layer in the development of the tobacco industry and research into consumer preferences.

The appearance of cigarettes naturally raised the question: how should these cigarettes be packaged?

Cigars were delivered from America in wooden boxes - humidors, but it was more convenient to sell tobacco in pouches. But how to sell ready-made cigarettes without the buyer breaking them or scattering them was the first thing that puzzled the manufacturers. Selling cigarettes in wooden boxes would be too expensive, and few would be able to afford such a luxury.

This is how a soft pack appeared. The usual wrapping of a certain number of cigarettes in paper with the name of the brand.

The first soft packs were very fragile and were needed to facilitate the sale of cigarettes by the seller.

Later, the soft pack received a number of improvements, such as an additional layer of foil. Despite this, the disadvantages of paper packaging were obvious. In the pocket of my trousers, the pack crumpled, generously spilling the contents, the cigarettes broke and lost their original appearance.

A cardboard pack has replaced it. It was more convenient and practical than its predecessor. This design is known to any modern smoker, since it has not fundamentally changed since the 50s of the last century.

Subsequently, the format of cigarette packs depended to a greater extent on the format of the cigarettes themselves. Packs of Superslims, Nanokings and a number of other formats appeared.

One of the latest pack formats is Demi. A compact, neat pack with rounded corners does not take up much space in your bag or pocket.

The packaging, made in a modern style, still implies a cardboard pack with a folding top, which once again confirms the words about the invariability of the classic design.

History of cigarette filters

A modern smoker can hardly imagine cigarettes without a filter, but this was not always the case. Despite the centuries-old tradition of smoking tobacco, the history of the cigarette filter began a little less than a century ago.

The invention of the filter dates back to 1925. The main purpose of the filter was to prevent particles of cut tobacco from entering the smoker's mouth. Initially, the filter was made of paper and was supplied separately from the cigarette. Smokers who preferred filter cigarettes had to insert it manually. And only 10 years later did the factories have the technical ability to produce a whole product - a cigarette with a filter.

Acetate filter

In the 50s of the 20th century, tobacco companies began to work seriously on improving the filtration of cigarette smoke, which led to the appearance of acetate fiber filters. These filters did not add additional flavor to the cigarette smoke.

Carbon filter

The next step in filtering tobacco smoke was carbon filters, thanks to which it was possible to get rid of the tart taste.

Filter mouthpiece

And one of the newer types of filters is the mouthpiece filter, the design of which has a special recess that allows smoke to mix with air.

Currently, these three types of filters predominate on the market: acetate, carbon and mouthpiece filters. But progress does not stand still and work on creating new filters is ongoing.

Cigarettes are currently the most common way of smoking. By the way, the word “cigarette” itself has French roots and is translated as “small cigar.” Every modern tobacco manufacturer, trying to stand out, uses a certain type of paper and raw materials. Therefore, a true smoking enthusiast will have no problem distinguishing his usual cigarette brand from a number of other products of the smoking industry.

Who invented cigarettes and why did the creators introduce other people to this deadly hobby? Before studying such an interesting topic, it should be recalled that this article in no way promotes smoking. The purpose of all of the above is to convey to the reader the history of the cigarette. Smoking is a deadly activity, and in order to defeat it, you should know all the ins and outs about the enemy, and in the case of a cigarette, the history of its origin.

The history of cigarettes is rich in various facts and historical events.

Almost always, some innovation that has managed to successfully take root in human life originates in the mists of time, in the very epicenter of ancient civilizations. The history of the creation of cigarettes, smoking itself dating back about 4,000 years, was no exception to this rule.

Historically, it has been established that the first to take up the cultivation of tobacco plants were the inhabitants of the South American continent.

The legendary peoples of the Aztecs and Mayans were the ones who invented tobacco, at least they made a significant contribution to the cultivation of tobacco plants and their use. By the way, the famous morning coffee with a cigarette also originates from the morning fires of the ancient Indians, who began their everyday life exactly like that.

Archaeologists have discovered drawings on the walls of ancient temples in the central regions of America that indicate that the Indians, at the dawn of mankind’s youth, were already using some devices that were very similar to modern cigarettes. The basis for ancient smoking devices was various plant materials:

• tobacco;
• cane;
• dried grass;
• corn leaves.

By the way, archaeologists and historians studying the culture of ancient civilizations have found that smoking such first cigarettes was very inconvenient. The old smoking stick turned out to be too bulky and constantly fell apart during use.

The first cigarettes arose as a kind of ritual action

Planetary scale chronology

Those who created cigarettes had no idea how much they pleased all of humanity. The history of the cigarette is full of various historical facts, strict prohibitions and widespread permission. By the way, residents of different continents (Europe, Asia, Russia) mastered and got used to the smoking novelty in their own way. Cigarette chronology has seen periods of complete love for this activity, and times of strict prohibition and extremely severe punishments for smoking.

To complete the entire historical picture, we should dwell on the most significant events in the life of cigarettes:

1. 1492. The legendary traveler and navigator Christopher Columbus first described the tobacco plant in his diary, listing its properties and uses.
2. 1555. French Franciscan monk, traveler and educator Andre Theve brings the first samples of tobacco seeds to European countries
3. 1560. The world is acquiring a new term - “nicotine”. This word originates from Jean Villeman Nicot. He was a diplomatic official who introduced aristocratic France to the ability to enjoy the aroma of tobacco through the processes of smell, inhaling cigarette smoke.
4. 1735. Swiss botanist Carl Linnaeus first assigns the necessary classification characteristics to a tobacco plant, describing in detail the organoleptic properties of the new crop.
5. 1847. A completely new type of smoking product is born in the world for the first time, people become acquainted with the cigarette. They began to be produced by the legendary tobacco company Philip Morris, created that year in England. At this time, the production of hand-rolled Turkish cigarettes began.
6. 18954. Philip Morris significantly increased the number of cigarettes produced, now their products have become mass produced.
7. 1902. Opening of Philip Morris representative office in America (New York). This year was marked by the launch of an advertising campaign for the legendary Marlboro cigarettes.
8. 1913. Through the efforts of the new tobacco corporation and R. J. Reynolds, the world of the tobacco industry became acquainted with Camel cigarettes.
9. 1920. The era of global women's emancipation and the beginning of the passion for smoking among the fairer sex.
10. 1934. The appearance of the first women's cigarettes, which have a particularly mild taste perception.
11. 1939. Release of a new brand of cigarettes, Pall Mall, by the American tobacco corporation American Tobacco-Company. At the same time, the first brand of filter cigarettes (Winston) appeared.

From that moment (1939) the triumphant march of cigarettes across the globe began. This time became the best, “golden” for the tobacco industry. Until 1950, cigarette sales reached enormous proportions.. World-class tobacco corporations are engaged in sending cigarettes to soldiers (cigarette products were included in the free soldiers' rations).

Historical facts of tobacco smoking in Russia

This bore fruit, and after the end of hostilities, the army of smokers grew to incredible sizes. From the 40s to the 50s of the last century, there was a “Golden Era” for tobacco companies. It was at that time that cigarettes firmly entered the consciousness of billions of people and became an integral part of their lives.

Tobacco companies also gained their regular customers thanks to mass advertising of smoking. At that time, it was fashionable to create a mysterious image of a luxurious image with the help of cigarettes. But all those who had a hand in the creation and distribution of cigarette products around the world did not even suspect what kind of Pandora's box they had opened. And what will the new hobby turn out to be for people?

False values ​​and imaginary benefits

Thanks to theatrical productions of the beginning of the last century, numerous television programs, and the film industry, cigarettes were presented to the public as an accessory of luxury and prosperity. Not a single film of that time showed the main characters without smoking cigarettes; languid, beautiful ladies also smoked, invitingly releasing smoke rings from their lips.

And not a single self-respecting theater or cinema scene was complete without the obligatory entourage - a crystal ashtray chock full of smoking cigarette butts. This greatly influenced the perception of smoking by ordinary people and significantly expanded the already massive army of cigarette admirers. Considering that the number of fans of smoking was already huge, because during the bloodiest and largest wars, cigarettes were part of the ration.

Smoking and inhaling tart and bitter smoke at different times and historical epochs was an integral part of various religious rituals; cigarettes were part of sacred mysterious knowledge and became the golden cover of all style icons.

Therefore, smoking was passed on to the younger, younger generation, which was brought up on scenes from movies, became familiar with the first advertisements praising smoking and calling for the purchase of certain brands of cigarettes. In the minds of young people, the image of a smoker was confidently formed as an integral part of a solid, prosperous life.

As part of socialization, people who smoke began to be perceived as a kind of higher caste, living in a regime of permissiveness and high financial opportunities. Following the lead of fashionable habits, humanity did not immediately recognize all the insidiousness of the cigarette and the consequences of smoking, which for most of the world’s population has already become an outlet and an important accessory to everyday life.

People began to think about the dangers of cigarettes only in the middle of the last century.

Great minds and their contributions to the history of smoking

The use of cigarettes over the centuries of their triumphal movement around the world has become a lasting milestone in the cultural life of various nationalities and countries. A huge number of different things are associated with smoking:

• fairy tales;
• legends;
• rituals;
• legends;
• rituals;
• habits.

And many interesting and sometimes funny situations. For example:

1. Poor people in Rus' were the first to introduce the habit of smoking breaks. In the absence of tobacco, they made roll-your-own cigarettes from nettle leaves or straw.
2. During the reign of Peter I, the boyars constantly confused two wonders: tobacco and potatoes. Sometimes, when trying to smoke potato tops, Russian boyars could not understand why smoking caused such delight.
3. The famous dish “chicken tobacco” also has its own history. Roosters raised on tobacco plants showed remarkable interest in local chickens. And their offspring were called “tobacco chickens” (they were the ones who were sent for frying in the first place).
4. The legendary creator of the periodic table of elements was a fan of smoking and high-quality tobacco. The great chemist dreamed of finding a place in his ingenious table for his favorite tobacco.
5. But the world owes Michurin the creation of flavored cigarettes. His experiments on the symbiosis of tobacco and various fruit and berry crops were not forgotten. Many years later, his inventions found successful use in the tobacco industry.

Those cigarettes that lie on the shelves of modern stores are the result of a huge amount of experiments, research and technology improvement. Innovative filters, a unique level of tobacco crushing, options for electronic smoking devices. Cigarette products developed and flourished

The world owes the spread of smoking in Europe to the French Ambassador Jean Nicot

It was only in the middle of the last century that medical students first began to think about the true consequences of smoking. In those days, experiments and research on the topic of tobacco harm began for the first time. And it was then that priority was given to the cigarette, as a less dangerous device for smoking in comparison with a smoking pipe.

Using a filter – new life for a cigarette

Many inquisitive fans of smoking are interested in the question of when filter cigarettes appeared in the world. The founder of the cigarette filter was the Hungarian Boris Aivazh. In 1935, he acquired a patent for the manufacture of cigarette filters.

The first cigarette filters were simply thin paper tightly rolled into many layers.

But such filtration did not at all save the lungs from toxic tobacco fumes. With its help, the smoker only managed to avoid chewing the bitter crumbs of tobacco that got into his mouth. Those filtered parts of cigarettes that are more familiar to the modern smoker were born only in 1935, when an English tobacco company put into operation the first filter-rolling machines.

The first filters were made from cellulose acetate, and higher-level cigarettes were additionally equipped with a charcoal filter part. But such ingenious innovations did not save smokers from cancer and other fatal diseases. In any case, the cigarette addict received his loading dose of the carcinogen.

Modern cigarettes

In 2004, the European Union established a single regulation according to which the concentration of nicotine in a cigarette should not exceed 1 mg.

At the same time, it was prohibited to label cigarette packages as “light,” “full flavor,” or “super light.” According to the unanimous statement of medical representatives, such labels gave consumers false confidence in the safety of using cigarettes. Now the era of widespread smoking is coming to a gradual decline. Smoking is no longer fashionable and is deadly.

More and more people are thinking about quitting their habit, and the pharmaceutical industry is producing more and more new drugs to help quit smoking. New restrictive measures are being introduced and excise taxes are being increased. Rallies and large-scale educational work are being held. The modern nation tends to become healthier.

In principle, the year 1492 can rightfully be considered the date of birth of tobacco; America was discovered directly in this year by Columbus. The indigenous inhabitants of America can be thanked for the tobacco addiction of many modern people. The ancient Indians came up with the idea of ​​throwing tobacco leaves into the fire, after which they inhaled the resulting smoke, and with it the pleasure. The smoke was produced by the slow smoldering of tobacco leaves. The ancient Indians also created prototypes of the so-called smoking pipes. With the onset of 1492, Columbus, on one of the islands located in the Caribbean Sea, met an Indian who at that moment was smoking tobacco. According to numerous statements, the island described above is called Tabago; some historians believe that the name of the island gave the name to tobacco. Columbus's companion, Robert Payne, showed a deep interest in tobacco and, already in 1497, during his second voyage to American shores, wrote an extensive account of the tobacco plant itself and its method of use. The captain of one of the ships that was part of Columbus's squadron, the captain's name was Rodrigo de Jerez, risked trying to smoke tobacco, but also took with him a miracle plant. This is how tobacco managed to get into the Old World. If we make a comparison between the cigars of those times and modern cigars, then the ancient cigars were truly enormous in size. It is not difficult to guess that ancient cigars were completely different from their modern brothers. After some time, Columbus brought cigars, then unknown to anyone, to Europe; cigars came to Russia only at the beginning of the 18th century, they were brought by Peter I. Subsequently, numerous expeditions constantly went to the ancient Indians, the foundations and traditions of the Indians were studied, all of the above contributed to the active spread tobacco More and more residents of that time began to encounter tobacco. The history of tobacco includes several significant characters who simply need to be mentioned. The first character is the Frenchman Jean Nicot, the French envoy to the Portuguese court Jean Nicot presented the French queen Catherine de Medici with dry tobacco leaves with the recommendation to inhale their aroma for headaches, the whole point is that the queen was very often bothered by headaches. The second iconic figure was the aristocrat from England, who was a heavy smoker, sailor and poet, Sir Walter Raleigh, who in 1580 created a tobacco plantation in Ireland, and in 1584 several more tobacco plantations in the colonial American territories. John Rolfe is recognized as the third iconic figure in the history of tobacco. At the very beginning of the 17th century, John Rolfe became so addicted to smoking tobacco that he became the most famous tobacco promoter in England. However, his passions did not end solely with the promotion of tobacco; in 1611, he went to Virginia and established a huge tobacco plantation there.

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How did smoking originate? The question is very interesting. The history of tobacco smoking is usually associated with the name of Christopher Columbus. At one time, he delivered tobacco to Europe along with gold from Spanish sailors, who were addicted to smoking by local aborigines. The history of smoking is truly colossal. It is generally accepted that tobacco cultivation began in Central America around 6000 BC. Indians smoked pipes filled with leaves for several centuries before Columbus discovered America. They not only smoked, but also chewed tobacco.

The culture of smoking among the Mayan and Aztec priests was elevated to a cult. Tobacco was considered a plant of “male spirits”, patrons of warriors and hunters. They drank tobacco juice, believing that it gave warriors strength, anger and fearlessness. The Indians brewed potions from the plant, made ointments and treated various diseases with it. Part of the religious rituals was the fumigation of idols by the priests. Smoking pipes with tobacco was the privilege of shamans and tribal leaders.

Tobacco in European countries

How tobacco got to Russia

Smoking in Russia began in the 16th century. Tobacco was brought to Russia by English merchants during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Smoking was not popular in Rus' for long. Tsar Mikhail Romanov banned various types of smoking. After the fire in 1634, when almost all of Moscow burned down, measures were tightened up to the death penalty. The ban was lifted by Peter 1, who himself was a passionate smoker. He legalized the sale of tobacco and established tobacco factories. Snuff was very popular in Rus', and later smoking a pipe and cigars became fashionable. Smoking in Russia is becoming a profitable business for traders and brings a lot of money into the state treasury. The tobacco industry is booming.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the number of people smoking increased catastrophically. Smoking becomes part of the image of famous actors and politicians. But around the same time, the results of scientific research on the dangers of smoking are increasingly being published. In the 1980s, taxes on tobacco products increased in Europe and the USA. All tobacco advertising is being removed from television. Attitudes towards smoking around the world are beginning to change.

Myths and facts about smoking

1. Smoking reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease - doctors categorically refute this claim. On the contrary, tobacco has a detrimental effect on brain activity.
2. The definition of light cigarettes is a minor evil. You get the same harm, just at shorter intervals.
3. Smoking calms the nerves - a myth: tar and nicotine do not relax, but inhibit areas of the nervous system. If nicotine had a calming effect, it would become the cheapest antidepressant.
4. Cigarettes with a filter are less harmful - another lie, the filter traps large smoke particles and allows small ones to pass through, which contain more carcinogens.
5. Hookah is safer than cigarettes - also a myth; The duration of one session is 20-40 minutes, such smoking is equivalent to 40 smoked cigarettes.
6. Cigars are not as harmful as cigarettes: one cigar contains the same amount of tobacco as one pack of cigarettes.
7. It is important for a woman not to smoke during pregnancy - a myth. Women's eggs are never renewed, unlike men's sperm, which are renewed every 2.5 months. Therefore, all the time that a woman smokes, she poisons her eggs.

Nicotine is an alkaloid of plant origin.

In terms of the severity of drug addiction, cigarettes are in third place after heroin and cocaine, this is the reality.

Huge lands in the best climatic conditions are allocated for tobacco crops. Huge amounts of wood are cut down and burned to warm the land sown with tobacco. Tons of premium paper are wasted. Hundreds of thousands of workers and scientists work in this field. British scientists, after conducting research, came to the conclusion that society loses more than it gains from the production of tobacco products and taxes on them.

Undeniable, interesting facts about smoking:

1. Tobacco is a plant of the nightshade family; this family includes tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes.
2. Tobacco smoke contains chemical compounds that destroy the genetic code of cells and cause the formation of cancer.
3. According to the World Health Organization, every 4 cigarettes sold is counterfeit.
4. The Kingdom of Bhutan has had a ban on smoking in public places since the 17th century.