A Brief History of Tobacco
Tobacco Control Project
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Kansas School of
Medicine
Cigarettes are Sublime?
“Warning smokers of the dangers entices them
more powerfully to the edge of the abyss, where,
like travelers in a Swiss landscape, they can be
thrilled by the subtle grandeur of the perspectives
on mortality opened by the tiny terrors in every
puff. Cigarettes are bad. That is why they are
good - not good, not beautiful, but sublime.”
Klein, Richard. (1993). Cigarettes are Sublime. Durham: Duke University Press.
1492-1800
Production
Use
 Puffed, chewed,  Indigenous peoples
snorted, drank
in Americas
juice, applied as  Spain used cigars,
a paste
papaletes
 Air or wood-fire
cured for dark,
strong tobacco
Policy
 Legal tender in
some countries
 Hated but taxed in
England
 France dev. cigarette  At times forbidden
in Russia, India,
 Most used chew
Turkey, Persia
tobacco in U.S.
Ford, Barry. (1994). Smokescreen. Perth, Australia: Halcyon.
Early Anti-tobacco Marketing?
“A custom loathsome to the eye, hatefull to the
Nose, harmfull to the braine, dangerous to the
Lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof,
neerest resembling the the horrible Stygian
smoke of the pit that is bottomlesse.”
King James I,. (1604) A Counterblaste to Tobacco, as cited in Ford, Barry, (1994). Smokescreen. Perth, Australia: Halcyon.
1801-1900
Production
Use
· New mild strains
developed
· Flue curing made
tobacco inhalable
Policy
· Penninsular, Crimean · Lucy Gaston
wars spread use of
fought “cigarette
“cigarillos” in Europe
face”
· Tobacco tax
financed Civil &
SpanishAmerican Wars
· Bonsack Machine · Civil war spread
· 1900: 3 states
70,000 cigs/day
cigarette use in U.S.
ban cigarette
sales
· American Tobacco · 1900: 1/3 tobacco
Co. monopoly
users smoked in U.S.
Ford, Barry. (1994). Smokescreen. Perth, Australia: Halcyon.
1901-Today
Production
· 1913: 10 billion
cigarettes made
· 1949: 393 billion
cigarettes made
Use
· WW I spread use
· 1922: cig smokers
outnumbered pipe
smokers, chewers
Policy
· Early 1900’s:
Industry-backed
minimum ages
· 1965: Labeling
act
· 1950’s: filtered
· 45% smoked in 1949 · 1967: FCC ruling
cigarettes
· Virginia Slims, Silvas · 1970: Hearings
spurred women’s use on advertising
· ‘50’s or ‘60’s
nicotine was “free- · 25% now smoke
· 1990’s: Liability
based” w/ammonia
claims
Kluger, Richard. (1996). Ashes to Ashes. New York: Knopf;
Ford, Barry. (1994). Smokescreen. Perth, Australia: Halcyon.
Tobacco Was Decidedly Less Cool in the ‘80’s
“Do you mind if I smoke?”
“Not at all! Do you mind if I fart?”
Steve Martin
Missed Opportunities?
1906 Food and Drug Act
1966 Fair Labeling and Packaging Act
1970 Controlled Substance Act
1972 Consumer Product Safety Act
1976 Toxic Substances Act
Kluger, Richard. (1996). Ashes to Ashes. New York: Knopf
Perspectives on the Problem
It’s an individual choice
Children must be protected
Smokers are addicted
Smoking is immoral or deviant
Smoking is disgusting
All nonsmokers must be protected
Smoking is sublime
Adapted in part from Rabin, Sugarman, Eds. (1993). Smoking policy: Law, politics, & culture. New York: Oxford