Tobacco
History Of Tobacco
Tobacco has a long history in the Americas. American Indians grew tobacco before the Europeans came from England, Spain, France, and Italy to North America. Native Americans smoked tobacco through a pipe for special religious and medical purposes, but they did not smoke it everyday. Tobacco was the first crop grown for money in North America. By the 1800’s many people had began using small amounts of tobacco. Some people chewed it, others smoked it occasionally in a pipe, or hand rolled cigarettes or cigars. On average, people smoked 40 cigarettes a year back then. Now days the average smoker smokes a pack a day, which is 20 cigarettes a day. The first commercial cigarettes were made in 1865 in North Carolina by Washington Duke, and were sold to soldiers at the end of the civil war. It was not until James Bonsack invented the cigarette-making machine in 1881 that cigarette smoking became widespread. His cigarette machine could make 120,000 cigarettes a day. By 1944 cigarette production was up to 300 billion a year. Service men received 75% of all cigarettes produced. The wars were also good for the tobacco industry. Since World War 2 there have been six giant cigarette companies in the world. Since the 1980’s federal, state, and local governments begun taking actions to restrict cigarette smoking in public places. As it started becoming difficult for tobacco companies to sell their products in the US, they started looking outside. US tobacco companies are now growing tobacco in Africa, South America, India, Pakistan, The Philippines, Greece, and Thailand. Fifty Percent of the sales of US tobacco companies goes to Asian countries. Worldwide, Tobacco was the cause of 5 million deaths last year.
Tobacco has a long history in the Americas. American Indians grew tobacco before the Europeans came from England, Spain, France, and Italy to North America. Native Americans smoked tobacco through a pipe for special religious and medical purposes, but they did not smoke it everyday. Tobacco was the first crop grown for money in North America. By the 1800’s many people had began using small amounts of tobacco. Some people chewed it, others smoked it occasionally in a pipe, or hand rolled cigarettes or cigars. On average, people smoked 40 cigarettes a year back then. Now days the average smoker smokes a pack a day, which is 20 cigarettes a day. The first commercial cigarettes were made in 1865 in North Carolina by Washington Duke, and were sold to soldiers at the end of the civil war. It was not until James Bonsack invented the cigarette-making machine in 1881 that cigarette smoking became widespread. His cigarette machine could make 120,000 cigarettes a day. By 1944 cigarette production was up to 300 billion a year. Service men received 75% of all cigarettes produced. The wars were also good for the tobacco industry. Since World War 2 there have been six giant cigarette companies in the world. Since the 1980’s federal, state, and local governments begun taking actions to restrict cigarette smoking in public places. As it started becoming difficult for tobacco companies to sell their products in the US, they started looking outside. US tobacco companies are now growing tobacco in Africa, South America, India, Pakistan, The Philippines, Greece, and Thailand. Fifty Percent of the sales of US tobacco companies goes to Asian countries. Worldwide, Tobacco was the cause of 5 million deaths last year.