The invention of cigarettes. Who Invented Tobacco? Using a filter - a new life for a cigarette

Our story is by no means a propaganda of smoking or an argument that bad habits do not add health. The purpose of our story is to conduct our own investigation of who and how taught humanity to while away the time in the company of a smoking man-made creature and even get some pleasure from it.

First, the world's population got acquainted with tobacco

Often this or that innovation on the planet takes its origins in the mists of time, at the epicenter of the existence of wise ancient civilizations. More than 3,000 years of history of smoking in the world is no exception to the rule. It is known for certain that the tobacco growing palm belongs to the South American continent.

The legendary tribes of the Maya and Aztecs made their significant contribution both to the process of cultivating tobacco leaves and to the ritual of their use. Not all heavy smokers know who came up with an intoxicating activity - to start your day with a cup of strong coffee and a cigarette, and this "delicious" custom was born in Peru and has come down to us from the morning fires of the ancient Indians.

Indisputable evidence that the first cigarettes appeared precisely thanks to the efforts of the red-skinned natives was the finds of archaeologists.

On the walls of the oldest temples located in the center of America, drawings of prototypes of tobacco products were found, reminiscent of cigarettes familiar to us now. The raw materials for primitive smoking devices were tobacco, dry grass, corn or cane leaves. Smoking such a cigarette was not very convenient, the ancient smoking "stick" was bulky and strove to crumble into its constituent parts.

Chronology of the victorious march of tobacco products around the planet

In the annals of events preceding the modern abundance of cigarettes of different brands and brands, there were many interesting facts and interesting incidents. In Russia, Europe and Asia, they got used to the new product in different ways. The history of cigarettes has known periods of love and reverence and moments of the strictest prohibitions and harsh punishments. For a complete picture of what is happening, it is worth dwelling on the most significant dates:

November 15, 1942, in the diary of the great traveler Christopher Columbus, the word "tobacco" appears with a description of the properties of a unique plant;
1555, the world-traveling clergyman Andre Theve transports samples of tobacco seeds to Europe;
1560, the term "nicotine" appears in honor of the diplomatic official Jean Wilman Nico, who instilled in the aristocratic world of France the newfangled habit of enjoying the aroma of tobacco through smell;
1735, Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus assigns classification features to tobacco according to its organoleptic properties;
1636, the world learns a new type of tobacco products - cigarettes;
1847, the legendary company "Philip Morris" opens its first brainchild in England - a tobacco shop;
1854 Philip Morris begins mass production of cigarettes
1934, the appearance of the Marlboro brand, the so-called "gentle" cigarettes for the fair sex.

The one who invented, created and took an active part in the popularization of cigarettes could not even suspect that he had opened Pandora's box for all mankind.

Externalities and Imaginary Values

Cinema, theatrical productions, television programs and films of the mid-twentieth century could not imagine the image of their heroes without a cigarette, beautiful rings of gray smoke and entourage in the form of ashtrays stuffed with a mountain of cigarette butts. At the time of the 2 largest and bloodiest tragedies of the twentieth century, which were the First and Second World Wars, tobacco products were part of the soldier's and officer's rations.

In different eras, attractive communication with tart smoke became part of religious rites, gaining sacred knowledge or creating icons of style.

When the first commercials appeared, praising the wonderful properties of certain well-known brands of cigarettes, the image of a smoking person was formed in the minds of the younger generation, which was associated with solidity, adulthood and permissiveness.

According to statistics, the largest number of cigarette smokers live in Lebanon, and the small state of Bhutan ranks last in the list of smoking countries. As part of assessing the social level of a person, smoking expensive brands of cigarettes signals high material opportunities and belonging to the elite caste. Paying tribute to a fashionable habit, the population of the planet did not immediately begin to think about the consequences of a harmful occupation, which for many has become an outlet, a way to support a conversation in a company, and a means to pass free minutes.

Curiosities and participation of the greats of this world in the history of cigarettes

The use of tobacco in one form or another has become part of the culture of all countries and peoples for several centuries. On the diverse continents of our planet, rituals, legends, rituals, fairy tales, habits and other types of local creations are associated with smoking. Do you know, for example, that:

the habit of smoking breaks appeared in Russia in the middle of the centuries, taking breaks in work, the poor tried to “puff up” with tea or nettles;
planting "tobacco madness" by Peter Ι sometimes turned into a real nightmare for Russian boyars, they confused 2 curiosities: potatoes and tobacco, cigarettes from dry potato tops did not cause them either understanding or Peter's delight;
the roosters, which the peasants fed with tobacco, showed too active attention to the “ladies of the heart” in the chicken coop, the babies born after the dates got the well-known name “tobacco chickens”;
the world famous author of the table of chemical elements D.I. Mendeleev, a big fan of cigarettes and good tobacco, dreamed of finding a place for a smoking idol in one of the cells of his brilliant invention;
we owe the appearance of flavored cigarettes to the biologist-breeder I.V. Michurin, experiments on the symbiosis of tobacco and fruits and berries were not in vain; decades later they found their application in the tobacco industry.

Modern cigarettes are the pinnacle of scientific experiments and the perfection of tobacco industry technologies. Special filters, high quality tobacco cut, electronic options and saving packaging. Back in the mid-1950s, medical scientists began their first research into the benefits and harms of smoking, the advantages of cigarettes over cigarettes and smoking pipes. Monitoring data from these studies is not within our purview.

The use of cigarettes is a conscious choice of every adult responsible for their health. But one thing is for sure: the history of cigarette smoking has been long, colorful and eventful. And new pages will appear in it.

The history of tobacco smoking began a thousand years before our era. It is this year that the first images of smoking people found in the most ancient temples located on the territory of the American continent date back.

The local natives had a beautiful legend about the birth of tobacco culture. It spoke of a woman sent to the barren land by a great spirit. When she touched the soil with her hands, potatoes and corn were born, and where she sat down to rest, tobacco grew.

The emergence of tobacco culture

When asked who brought tobacco to Europe and from where, any schoolboy will answer that it was Christopher Columbus. But this statement is not entirely true. Of course, it was on the ships of the Columbus expedition that the plant came to Europe. But history claims that the gift of the natives - dried tobacco leaves - Christopher threw into the sea near the island of Tobago. This culture was brought to Spain by his sailors.

Moored to the island of Guanahani (the modern name of the island of San Salvador), located not far from the new continent, Christopher Columbus and his team went ashore. Columbus, as you know, mistook the natives who came out to meet them for the population of India and called the Indians.

One of the customs of the inhabitants of the island - smoking the leaves of an unknown plant, releasing thick white smoke from the mouth - greatly surprised the sailors. And on November 15, 1492, Christopher Columbus made a note in his diary about how the Indians twist dried leaves into a tube and, setting fire to it on one side, inhale smoke from the other. Exactly Columbus first recorded the fact of smoking tobacco in writing.

Of the entire crew, only one sailor ventured to try to smoke with the Indians. His name was Roderigo de Jerez. Arriving home, in his native Spain, Roderigo decided to impress his compatriots with his new hobby and ended up in prison for seven years. The Church regarded smoking as a way to communicate with Satan.

From the next trip of Columbus in 1496, a monk named Roman Panno brings not only the plant itself, but also the seeds of the tobacco crop to his homeland in Portugal.

In 1555, the monk Andre Theve, originally from France, leaves for South America. He went to the Indians to convert them to the Christian faith. Teve studied the life of the natives, including their habit of smoking. He described how the Indians grow, harvest and dry tobacco leaves and for what purposes this plant is used.

According to the description of the monk, the inhabitants of America used tobacco culture as a remedy for hunger. Shamans used this plant to contact spirits and heal sick tribesmen. The most important purpose of tobacco in Indian tribes is peace for reconciliation of warring parties.

They smoked petun grass, which is what the Indians called this plant. At the first experience of smoking, the monk noticed that the herb causes weakness and fainting, but as soon as you get used to this process, all unpleasant symptoms disappear. André Thevet was the first to bring and manage to grow the seeds of a new culture in France. He was very proud of this fact and named this plant Angoumois Grass. Since monk André Theve is considered the first distributor of tobacco in Europe.

In 1560, the Portuguese diplomat Jean Villeman Nico brought snuff to the court of Catherine de Medici..

Niko considered this plant almost a panacea for diseases such as:

Dysentery.
Nephritis.
Toothache.
Ulcer.
Headache.
Nervous breakdown.
Runny nose, etc.

The queen appreciated the gift of the diplomat, as she suffered from headaches and, probably, the use of a wonderful plant distracted her from a migraine. And the snuff itself was called Royal Powder.

So, in Paris, tobacco gained popularity and began its march through Europe and Russia. And by the name of Jean Nico, this plant was named - nicotine grass.

Tobacco production

The first tobacco production belonged to the state of Spain. In 1636, the Tabacalera company began producing cigars. Factory workers received a small salary, so they could not afford to buy expensive cigars. But they collected the remnants of the tobacco industry, crushed them and wrapped them in paper. This is how cigarettes appeared in the world. This name was invented by the French poet T. Gauthier in 1833, during his trip to Seville.

The First World War made a great contribution to the development of the tobacco business. Tobacco relied on all soldiers and was included in the soldier's rations. The Second World War further strengthened, which were sent to the front by tons of tobacco companies for free. The result was the universal habit of smoking in the army.

But the biggest gift for the development of cigar production in the world was made by cinema. Since the fifties of the twentieth century, the cigarette has become part of the image of actors, actresses and models and finally conquers the world.

Tobacco in Russia

In Russia, the fact that Peter the Great brought this plant to our country was thoroughly entrenched. But smoking appeared to us much earlier, in 1553. Even during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the British brought tobacco to Russia. The inhabitants of Russia disapproved of this hobby, so smoking was severely punished. In those days, they smoked little and believed that tobacco grew out of the ashes of a rotten devil.

When the Romanovs came to power, smoking began its active march across Russia. If during the reign of Tsar Mikhail it was possible to pay for this with parts of your body, namely with your nose or get under a whip, then under Tsar Fedor they began to smoke even at court.

At the beginning of his reign, Peter the Great did not approve of this bad habit at all and punished smoking with a fine or a whip. But after Peter visited Europe, his attitude towards smoking changed dramatically. In 1697, Peter allowed the tobacco trade, and in 1716, the first tobacco plantation appeared on the territory of Ukraine.

Let's briefly list the most interesting facts about smoking:

Tobacco was brought to Europe by the sailors of Christopher Columbus, not by himself.
The Indians smoked pipes to make peace, call spirits and get rid of hunger.
Nicotine got its name from the Frenchman Jean Nicot.
Initially, this plant was considered a cure for many diseases.
The first tobacco factory was founded in Spain.
The history of smoking in Russia began under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and Peter the Great only contributed to its mass distribution.
World wars and cinema made a huge contribution to the development of the tobacco industry.

Tobacco broke into history very abruptly, and spread in a short period of time. If not for certain historical actions, individual characters and a certain set of circumstances, then perhaps smoking would not play such a detrimental role in people's lives.
It is believed that tobacco cultivation began in the Central America region around 6000 BC.

But this statement is false. In fact, purposeful tobacco cultivation began 5,000 years later, about 1,000 years ago. BC. The Maya civilization were the first tribes who chewed and smoked the leaves of the tobacco plant, they also mixed the tobacco leaves with medicinal herbs and plants, after which they applied this mixture to the wounds of the patient. As the Maya dispersed and populated various areas of the Americas, such as North and South America, they spread their precious tobacco plants.

Hundreds of years later, during the greatest European exploration around the world, tobacco was discovered in the New World and then brought to Europe. This is how it started history of cigarettes and their production.

Columbus was probably the first European to see tobacco leaves, but he did not smoke them himself.
Another explorer, Rodrigo de Jerez, soon after the discovery of Columbus, landed in Cuba and observed how some of the inhabitants smoke tobacco leaves, he soon also tried smoking.

On his return to Spain, Jerez filled all the holds with tobacco. He amazed his countrymen by the process of smoking in front of them. Never in their lives have they seen a man with smoke coming out of his mouth and nose. People thought he was possessed by the devil and members of the Spanish Inquisition imprisoned him for several years. But the history of cigarettes did not end there. During his imprisonment, smoking became a very popular activity in Spain.

In the 1530s, Europeans, seeing the potential for income from growing tobacco, set out to colonize the Caribbean. In these areas, they established the cultivation of tobacco, then the tobacco was exported back to Europe. Sir Francis Drake was the first person to bring a shipment of tobacco to Britain in 1573, later Sir Walter Raleigh made tobacco smoking popular in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1586 Sir Walter Raleigh traveled to America where he met Ralph Lane, who At that time he was Governor of Virginia. Ralph Lane enjoyed smoking the clay pipe, which was very popular there.

A year later, the colonists who had previously left England to settle in Virginia returned to their homeland and introduced the fashion of smoking clay pipes in English society. Over the years, many English families went to Virginia in an attempt to get rich by growing tobacco on plantations.

The smoking pipe has also gradually become an extremely popular smoking device in a number of other European countries, including Spain and France.

At the beginning of the 17th century, tobacco began to be regularly imported into Great Britain, the profit from importing tobacco at that time was 25,000 pounds. At the turn of the century, this amount increased and approached 38 million pounds.
The smoking pipe and tobacco became popular in London in the 17th century. The British also smoked cigars until the middle of the 18th century, in the late 1880s. there were cigarettes in the form in which we know them.

With the advent of cigarette-making machines, which at the time produced about 200 cigarettes per minute, the tobacco industry began to grow. With the advent of mass production of cigarettes, they became more affordable and captured a wider range of people. At first it was mostly soldiers fighting in wars who became addicted to smoking.

During extended periods of inactivity, when soldiers' morale was low, they were given cigarettes to boost morale. At the start of World War II, US President Roosevelt made tobacco a protected plant. There was a shortage of tobacco in America and England, packages and packs of cigarettes were sent to the troops fighting in the war. During both world wars, cigarette smoking became very popular. Soldiers returning from the war introduced cigarette smoking into their daily lives, which served to reinforce the trend. At the time, little attention was paid to medical research examining the effects of smoking. It wasn't until the 1950s that the first warnings began to appear about the link between smoking and lung cancer.

At that time, the tobacco companies had become a multi-million dollar industry and they couldn't afford to have bad publicity.
In 1964, the US Secretary of Health reported that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. Since then, tobacco advertising has been banned from television and radio, and tobacco companies have been required to “print health warnings” on the packs of their brands of cigarettes.

In 1973, the United States introduced the first restrictions on smoking in public places.

All airlines were required to separate smoking and non-smoking areas on their aircraft, and in 1987 smoking was completely banned on flights.

In 1988, the US Secretary of Health, after extensive research, concluded that nicotine is addictive as a drug.

By 1990, there were even more restrictions on smoking in public transportation and Vermont became the first state in the US to ban smoking in all indoor public places.

The big bosses of the tobacco companies swore in the US Congress in 1994 that nicotine was not addictive and that they had no control over the levels of nicotine found in cigarettes. However, only three years later they reappeared before Congress to testify that nicotine is addictive and that smoking can cause cancer.

More and more tobacco companies in the United States are facing numerous lawsuits from individuals seeking compensation for the death of their relatives or for their own ill health, which they claim was caused by smoking. The plaintiffs demanded to pay huge sums of money for non-pecuniary damage. And more and more cases were winning.

With a whitening effect.

To speed up the combustion of tobacco, special substances are often added to cigarettes. Without additives, tobacco burns rather poorly, especially in the absence of forced draft (smoker's puffs).

A pack of cigarettes is a thick paper package, usually containing 20 cigarettes. There are special packs of cigarettes containing 10-25 and other quantities, but this is the exception rather than the rule. In accordance with the current law of the Russian Federation, each pack must contain an inscription warning about the dangers of smoking, a special excise stamp must be pasted and a price above which distribution is prohibited is given.

Chronic cigarette smoking, like other forms of tobacco smoking, is highly addictive and has a long-term negative impact on the health of the smoker. The health of non-smokers who are close to the smoker and are often exposed to tobacco smoke also suffers. Federal legislation of the Russian Federation prohibits the sale of tobacco products to minors .

Story

The first similarities of cigarettes were invented by the American Indians. It was they who began to wrap tobacco in straw, reed, corn leaves. In 1492, on one of the islands in the Caribbean Sea (perhaps it was the island of Tobago, from whose name, according to some historians, the word "tobacco" came from), Columbus met an old smoking Indian (hence the traditional symbol of a tobacco shop - smoking pipe Indian).

In Europe, the distribution of cigarettes began after the Crimean War of 1853-1856. - Russian and Turkish soldiers, in order to smoke at a halt, began to wrap tobacco in paper cartridges from gunpowder or scraps of newspapers. This habit was adopted by the British and French troops in the Crimea from their Turkish counterparts, then their mass production was established in England. The first cigarette factory in Europe was built in London.

Cigarettes owe their rapid spread to the invention in the United States in the late 1880s of machines for their manufacture. For the manufacture of cigarettes, tobacco of new "light" varieties was used (for example, "White Burley"). Cigarettes quickly gained popularity among smokers, because it took time and the right environment to smoke a cigar or pipe, and this was not always enough. The first cigarettes were not equipped with a filter and looked more like cigarettes.

For the manufacture of American cigarettes, waste from the production of other tobacco products was used.

Smokers get lung cancer several times more often than non-smokers. According to modern data, more than 90% of lung cancer cases are associated with a history of smoking. The main etiological factors of lung cancer in smokers are considered to be radon, polonium, benzpyrene and nitrosamines contained in tobacco tar.

Smoking also increases the likelihood of other types of cancer. These include malignant tumors of the oral cavity, esophagus, larynx, pancreas, stomach, colon, kidneys, bladder, liver, prostate.

In addition, smoking causes emphysema, a chronic disease associated with irreversible degeneration of lung tissue. Smoking is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. Smoking contributes to the development of respiratory infections. Smoking is a risk factor for pregnancy complications.

Substances found in tobacco smoke

The smoke of an average cigarette contains up to 12,000 different substances and chemical compounds. Of these, 196 are poisonous and 14 are narcotic.

Notes: * Carcinogens, ** Toxins. Acetaldehyde occurs when sugar is burned and, along with nicotine, is addictive.

famous brands of cigarettes

Notes

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The history of the origin of smoking, although not in the form in which we know it now, should be considered from the positions of East and West. The information that has come down to us was mainly read by historians from rock paintings, ancient frescoes and descriptions of ancient travelers.

East

In the temples of India, one can find images showing priests setting fire to fragrant herbs and inhaling their smoke. It is not known for certain whether it was tobacco or other herbs, but nevertheless, this process cannot be described otherwise than smoking. There are also frescoes depicting smoking pipes. Similar items were found during excavations in Egypt. They were placed in the crypts of the rich nobility, according to historians, as early as the 21st-23rd centuries. BC.

Herodotus, describing his observations of the life of the Scythians - the peoples who inhabited the territories of Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the era of antiquity and the Middle Ages - testified that they also inhaled the smoke of burning plants. Apparently, such practices were of a religious nature, they were the key to communicating with spirits and performing magical rituals.

Ancient Chinese literature contains information about the use of various herbs for smoking, including. Manipulations for fumigating the sick were performed mainly by healers or ministers of temples. Cannabis, which has narcotic properties, was used to enter a trance for religious purposes. Also, plants were taken orally, used as an ointment. Tobacco smoking was perceived in antiquity as part of a healing ritual.

West

The West refers primarily to North and South America, where the tobacco bush originated, fully formed around 6000 BC. It is known that the ancient Indian tribes discovered this plant around 1000 BC. and made attempts to use it - smoked, chewed, rubbed it and even made enemas to communicate with the gods. There is an ancient legend in the Huron tribe about how a mysterious woman, possessed by the Great Spirit, saved the people from starvation. In the place that her right hand touched, potatoes grew, and her left -. And where she lay down to rest, tobacco began to grow. The Indians used tobacco smoke to communicate with the Spirit. It was also believed that smoking helps warriors fight hunger. Later, smoking pipes began to appear in North America. In South America, the Indians learned how to tightly roll tobacco leaves for smoking - this continent became the birthplace of the first.

	Cigarettes in Wiktionary
	Cigarettes at Wikibooks