Appendices: Nicotine Timeline

• Author: James G. Wigmore
• Pages: 733-735

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Nicotine Timeline

Pre-1492 Dif‌ferent types of tobacco are widely cultivated and used

throughout North and South America, the Middle East, and

China for thousands of years.

1492 After f‌irst throwing it into the sea, Italian explorer Chris-

topher Columbus eventually brings tobacco back with him

from the Americas to Europe where it soon becomes popular.

1604 King James I of England writes “A Counterblaste to Tobacco,”

one of the f‌irst antismoking documents.

1665 Smoking is thought to ward of‌f the Great Plague and was

made compulsory at Eton.

1730 First US tobacco factory making snuf‌f opens in Virginia.

1794 US Congress passes the f‌irst excise tax on tobacco products.

1828 Hand-rolled cigarettes become popular in Europe.

1843 The French Company SEITA begins large scale manufacture

of cigarettes.

1858 Fears about the health risks of smoking are f‌irst raised in the

British medical journal Lancet.

1862 The US government places the f‌irst federal tax on the sale of

raw tobacco to help pay for the Civil War.

1913 The f‌irst prepackaged, pre-blended, or “modern” cigarette,

“Camels,” is produced by RJ Reynolds.

1918 Cigarettes are included in rations for US soldiers in World

War I, causing many soldiers to become addicted to nicotine.

1929 Public relations campaigns designed by ad man Edward Ber-

nays makes public smoking by women acceptable.