Seldom Known Smoking Facts in History
Over 2,000 years ago, South American Cultures began using tobacco. Brazilian peoples invented cigarettes by rolling tobacco leaves in paper.
The First Europeans to use tobacco were sailors.
Christopher Columbus took tobacco leaves back to Queen Isabella of Spain.
People used to believe Tobacco had medicinal value. A French Ambassador named Jean Nicot brought Tobacco plants to Portugal in 1559, telling friends it was useful in treating wounds, asthma and cancer.In earlier times, tobacco was called herba panacea- meaning cure-all herb. Some people even believed that smoking cleaned out the lungs.
Several Countries outlawed tobacco use in the 1600s. In Turkey during that period, tobacco users could be tortured or killed. In China, a person caught with tobacco might be beheaded. In Russia, tobacco users who were caught a second time were killed.
Tobacco was extremely important to Spain and the American colonies. It was a major crop and became so valuable that it could be used in place of money. People in Virginia planted it in every square of soil they could find. In fact, the Virginia Company, which sponsored the early colony, had to pass a law requiring people to grow food also, and not just tobacco.Until the 1700's, pipe smoking was the preferred method of tobacco use. Then people began using dry snuff or chewing tobacco instead. By the 1800's, cigarettes became more fashionable but had to be rolled by hand and were extremely expensive.
The first report to link smoking to certain diseases was published in 1859.
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford both declared tobacco use should be banned.
After World War I, a group of tobacco companies banded together and denied that tobacco causes any harmful effects.
In the 1920's, the makers of Lucky Strike Cigarettes wanted to appeal to women who were watching their weight by using the slogan “Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet”
During World War I and World War II, soldiers were given cigarettes as part of their rations.
What Happens When You Smoke
The heart speeds up, from 10 to 20 beats per minute
The blood vessels constrict, or tighten, so that blood pressure goes up 5 to 10 points.
The temperature of the skin drops by 6 degrees Fahrenheit (that's because the blood is rushing to the heart, where it would be needed in a real crisis)
The level of blood sugar, the body's store of energy, falls, because the blood sugar is being burned up in a stressed out reaction.
The hypothalamus, which regulates hunger, gets a “speed-up” message, so the appetite falls too.
The blood vessels constrict, or tighten, so that blood pressure goes up 5 to 10 points.
The temperature of the skin drops by 6 degrees Fahrenheit (that's because the blood is rushing to the heart, where it would be needed in a real crisis)
The level of blood sugar, the body's store of energy, falls, because the blood sugar is being burned up in a stressed out reaction.
The hypothalamus, which regulates hunger, gets a “speed-up” message, so the appetite falls too.
More Smoking Facts
Kentucky is the nation's leading tobacco grower.The biggest percentage of the world's tobacco is grown in China.Large amounts of nicotine was once given to elephants in order to put them to sleep via animal dart guns.The Centers for Disease Control's list of the World's Most addictive substances places is at the top of the list.Heroin placed 5th.Forbidden to advertise on television, cigarette companies rent huge signs in sport stadiums.Humphrey Bogart, seen smoking in Casablanca, smoked heavily in real life as well. He died of lung cancer at the age of 57.In 1953, the New England Journal of Medicine announced that the evidence linking smoking and lung cancer was “so strong as to be considered proof within the everyday meaning of the word.”Nearly some 90 percent of nonsmokers have some residues of cigarette smoke in their blood.The United States produces several tons of tobacco each year. Only China produces more.About three quarters of the American Tobacco market is controlled by two companies, Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco (formerly R.J. Reynolds).Tobacco-brand appearances have been seen in many adolescent and family movies. These include Ghostbusters II, Home Alone 2, Honey I shrunk the Kids, Kindergarten Cop, men in Black and The Nutty Professor.Tobacco is a poisonous plant. The poison in it is nicotine. Tobacco plants contain nicotine as a natural defense, to keep bugs from eating their leaves.Workers on Tobacco Farms sometimes suffer nicotine poisoning when they absorb the chemical through their skin.Real Quotes From Tobacco Companies
Quotes Found within tobacco papers“It seems unlikely that we will be able to locate a toxicologist [ a scientist who studies poisons] who will give a 'clean' opinion to tobacco, even if (s)he agrees that ingredients pose no risk. The mot realistic hope is that we can get an opinion that tobacco is a 'risk factor.'” -1986 R.J. Reynolds (RJR) document“This young adult market, the 14-to24 age group...represent(s) tomorrow's cigarette business.” - 1974 RJR memo.“...comic strip type copy might get a much higher readership among younger people than any other type of copy.” - 1973 RJR memo.“[T]he amount of evidence accumulated to indict [accuse] cigarette smoke as a health hazard is overwhelming. The evidence challenging such an indictment is scant.” - 1962 RJR memo
Cigarettes “cause or predispose, lung cancer...They contribute to certain cardiovascular disorders...They may well be truly causative in emphysema, etc., etc.” - 1963 internal memo from Addision Yeaman, executive president of Brown and Williamson, president of Council for Tobacco Research.“Without nicotine...there would be no smoking...” - 1972 Philip Morris researcher“We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug...” - 1963 internal memo from Addison Yeaman, executive vice president of Brown and Williamson, president of Council for Tobacco Research.
