Tobacco#History

The English word 'tobacco' originates from the Spanish word tabaco.{{Cite journal |last=Ernst |first=A. |date=1889 |title=On the etymology of the word tobacco |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448956 |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=A2 |issue=2 |pages=133–142 |doi=10.1525/aa.1889.2.2.02a00020 |doi-access=free|issn = 0002-7294 }} The precise origin of this word is disputed, but it is generally thought to have derived, at least in part, from Taíno, the Arawakan language of the Caribbean. In Taíno, it was said to mean either a roll of tobacco leaves (according to Bartolomé de las Casas, 1552), or to tabago, a kind of L-shaped pipe used for sniffing tobacco smoke (according to Oviedo, with the leaves themselves being referred to as cohiba).{{Cite web |last=Hilton |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Hilton |title=Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba |date=April 3, 2011 |url=http://wais.stanford.edu/Cuba/cuba_ColumbusDiscoversCuba(110503).html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901214953/http://wais.stanford.edu/Cuba/cuba_ColumbusDiscoversCuba(110503).html |archive-date=September 1, 2011 |series=World Association of International Studies |publisher=Stanford University}}

However, perhaps coincidentally, similar words in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian were used from 1410 for certain medicinal herbs. These probably derived from the Arabic {{lang|ar|طُبّاق|rtl=yes}} {{transliteration|ar|ṭubbāq}} (also {{lang|ar|طُباق|rtl=yes}} {{transliteration|ar|ṭubāq}}), a word reportedly dating to the ninth century, referring to various herbs.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=طُباق |encyclopedia=An Arabic-English Lexicon: Derived From the Best and the Most Copious Eastern Sources |publisher=Williams and Norgate |location=London |url=http://ejtaal.net/aa/ |last=Lane |first=Edward William |date=1863 |author-link=Edward William Lane |volume=I, Book 5 |page=1827 |isbn=978-0-342-25192-6 |oclc=1299308839 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622063627/http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=h660,ll=1916,ls=5,la=2636,sg=645,ha=438,pr=97,vi=240,mgf=549,mr=381,mn=839,aan=360,kz=1457,ulq=1133,uqa=265,uqw=990,umr=652,ums=546,umj=489,uqq=210,bdw=549,amr=392,asb=593,auh=947,dhq=338,mht=549,msb=147,tla=68,amj=481,ens=1,mis=1311 |archive-date=June 22, 2016 |issue=5 |access-date=June 21, 2016 |url-status=live }}The word {{transliteration|ar|ṭubāq}} no longer refers to various herbs, but has come to refer, in some dialects, specifically to tobacco. See {{Cite encyclopedia |title=طُباق |encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |publisher=Harrassowitz |location=Wiesbaden |url=http://ejtaal.net/aa/ |last=Wehr |first=Hans |date=1979 |author-link=Hans Wehr |editor-last=Cowan |editor-first=J Milton |editor-link=J Milton Cowan |edition=4th |page=647 |isbn=978-3-447-02002-2 |oclc=759999696 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622063627/http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=660,ll=h1913,ls=h5,la=h2636,sg=h645,ha=h438,pr=h97,vi=h240,mgf=h549,mr=h381,mn=h839,aan=h360,kz=h1457,ulq=h1133,uqa=h265,uqw=h990,umr=h652,ums=h546,umj=h489,uqq=h210,bdw=550,amr=392,asb=593,auh=947,dhq=338,mht=549,msb=147,tla=68,amj=481,ens=1,mis=1311 |archive-date=June 22, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |access-date=June 21, 2016 }}

{{Main|History of tobacco}}

{{See also|History of commercial tobacco in the United States}}

File:William Michael Harnett (American, 1848-1892). Still Life with Three Castles Tobacco, 1880.jpg (American, 1848–1892), Still Life with Three Castles Tobacco, 1880, Brooklyn Museum]]

According to Iroquois mythology, tobacco first grew out of Earth Woman's head after she died giving birth to her twin sons, Sapling and Flint.{{Cite web|last=Day|first=Ashley|date=November 20, 2023|title=3 Sisters to Invite to Thanksgiving|url=https://www.foodandwine.com/the-three-sisters-8404587|publisher=Food & Wine}}

File:Chute tobacco.JPG, 1595]]

File:Rajput (Jodhpur) (8411728143).jpg man smoking tobacco through a hookah, Rajasthan, India]]

Tobacco has long been used in the Americas, with some cultivation sites in Mexico dating back to 1400–1000 BC.Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History and Culture: An Encyclopedia (Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005). Many Native American tribes traditionally grow and use tobacco.{{cite book

|last=Leonard

|first=Jonathan Norton

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|title=Recipes, Latin American cooking

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}} Historically, people from the Northeast Woodlands cultures have carried tobacco in pouches as a readily accepted trade item. It was smoked both socially and ceremonially, such as to seal a peace treaty or trade agreement.e.g. Heckewelder, History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations who Once Inhabited Pennsylvania, p. 149 ff."They smoke with excessive eagerness ... men, women, girls and boys, all find their keenest pleasure in this way." – Dièreville describing the Mi'kmaq, circa 1699 in Port Royal. In some Native cultures, tobacco is seen as a gift from the Creator, with the ceremonial tobacco smoke carrying one's thoughts and prayers to the Creator.{{Ci

te book |last=Gottsegen |first=Jack Jacob |title=Tobacco: A Study of Its Consumption in the United States |date=1940 |publisher=Pitman |page=107 |oclc=14728283}}

Some Native Americans consider tobacco to be a medicine and advocate for its respectful usage, rather than a commercial one.{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|204813987}} |last1=Cohen |first1=Ken |title=Native American medicine |journal=Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine |volume=4 |issue=6 |date=November 1998 |pages=45–57 |pmid=9810067 }}

File:A Smoking Club.jpeg's Tobacco, its History and Association, 1859]]

File:KITLV - 26868 - Kleingrothe, C.J. - Medan - Tobacco plant and tobacco leaf, Deli - circa 1905.tif in Sumatra, 1905]]

Following the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, tobacco became increasingly popular as a trade item. Francisco Hernández de Toledo, Spanish chronicler of the Indies, was the first European to bring tobacco seeds to the Old World in 1559 following orders of King Philip II of Spain. These seeds were planted in the outskirts of Toledo, more specifically in an area known as "Los Cigarrales" named after the continuous plagues of cicadas (cigarras in Spanish). Before the development of the lighter Virginia and white burley strains of tobacco, the smoke was too harsh to be inhaled. Small quantities were smoked at a time, using a pipe like the midwakh or kiseru, or newly invented waterpipes such as the bong or the hookah (see thuốc lào for a modern continuance of this practice). Tobacco became so popular that the English colony of Jamestown used it as currency and began exporting it as a cash crop; tobacco is often credited as being the export that saved Virginia from ruin.{{Cite book|title=The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism|last=Appleby|first=Joyce|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2010|pages=131}} While a lucrative product, the growing expansion of tobacco demand was intimately tied to the history of slavery in the Caribbean.{{Cite web |title=Tobacco and slavery : a neverending history |url=https://www.medicusmundi.ch/de/advocacy/publikationen/mms-bulletin/fighting-tobacco-in-lmic/kapitel-3/tobacco-and-slavery-a-neverending-history |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=www.medicusmundi.ch |language=de}}

The alleged benefits of tobacco also contributed to its success. The astronomer Thomas Harriot, who accompanied Sir Richard Grenville on his 1585 expedition to Roanoke Island, thought that the plant "openeth all the pores and passages of the body" so that the bodies of the natives "are notably preserved in health, and know not many grievous diseases, wherewithal we in England are often times afflicted."{{Cite report |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4247/4247-h/4247-h.htm |title=A BRIEFE AND TRUE REPORT OF THE NEW FOUND LAND OF VIRGINIA |last=Hariot |first=Thomas |date=1590 |publisher=Project Gutenberg}}

Production of tobacco for smoking, chewing, and snuffing became a major industry in Europe and its colonies by 1700.Eric Burns, The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco (2006), A popular history focused on the US.Jordan Goodman, Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence (1993), A scholarly history worldwide.

Tobacco has been a major cash crop in Cuba and in other parts of the Caribbean since the 18th century. Cuban cigars are world-famous.Charlotte Cosner, The Golden Leaf: How Tobacco Shaped Cuba and the Atlantic World (Vanderbilt University Press; 2015)

In the late 19th century, cigarettes became popular. James Bonsack invented a machine to automate cigarette production. This increase in production allowed tremendous growth in the tobacco industry until the health revelations of the late 20th century.Richard Kluger, Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War (1996)Allan Brandt, The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America (2007)

{{See also|Tobacco control|Tobacco in the United States}}

Following the scientific revelations of the mid-20th century, tobacco was condemned as a health hazard, and eventually became recognized as a cause of cancer, as well as other respiratory and circulatory diseases. In the United States, this led to the adoption of the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which settled the many lawsuits by the U.S. states in exchange for a combination of yearly payments to the states and voluntary restrictions on advertising and marketing of tobacco products.{{cite journal |last1=Schroeder |first1=Steven A. |title=Tobacco Control in the Wake of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |date=15 January 2004 |volume=350 |issue=3 |pages=293–301 |doi=10.1056/NEJMsr031421 |pmid=14715919 |doi-access=free }}

In the 1970s, Brown & Williamson cross-bred a strain of tobacco to produce Y1, a strain containing an unusually high nicotine content, nearly doubling from 3.2–3.5% to 6.5%. In the 1990s, this prompted the Food and Drug Administration to allege that tobacco companies were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigarettes.{{Cite web |title=Interviews – Dr. David Kessler {{!}} Inside The Tobacco Deal {{!}} Frontline |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/settlement/interviews/kessler.html |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=www.pbs.org}}

The desire of many addicted smokers to quit has led to the development of tobacco cessation products.{{Cite journal|last=Commissioner|first=Office of the|date=September 9, 2020|title=Want to Quit Smoking? FDA-Approved Products Can Help|url=https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/want-quit-smoking-fda-approved-products-can-help|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427202103/https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/want-quit-smoking-fda-approved-products-can-help|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 27, 2019|journal=FDA|language=en}}

In 2003, in response to growth of tobacco use in developing countries, the World Health Organization{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/fctc/en/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527122132/http://www.who.int/fctc/en/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 27, 2008|title=WHO | WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)|publisher=Who.int|access-date=September 18, 2008}} successfully rallied 168 countries to sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The convention is designed to push for effective legislation and enforcement in all countries to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco.{{cite web|title=WHO {{!}} WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control|url=http://www.who.int/fctc/text_download/en/|access-date=February 17, 2021|publisher=WHO}} Between 2019 and 2021, concerns about increased COVID-19 health risks due to tobacco consumption facilitated smoking reduction and cessation.{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Haiyang |last2=Ma |first2=Jingjing |title=How the COVID-19 pandemic impacts tobacco addiction: Changes in smoking behavior and associations with well-being |journal=Addictive Behaviors |date=August 2021 |volume=119 |pages=106917 |doi=10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106917 |doi-access=free |pmid=33862579 |pmc=9186053 }}

{{More citations needed section|date=June 2017}}

{{Main|Nicotiana}}

{{See also|List of tobacco diseases}}

File:Nicotine.svg is the compound responsible for the addictive nature of tobacco use.]]

File:Native American tobacco flower.jpg) flower, leaves, and buds]]

Many species of tobacco are in the genus of herbs Nicotiana. It is part of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) indigenous to North and South America, Australia, south west Africa, and the South Pacific.{{cite journal|last1=Lewis|first1=Albert|title=Tobacco in New Guinea|journal=The American Anthropologist|date=1931|volume=33|issue=1|pages=134–139|doi=10.1525/aa.1931.33.1.02a00290|doi-access=free}}

Most nightshades contain varying amounts of nicotine, a powerful neurotoxin to insects. However, tobaccos tend to contain a much higher concentration of nicotine than the others. Unlike many other Solanaceae species, they do not contain tropane alkaloids, which are often poisonous to humans and other animals.

Despite containing enough nicotine and other compounds such as germacrene and anabasine and other piperidine alkaloids (varying between species) to deter most herbivores,{{Cite journal |last1=Panter |first1=KE |last2=Keeler |first2=RF |last3=Bunch |first3=TD |last4=Callan |first4=RJ |year=1990 |title=Congenital skeletal malformations and cleft palate induced in goats by ingestion of Lupinus, Conium and Nicotiana species |journal=Toxicon |pages=1377–1385 |volume=28 |issue=12 |pmid=2089736|doi=10.1016/0041-0101(90)90154-Y |bibcode=1990Txcn...28.1377P }} a number of such animals have evolved the ability to feed on Nicotiana species without being harmed. Nonetheless, tobacco is unpalatable to many species due to its other attributes. For example, although the cabbage looper is a generalist pest, tobacco's gummosis and trichomes can harm early larvae survival.{{cite journal |last1=Elsey |first1=K. D. |last2=Rabb |first2=R. L. |title=Biology of the Cabbage Looper on Tobacco In North Carolina1 |journal=Journal of Economic Entomology |date=1 December 1967 |volume=60 |issue=6 |pages=1636–1639 |doi=10.1093/jee/60.6.1636 }} As a result, some tobacco plants (chiefly N. glauca) have become established as invasive weeds in some places.

{{Main|Types of tobacco}}

The types of tobacco include:

• Aromatic fire-cured is cured by smoke from open fires. In the United States, it is grown in northern middle Tennessee, central Kentucky, and Virginia. Fire-cured tobacco grown in Kentucky and Tennessee is used in some chewing tobaccos, moist snuff, some cigarettes, and as a condiment in pipe tobacco blends. Another fire-cured tobacco is Latakia, which is produced from oriental varieties of N. tabacum. The leaves are cured and smoked over smoldering fires of local hardwoods and aromatic shrubs in Cyprus and Syria.
• Brightleaf tobacco is commonly known as "Virginia tobacco", often regardless of the state where it is planted. Prior to the American Civil War, most tobacco grown in the US was fire-cured dark-leaf. Sometime after the War of 1812, demand for a milder, lighter, more aromatic tobacco arose. Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland all innovated with milder varieties of the tobacco plant. Farmers discovered that brightleaf tobacco needs thin, starved soil, and those who could not grow other crops found that they could grow tobacco. Confederate soldiers traded it with each other and Union soldiers, and developed quite a taste for it. At the end of the war, the soldiers went home and a national market had developed for the local crop.
• Broadleaf, a dark tobacco varietal family popular for producing enormous, resilient, and thick wrapper leaves.{{cn|date=July 2024}}
• Burley tobacco is an air-cured tobacco used predominantly in cigarette production, but also in pipe tobacco as a balance to Virginias and other leaves high in sugar content. In the U.S., burley tobacco plants are started from pelletized seeds placed in polystyrene trays floated on a bed of fertilized water in March or April.
• Cavendish is more a process of curing and a method of cutting tobacco than a type, but is used to thicken flavors from other tobaccos that might lack a body. The processing and the cut are used to bring out the natural sweet taste in the tobacco. Cavendish can be produced from any tobacco type but is usually one of, or a blend of, Kentucky, Virginia and burley and is most commonly used for pipe tobacco.
• Criollo tobacco is primarily used in the making of cigars. It was by most accounts one of the original Cuban tobaccos that emerged around the time of Columbus.
• Dokha is a tobacco originally grown in Iran, mixed with leaves, bark and herbs for smoking in a midwakh.
• Perique was developed in 1824 through the technique of pressure-fermentation of local tobacco by a farmer, Pierre Chenet. Considered the truffle of pipe tobaccos, it is used as a component in many blended pipe tobaccos but is too strong to be smoked pure. At one time the freshly moist Perique was also chewed, but it is no longer sold for this purpose. It is typically blended with pure Virginia to lend spice, strength and coolness to the blend.
• Shade tobacco is cultivated in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Early Connecticut colonists acquired from the Native Americans the habit of smoking tobacco in pipes, and began cultivating the plant commercially, though the Puritans referred to it as the "evil weed". The Connecticut shade industry has weathered some major catastrophes, including a devastating hailstorm in 1929 and an epidemic of brown spot fungus in 2000, and is in danger of disappearing altogether, given the increase in the value of land.
• Turkish tobacco is a sun-cured, highly aromatic, small-leafed variety (Nicotiana tabacum) grown in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Originally grown in regions historically part of the Ottoman Empire, it is also known as ‘oriental’. Many of the early brands of cigarettes were made mostly or entirely of Turkish tobacco. Its main use evolved to be included in blends of pipe and especially cigarette tobacco. (A typical American cigarette is a blend of bright Virginia, burley and Turkish.)
• White burley air-cured leaf was found to be milder than other types of tobacco. In 1865 George Webb of Brown County, Ohio, planted red burley seeds he had purchased and found a few of the seedlings had a whitish, sickly look, which became white burley.
• Wild tobacco is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico and parts of South America. Its botanical name is Nicotiana rustica.

{{Main|List of tobacco diseases}}

File:The tobacco beetle (Page 3) BHL41830187.jpg infested by Lasioderma serricorne (tobacco beetles), from Runner, G. A., The tobacco beetle (1919), Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Biodiversity Heritage Library]]

Tobacco, alongside its related products, can be infested by parasites such as the Lasioderma serricorne (tobacco beetle) and the Ephestia elutella (tobacco moth), which are the most widespread and damaging parasites to the tobacco industry.{{cite book |editor-last=Ryan |editor-first=L. |year=1995 |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzUAI2vK3XMC&pg=PA1 |title=Post-harvest Tobacco Infestation Control |location=Norwell, Massachusetts and Dordrecht, Netherlands |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |pages=1–4 |doi=10.1007/978-94-017-2723-5_1 |isbn=978-94-017-2723-5 }} Infestation can range from the tobacco cultivated in the fields to the leaves used for manufacturing cigars, cigarillos, cigarettes, etc. Both the larvae of Lasioderma serricorne and caterpillars of Ephestia elutella are considered pests.

{{More citations needed|date=May 2008}}

{{Main|Cultivation of tobacco}}

File:Patch of Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum ) in a field in Intercourse, Pennsylvania..jpg, Pennsylvania]]

Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seeds were at first quickly scattered onto the soil. However, young plants came under increasing attack from flea beetles (Epitrix cucumeris or E. pubescens), which caused destruction of half the tobacco crops in United States in 1876. By 1890, successful experiments were conducted that placed the plant in a frame covered by thin cotton fabric. Modern tobacco seeds are sown in cold frames or hotbeds, as their germination is activated by light.{{cite journal |last1=Garner |first1=W. W. |title=Tobacco Culture |journal=Farmers' Bulletin |date=February 27, 1914 |issue=571 |pages=3–4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MX4JEAVPi4C&pg=RA21-PA1 |access-date=March 22, 2020 |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture}} In the United States, tobacco is often fertilized with the mineral apatite, which partially starves the plant of nitrogen, to produce a more desired flavor.

After the plants are about {{convert| 8| inch|cm}} tall, they are transplanted into the fields. Farmers used to have to wait for rainy weather to plant.{{Cite web |last1=Yorktown |first1=Mailing Address: P. O. Box 210 |last2=Us |first2=VA 23690 Phone: 757 898-2410 Contact |title=Tobacco: Colonial Cultivation Methods - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/tobacco-colonial-cultivation-methods.htm |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}} A hole is created in the tilled earth with a tobacco peg, either a curved wooden tool or deer antler. After making two holes to the right and left, the planter would move forward two feet, select plants from his/her bag, and repeat. Various mechanical tobacco planters like Bemis, New Idea Setter, and New Holland Transplanter were invented in the late 19th and 20th centuries to automate the process: making the hole, watering it, guiding the plant in—all in one motion.{{cite book|last1=van Willigen|first1=John|last2=Eastwood|first2=Susan|title=Tobacco Culture: Farming Kentucky's Burley Belt|date=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-4808-3|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JIkfBgAAQBAJ|access-date=February 2, 2018}}

Tobacco is cultivated annually, and can be harvested in several ways. In the oldest method, still used, the entire plant is harvested at once by cutting off the stalk at the ground with a tobacco knife; it is then speared onto sticks, four to six plants a stick, and hung in a curing barn. In the 19th century, bright tobacco began to be harvested by pulling individual leaves off the stalk as they ripened. The leaves ripen from the ground upwards, so a field of tobacco harvested in this manner entails the serial harvest of a number of "primings", beginning with the volado leaves near the ground, working to the seco leaves in the middle of the plant, and finishing with the potent ligero leaves at the top. Before harvesting, the crop must be topped when the pink flowers develop. Topping always refers to the removal of the tobacco flower before the leaves are systematically harvested. As the industrial revolution took hold, the harvesting wagons which were used to transport leaves were equipped with man-powered stringers, an apparatus that used twine to attach leaves to a pole. In modern times, large fields are harvested mechanically, although topping the flower and in some cases the plucking of immature leaves is still done by hand.

In the U.S., North Carolina and Kentucky are the leaders in tobacco production, followed by Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.{{Cite web|url=https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/|title=USDA/NASS QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool|website=quickstats.nass.usda.gov|date=2019|access-date=July 1, 2020}}

{{Main|Curing of tobacco}}

File:Tobacco barn.JPG used for air curing of shade tobacco]]

File:Tobacco drying iran.jpg, Iran]]

Curing and subsequent aging allow for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoids in tobacco leaf. This produces certain compounds in the tobacco leaves and gives a sweet hay, tea, rose oil, or fruity aromatic flavor that contributes to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Starch is converted to sugar, which glycates protein, which is oxidized into advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), a caramelization process that also adds flavor. Inhalation of these AGEs in tobacco smoke contributes to atherosclerosis and cancer.{{cite journal|vauthors=Cerami C, Founds H, Nicholl I, Mitsuhashi T, Giordano D, Vanpatten S, Lee A, Al-Abed Y, Vlassara H, Bucala R, Cerami A |title=Tobacco smoke is a source of toxic reactive glycation products|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=94|issue=25|year=1997|pages=13915–20|doi=10.1073/pnas.94.25.13915|pmid=9391127|pmc=28407|bibcode=1997PNAS...9413915C|doi-access=free}} Levels of AGEs are dependent on the curing method used.

Tobacco can be cured through several methods, including:

• Air-cured tobacco is hung in well-ventilated barns and allowed to dry over a period of four to eight weeks. Air-cured tobacco is low in sugar, which gives the tobacco smoke a light, mild flavor, and high in nicotine. Cigar and burley tobaccos are 'dark' air-cured."tobacco curing." The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide. Abington: Helicon, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. September 26, 2012.
• Fire-cured tobacco is hung in large barns where fires of hardwoods are kept on continuous or intermittent low smoulder, and takes between three days and ten weeks, depending on the process and the tobacco. Fire curing produces a tobacco low in sugar and high in nicotine. Pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff are fire-cured.
• Flue-cured tobacco was originally strung onto tobacco sticks, which were hung from tier poles in curing barns (Aus: kilns, also traditionally called 'oasts'). These barns have flues run from externally fed fire boxes, heat-curing the tobacco without exposing it to smoke, slowly raising the temperature over the course of the curing. The process generally takes about a week. This method produces cigarette tobacco that is high in sugar and has medium to high levels of nicotine. Most cigarettes incorporate flue-cured tobacco, which produces a milder, more inhalable smoke. It is estimated that 1 tree is cut to flue-cure every 300 cigarettes, resulting in serious environmental consequences.
• Sun-cured tobacco dries uncovered in the sun. This method is used in Turkey, Greece, and other Mediterranean countries to produce oriental tobacco. Sun-cured tobacco is low in sugar and nicotine and is used in cigarettes.

Some tobaccos go through a second stage of curing, known as fermenting or sweating.{{cn|date=July 2024}} Cavendish undergoes fermentation pressed in a casing solution containing sugar and/or flavoring.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

File:Tobacco production, OWID.svg

File:Preparando o tabaco em Balibó.jpg in the 1930s]]

Production of tobacco leaf increased by 40% between 1971, when 4.2 million tons of leaf were produced, and 1997, when 5.9 million tons of leaf were produced.Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Projection of tobacco production, consumption and trade for the year 2010. (Rome, 2003). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, tobacco leaf production was expected to hit 7.1 million tons by 2010. This number is a bit lower than the record-high production of 1992, when 7.5 million tons of leaf were produced.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Higher World Tobacco use expected by 2010-growth rates slowing down. (Rome, 2004). The production growth was almost entirely due to increased productivity by developing nations, where production increased by 128%.{{cite book |editor1=Prabhat Jha |editor2=Frank J. Chaloupka |author1=Rowena Jacobs |display-authors=etal |title=Tobacco Control in Developing Countries |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTO8AAAAIAAJ&q=supply-side |year=2000 |chapter=The Supply-Side Effects Of Tobacco Control Policies |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-263250-0 |pages=311ff}} During that same time, production in developed countries actually decreased. China's increase in tobacco production was the single biggest factor in the increase in world production. China's share of the world market increased from 17% in 1971 to 47% in 1997. This growth can be partially explained by the existence of a low import tariff on foreign tobacco entering China. While this tariff was reduced from 66% in 1999 to 10% in 2004,{{cite journal |last1 = Hu |first1 = T-W |last2 = Mao |first2 = Z |display-authors=etal |year=2006 |title = China at the Crossroads: The Economics of Tobacco and Health |journal = Tobacco Control |volume = 15 |issue = Suppl 1 |pages = i37–i41 |doi=10.1136/tc.2005.014621 |pmc = 2563551 |pmid=16723674}} it has still led to local Chinese cigarettes being preferred over foreign cigarettes because of their lower cost.

Every year, about 5.9 million tons of tobacco are produced throughout the world. The top producers of tobacco are China (36.3%), India (12.9%), Brazil (11.9%) and Zimbabwe (3.5%).

Around the peak of global tobacco production, 20 million rural Chinese households were producing tobacco on 2.1 million hectares of land. While it is the major crop for millions of Chinese farmers, growing tobacco is not as profitable as cotton or sugarcane, because the Chinese government sets the market price. While this price is guaranteed, it is lower than the natural market price, because of the lack of market risk. To further control tobacco in their borders, China founded a State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) in 1982. The STMA controls tobacco production, marketing, imports, and exports, and contributes 12% to the nation's national income.{{cite web |url=http://www.gov.cn/english/2005-10/03/content_74295.htm |title=People's Republic of China. "State Tobacco Monopoly Administration |publisher=Gov.cn |date=September 15, 2005 |access-date=October 3, 2013 |archive-date=August 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810034314/http://www.gov.cn/english/2005-10/03/content_74295.htm |url-status=dead }} As noted above, despite the income generated for the state by profits from state-owned tobacco companies and the taxes paid by companies and retailers, China's government has acted to reduce tobacco use.{{Cite web |date=February 6, 2010 |title=Talking Points, February 3–17, 2010 |url=https://china.usc.edu/talking-points-february-3-17-2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407203139/https://china.usc.edu/talking-points-february-3-17-2010 |archive-date=April 7, 2015 |publisher=USC U.S.-China Institute}}

India's Tobacco Board is headquartered in Guntur in the state of Andhra Pradesh.{{cite web|url=http://tobaccoboard.com/ |title=Tobacco Board, Guntur |publisher=Tobaccoboard.com |access-date=April 21, 2014}} India has 96,865 registered tobacco farmersShoba, John and Shailesh Vaite. Tobacco and Poverty: Observations from India and Bangladesh. Canada, 2002. and many more who are not registered. In 2010, 3,120 tobacco product manufacturing facilities were operating in all of India.{{cite web|url=http://india.anythingresearch.com/Tobacco-Product-Manufacturing.html|title=Tobacco Manufacturing in India}} Around 0.25% of India's cultivated land is used for tobacco production.

Since 1947, the Indian government has supported growth in the tobacco industry. India has seven tobacco research centers, located in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Mysore, and West Bengal which houses the core research institute.

In Brazil, around 135,000 family farmers cite tobacco production as their main economic activity. Tobacco has never exceeded 0.7% of the country's total cultivated area.{{cite book|last1=International Tobacco Growers' Association|title=Tobacco farming: sustainable alternatives? Volume 2|date=n.d.|publisher=ITGA|location=East Sussex|isbn=978-1-872854-02-1|url=http://www.tobaccoleaf.org/UserFiles/file/Why_Grow_Tobacco/tobacco_farming.pdf|access-date=July 5, 2016|archive-date=April 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429032528/http://tobaccoleaf.org/UserFiles/file/Why_Grow_Tobacco/tobacco_farming.pdf|url-status=dead}} In the southern regions of Brazil, Virginia, and Amarelinho, flue-cured tobacco, as well as burley and Galpão Comum air-cured tobacco, are produced. These types of tobacco are used for cigarettes. In the northeast, darker, air- and sun-cured tobacco is grown. These types of tobacco are used for cigars, twists, and dark cigarettes. Brazil's government has made attempts to reduce the production of tobacco but has not had a successful systematic antitobacco farming initiative. Brazil's government, however, provides small loans for family farms, including those that grow tobacco, through the Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar.{{cite web |title=Report from South America (Brazil) |url=http://legalempowerment.undp.org/pdf/SouthAmerica_report.pdf |publisher=Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609101410/http://legalempowerment.undp.org/pdf/SouthAmerica_report.pdf |archive-date=June 9, 2007 |date=2006 |url-status=dead}}

Although only being the 35th biggest tobacco producer in 2023, the crop plays an important role in parts of Lebanon.{{Cite web |title=Top 50 tobacco growing countries |url=https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-no-tobacco-day/2023/top-50-tobacco-growing-countries |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=www.who.int |language=en}} The cultivation of tobacco in Lebanon dates back to the 17th century and today the crop is grown by all religious sects. In the southern parts of the country, the plant's resilience in difficult conditions - including the climate, the mountainous geography, and recurring wars - makes it an important source of income.{{Cite book |last=Khayyat |first=Munira |title=A Landscape of War |date=2022 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=92–125}} The role of tobacco in the region is twofold. On the one hand, it is called the "crop of resistance" as it allows the population to navigate the consequences of a decades-long violent conflict and a certain degree of detachment, making it a symbol of hope, resistance, and resilience. On the other hand, the hard conditions of tobacco farming also made it the "bitter crop," as the farming is often times done by women and children without professional equipment. According to Munira Khayyat, tobacco production in the southern parts of Lebanon, like many other sectors where the state is absent (e.g. health care, employment, education), is overseen by Hezbollah and, though to a minor degree, also by AMAL.

File:Tobacco field cuba1.jpg, Cuba]]

{{main|Child labor}}

The International Labour Office reported that the most child-laborers work in agriculture, which is one of the most hazardous types of work.{{Cite book |last1=Wurth |first1=Margaret |last2=Buchanan |first2=Jane |date=May 13, 2014 |editor-last=Becker |editor-first=Jo |editor2-last=Ross |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=Olugboji |editor3-first=Babatunde |others=Joe Amon, Zama Coursen-Neff, Arvind Ganesan, Grace Meng |title=Tobacco's Hidden Children Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/05/13/tobaccos-hidden-children/hazardous-child-labor-united-states-tobacco-farming |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806091253/https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/05/13/tobaccos-hidden-children/hazardous-child-labor-united-states-tobacco-farming |archive-date=August 6, 2015 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |isbn=978-1-62313-134-0 |oclc=881428758}} The tobacco industry houses some of these working children. Use of children is widespread on farms in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.{{Cite report |url=https://www.unicef.org/media/84761/file/SOWC-1997.pdf |title=The State of the World's Children 1997 |last=UNICEF |date=1997 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-262871-8 |oclc=36286998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609190750/https://www.unicef.org/media/84761/file/SOWC-1997.pdf |archive-date=June 9, 2021}}{{Cite report |url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/78394/ChildLaborSweatandToil2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title=By the Sweat and Toil of Children. Volume 2. The Use of Child Labor in U.S. Agricultural Imports & Forced and Bonded Child Labor : A Report to the Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Congress |last1=Jaffe |first1=Maureen E. |last2=Mills |first2=Monica |date=1995 |publisher=International Child Labor Study Group, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor |location=Washington, D.C. |last3=Rosen |first3=Sonia A. |last4=Shepard |first4=Robert B. |last5=Slavet |first5=Beth |last6=Samet |first6=Andrew J. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006221232/https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/78394/ChildLaborSweatandToil2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |archive-date=October 6, 2022}}{{Cite report |url=http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1997/97B09_232_engl.pdf |title=Bitter Harvest, Child Labour in Agriculture |date=1997 |publisher=International Labour Organization |location=Geneva |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006222138/http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1997/97B09_232_engl.pdf |archive-date=October 6, 2022}}{{Cite conference |last1=Bosch |first1=Dawie |last2=Gordon |first2=Adele |date=August 27–30, 1996 |title=Child Labour in Commercial Agriculture in Africa (Working paper number 3) |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36763053 |publisher=International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, International Labour Organization |conference=Subregional technical workshop on child labour in commercial agriculture for selected English-speaking African countries |location=Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |isbn=978-92-2-110485-8 |oclc=36763053}} While some of these children work with their families on small, family-owned farms, others work on large plantations.

In late 2009, reports were released by the London-based human-rights group Plan International, claiming that child labor was common on Malawi (producer of 1.8% of the world's tobacco) tobacco farms. The organization interviewed 44 teens, who worked full-time on farms during the 2007–08 growing season. The child-laborers complained of low pay and long hours, as well as physical and sexual abuse by their supervisors.{{Cite web |last=Clacherty |first=Glynis |date=2009 |title=Hard work, long hours and little pay: Research with children working on tobacco farms in Malawi |url=https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/3809.pdf/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006212811/https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/3809.pdf/ |archive-date=October 6, 2022 |publisher=Plan International, Clacherty & Associates Education and Social Development (Pty) Ltd}} They also reported experiencing green tobacco sickness, a form of nicotine poisoning. When wet leaves are handled, nicotine from the leaves gets absorbed in the skin and causes nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Children were exposed to levels of nicotine equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes, just through direct contact with tobacco leaves. The effects of nicotine on human brain development in children can permanently alter brain structure and function.{{cite journal |last1=England |first1=Lucinda J. |last2=Bunnell |first2=Rebecca E. |last3=Pechacek |first3=Terry F. |last4=Tong |first4=Van T. |last5=McAfee |first5=Tim A. |title=Nicotine and the Developing Human |journal=American Journal of Preventive Medicine |date=August 2015 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=286–293 |doi=10.1016/j.amepre.2015.01.015 |pmc=4594223 |pmid=25794473 }}

File:MRO Cuba Harvest 01.jpg, Cuba]]

Major tobacco companies have encouraged global tobacco production. Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco each own or lease tobacco-manufacturing facilities in at least 50 countries and buy crude tobacco leaf from at least 12 more countries."International Cigarette Manufacturers," Tobacco Reporter, March 2001 This encouragement, along with government subsidies, has led to a glut in the tobacco market. This surplus has resulted in lower prices, which are devastating to small-scale tobacco farmers. According to the World Bank, between 1985 and 2000, the inflation-adjusted price of tobacco dropped 37%.{{cite web |title=Golden Leaf, Barren Harvest: The Costs of Tobacco Farming |url=http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_330.pdf |author=The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids |date=November 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406112907/http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_330.pdf |archive-date=April 6, 2013}} Tobacco is the most widely smuggled legal product.{{cite news |title=Tobacco Underground |url=http://www.icij.org/project/tobacco-underground |access-date=November 26, 2012 |newspaper=The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists}}

Tobacco production requires the use of large amounts of pesticides. Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field.{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Peter|title=Smoke Ring: The Politics of Tobacco|publisher=Panos Briefing Paper|location=London|date=September 1994}} Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to produce larger crops in less time because of the decreasing market value of tobacco. Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides, as well as fertilizers, end up in the soil, waterways, and the food chain.{{cite book|title=FAO Yearbook, Production, Volume 48|year=1995}} Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat. Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk, as well as harm their nervous and immune systems.{{Cite book |last=National Research Council (US) Committee on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236276/ |title=Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children |date=1993 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-04875-0 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=341 |chapter=Chapter 8 Estimating the Risks |doi=10.17226/2126 |pmid=25144038 |oclc=42329648}}

As with all crops, tobacco crops extract nutrients (such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium) from soil, decreasing its fertility.{{cite web|title=Tobacco Free Initiative: Environmental issues|url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/research/economics/rationale/environment/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041219191401/http://www.who.int/tobacco/research/economics/rationale/environment/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 19, 2004|author=World Health Organization}}

Furthermore, the wood used to cure tobacco in some places leads to deforestation. While some big tobacco producers such as China and the United States have access to petroleum, coal, and natural gas, which can be used as alternatives to wood, most developing countries still rely on wood in the curing process. Brazil alone uses the wood of 60 million trees per year for curing, packaging, and rolling cigarettes.

In 2017 WHO released a study on the environmental effects of tobacco.{{Cite book |last=World Health Organization |url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/environmental-impact-overview/en/ |title=Tobacco and its Environmental Impact: An Overview |date=2017 |publisher=World Health Organization |isbn=978-92-4-151249-7 |oclc=988541317 |author-link=World Health Organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531164632/http://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/environmental-impact-overview/en/ |archive-date=May 31, 2017 |url-status=dead}}

Several tobacco plants have been used as model organisms in genetics. Tobacco BY-2 cells, derived from N. tabacum cultivar 'Bright Yellow-2', are among the most important research tools in plant cytology.{{cite journal | author = Ganapathi TR |display-authors=etal | year = 2004 | title = Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) – A model system for tissue culture interventions and genetic engineering | url = http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/7722/1/IJBT%203(2)%20171-184.pdf | journal = Indian Journal of Biotechnology | volume = 3 | pages = 171–184 }} Tobacco has played a pioneering role in callus culture research and the elucidation of the mechanism by which kinetin works, laying the groundwork for modern agricultural biotechnology. The first genetically modified plant was produced in 1982, using Agrobacterium tumefaciens to create an antibiotic-resistant tobacco plant.{{cite journal | author = Fraley RT |display-authors=etal | year = 1983 | title = Expression of bacterial genes in plant cells | journal = Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. | volume = 80 | issue = 15| pages = 4803–4807 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.80.15.4803 |pmid=6308651 | bibcode=1983PNAS...80.4803F| pmc = 384133 |doi-access=free }} This research laid the groundwork for all genetically modified crops.{{cite web |url=http://www.cottoncrc.org.au/communities/Cotton_Info/The_Science_behind_Transgenic_cotton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321224120/http://www.cottoncrc.org.au/communities/Cotton_Info/The_Science_behind_Transgenic_cotton |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 21, 2012 |title=Science of Transgenic Cotton |publisher=Cottoncrc.org.au |access-date=October 3, 2013 }}

Because of its importance as a research tool, transgenic tobacco was the first genetically modified (GM) crop to be tested in field trials, in the United States and France in 1986; China became the first country in the world to approve commercial planting of a GM crop in 1993, which was tobacco.{{cite web|last=James|first=Clive|title=Global Review of the Field Testing and Commercialization of Transgenic Plants: 1986 to 1995|url=http://www.isaaa.org/kc/Publications/pdfs/isaaabriefs/Briefs%201.pdf|publisher=The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications|access-date=July 17, 2010|year=1996}}

Many varieties of transgenic tobacco have been intensively tested in field trials. Agronomic traits such as resistance to pathogens (viruses, particularly to the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV); fungi; bacteria and nematodes); weed management via herbicide tolerance; resistance against insect pests; resistance to drought and cold; and production of useful products such as pharmaceuticals; and use of GM plants for bioremediation, have all been tested in over 400 field trials using tobacco.{{cite web |url=http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/plants/304.tobacco.html |title=Tobacco |publisher=GMO Compass |access-date=October 3, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002090217/http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/plants/304.tobacco.html |archive-date=October 2, 2013}}

Currently, only the US is producing GM tobacco. The Chinese virus-resistant tobacco was withdrawn from the market in China in 1997.{{cite journal |vauthors=Conner AJ, Glare TR, Nap JP |date=January 2003 |title=The release of genetically modified crops into the environment. Part II. Overview of ecological risk assessment |journal=Plant J. |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=19–46 |pmid=12943539 |doi=10.1046/j.0960-7412.2002.001607.x |doi-access=free}}{{rp|3}} From 2002 to 2010, cigarettes made with GM tobacco with reduced nicotine content were available in the US under the market name Quest.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/ritarubin/2017/08/14/if-you-took-the-nicotine-out-of-cigarettes-would-fewer-people-want-to-smoke/|title=If You Took The Nicotine Out Of Cigarettes, Would Fewer People Want To Smoke?|last=Rubin|first=Rita|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=May 3, 2019}}

{{Further|Tobacco products}}

{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}

Tobacco is consumed in many forms and through a number of different methods. Some examples are:

• Tobacco smoke enemas were employed by the indigenous peoples of North America to stimulate respiration, injecting the smoke with a rectal tube.{{Citation |last1 = Hurt |first1 = Raymond |last2 = Barry |first2 = J. E. |last3 = Adams |first3 = A. P. |last4 = Fleming |first4 = P. R. |title = The History of Cardiothoracic Surgery from Early Times |publisher = Informa Health Care |page=120 |year = 1996 |isbn = 978-1-85070-681-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShLvi_kRQtQC}}{{Citation |doi = 10.2307/2843888 |last = Nordenskiold |first = Erland |title = The American Indian as an Inventor |jstor = 2843888 |journal = Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |volume = 59 |page=277 |year = 1929}}{{Harvnb|Hurt|Barry|Adams|Fleming|1996|p=120}}{{Harvnb|Nordenskiold|1929|p=277}} Later, in the 18th century, Europeans emulated the Americans.{{cite web |url=https://www.bcmj.org/special-feature/special-feature-tobacco-smoke-enemas |title=Special feature: Tobacco smoke enemas |author=Sterling Haynes, MD |date=December 2012 |work=British Columbia Medical Journal |publisher=Doctors of BC |access-date=March 29, 2019 }} Tobacco resuscitation kits consisting of a pair of bellows and a tube were provided by the Royal Humane Society of London and placed at various points along the Thames.{{cite web |url = http://www.rpharms.com/museum-pdfs/21-enemas.pdf |title = Information Sheet:21 Enemas |website = Information Sheets |publisher = Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, London |access-date=July 26, 2014}}

• Snuff is a ground smokeless tobacco product, inhaled or ‘snuffed’ through the nose. If referring specifically to the orally consumed moist snuff, see dipping tobacco.

• Beedi (also known as bidis or biris) are thin, often flavoured cigarettes from India made of tobacco wrapped in a tendu leaf, and secured with coloured thread at one end.{{Cite web|last=Tobacco Free Kids|date=2008|title=Bidis: An Overview|url=https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/global/pdfs/en/IW_facts_products_bidis_overview.pdf|access-date=October 27, 2021|website=Tobacco Free Kids}}
• Cigarettes are a product consumed through inhalation of smoke and manufactured from cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, often combined with other additives, then rolled into a paper cylinder.
• Cigars are tightly rolled bundles of dried and fermented tobacco, which are ignited so their smoke may be drawn into the smokers' mouths.
• Dokha is a middle eastern tobacco with high nicotine levels grown in parts of Oman and Hatta, which is smoked through a thin pipe called a medwakh. It is a form of tobacco which is dried up and ground and contains little to no additives excluding spices, fruits, or flowers to enhance smell and flavor.
• Heat-not-burn products heat rather than burn tobacco to generate an aerosol that contains nicotine.
• Hookah is a single- or multistemmed (often glass-based) water pipe for smoking. Hookahs were first used in India and Persia;American Lung Association. February 2007 [http://www.lungusa2.org/embargo/slati/Trendalert_Waterpipes.pdf An Emerging Deadly Trend: Waterpipe Tobacco Use] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102171735/http://www.lungusa2.org/embargo/slati/Trendalert_Waterpipes.pdf |date=January 2, 2014 }} the hookah has gained immense popularity, especially in the Middle East. A hookah operates by water filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits or moassel, a mixture of tobacco, flavouring, and honey or glycerin.
• Roll-your-own, often called 'rollies' or 'roll-ups', are relatively popular in some European countries. These are prepared from loose tobacco, cigarette papers, and filters all bought separately. They are usually cheaper to make.
• Tobacco pipes typically consist of a small chamber (the bowl) for the combustion of the tobacco to be smoked and a thin stem (shank) that ends in a mouthpiece (the bit). Shredded pieces of tobacco are placed in the chamber and ignited.

Tobacco used in the mouth (buccal (sublabial), sublingual):

• Chewing tobacco is the oldest way of consuming tobacco leaves. It is consumed orally, in two forms: through sweetened strands ("chew" or "chaw"), or in a shredded form ("dip"). When consuming the long, sweetened strands, the tobacco is lightly chewed and compacted into a ball. When consuming the shredded tobacco, small amounts are placed inside the bottom lip, between the gum and the teeth, where it is gently compacted, thus it is often called dipping tobacco. Both methods stimulate the salivary glands, which led to the development of the spittoon.
• Creamy snuff is tobacco paste, consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor, and sold in a toothpaste tube. It is marketed mainly to women in India and is known by the brand names Ipco (made by Asha Industries), Denobac, Tona, and Ganesh. It is locally known as mishri in some parts of Maharashtra.
• Dipping tobaccos are a form of smokeless tobacco. Dip is occasionally referred to as "chew", and because of this it is commonly confused with chewing tobacco, which encompasses a wider range of products. A small clump of dip is 'pinched' out of the tin and placed between the lower or upper lip and gums. Some brands, as with snus, are portioned in small, porous pouches for less mess.
• Gutka is a preparation of crushed betel nut, tobacco, and sweet or savory flavorings. It is manufactured in India and exported to a few other countries. A mild stimulant, it is sold across India in small, individual-sized packets.
• Kreteks are cigarettes made with a complex blend of tobacco, cloves, and a flavoring "sauce". They were first introduced in the 1880s in Kudus, Java, to deliver the medicinal eugenol of cloves to the lungs.
• Pituri, a nicotine-containing substance traditionally made from Australian tobacco plants, used by Indigenous Australians for chewing and placed between the lower or upper lip and gums.
• Snus is a steam-pasteurized moist powdered tobacco product that is not fermented and induces minimal salivation. It is consumed by placing it (loose or in little pouches) against the upper gums for an extended period of time. It is somewhat similar to dipping tobacco but does not require spitting and is significantly lower in TSNAs.
• Tobacco chewing gum A gum containing nicotine or tobacco designed to be chewed.
• Tobacco edibles, often in the form of an infusion or a spice, have gained popularity in recent years.
• Tobacco water is a traditional organic insecticide used in domestic gardening. Tobacco dust can be used similarly. It is produced by boiling strong tobacco in water, or by steeping the tobacco in water for a longer period. When cooled, the mixture can be applied as a spray, or painted onto the leaves of garden plants, where it kills insects. Tobacco is, however, banned from use as a pesticide in certified organic production by the USDA's National Organic Program.{{cite web |url=http://www.omri.org/simple-gml-search/results?page=18 |title=Generic Materials Search | Organic Materials Review Institute |publisher=Omri.org |access-date=October 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723072126/http://www.omri.org/simple-gml-search/results?page=18 |archive-date=July 23, 2015}}

• Topical tobacco paste is sometimes used as a treatment for wasp, hornet, fire ant, scorpion, and bee stings.{{cite web |url=http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/c782-w.html |first=Beverly |last=Sparks |title=Stinging and Biting Pests of People |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214061028/http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/c782-w.html |archive-date=February 14, 2007}} Extension Entomologist of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension Service. An amount equivalent to the contents of a cigarette is mashed in a cup with about a half a teaspoon of water to make a paste that is then applied to the affected area.

Smoking in public was, for a long time, reserved for men, and smoking by women was sometimes associated with promiscuity; in Japan, during the Edo period, prostitutes and their clients often approached one another under the guise of offering a smoke. The same was true in 19th-century Europe.{{sfn|Gilman|Zhou|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mM5bYb_uVcwC&pg=PA92 92–99]}}

Following the American Civil War, the use of tobacco, primarily in cigars, became associated with masculinity and power. Modern tobacco use has often been stigmatized; this has spawned quitting associations and antismoking campaigns.{{cite journal |last1=Durkin |first1=Sarah |last2=Brennan |first2=Emily |last3=Wakefield |first3=Melanie |author-link3=Melanie Wakefield |year=2012 |title=Mass media campaigns to promote smoking cessation among adults: an integrative review |url=http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/21/2/127.full.pdf |journal=Tobacco Control |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=127–138 |doi=10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050345 |pmid=22345235 |s2cid=3053297|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |author=Mullin Sandra |year=2011 |title=Global anti-smoking campaigns urgently needed |journal=The Lancet |volume=378 |issue=9795 |pages=970–971 |doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(11)61058-1 |pmid=21741699 |s2cid=7532790}} Bhutan is the only country in the world where tobacco sales are illegal.{{cite news |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/01/the-first-nonsmoking-nation.html |title=The First Nonsmoking Nation |work=Slate.com |first=Eric |last=Weiner |date=January 20, 2005 |access-date=October 23, 2019}} Due to its propensity for causing detumescence and erectile dysfunction, some studies have described tobacco as an anaphrodisiacal substance.{{cite journal |pmid=28723353 |year=2015 |last1=Verze |first1=P. |title=The Link Between Cigarette Smoking and Erectile Dysfunction: A Systematic Review |journal=European Urology Focus |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=39–46 |last2=Margreiter |first2=M. |last3=Esposito |first3=K. |last4=Montorsi |first4=P. |last5=Mulhall |first5=J. |doi=10.1016/j.euf.2015.01.003}}

{{Further|Religious views on smoking}}

In Christian denominations of the conservative holiness movement, such as the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and Evangelical Wesleyan Church, the use of tobacco and other drugs is prohibited;{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference)|year=2014|publisher=Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection|location=Salem|language=en}}{{rp|37}} ¶42 of the 2014 Book of Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection states:{{page needed|date=March 2021}}

{{quotation|In the judgment of The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference), the use of tobacco is a great evil, unbecoming a Christian, a waste of the Lord's money, and a defilement of the body, which should be the temple of the Holy Ghost. We do, therefore, most earnestly require our members to refrain from its cultivation, manufacture, and sale, and to abstain from its use in all forms, for Jesus' sake. We will not receive as members into our churches nor will we ordain or license to preach or to exhort, persons who use, cultivate, manufacture, or sell tobacco. Using tobacco by a member of a church or of the Conference after being received from this date (June 28, 1927) is a violation of the law of the church, and the offending party should be dealt with according to the judiciary rules.{{rp|44}}}}

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (popularly known as Mormons) adhere to the Word of Wisdom, a religious health code that is interpreted as prohibiting the consumption of tobacco as well as alcohol, coffee, and tea.{{cite news |last=Stack |first=Peggy Fletcher |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=August 31, 2012 |title=It's Official: Coke and Pepsi are OK for Mormons |newspaper=Washington Post |agency=(Religion News Service) |url=https://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-31/national/35492011_1_drink-caffeine-lds-leaders-mormons |url-status=dead |access-date=September 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327204542/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-31/national/35492011_1_drink-caffeine-lds-leaders-mormons |archive-date=March 27, 2013}}.

{{Main|Islamic views on tobacco}}

Most Islamic scholars have condemned tobacco due to its harmful effects on health. The earliest fatwa (religious opinion) against tobacco use dates from 1602. Most major Islamic sects prohibit its use. While tobacco is not mentioned in the Quran, the Quran does instruct Muslims to live healthy lives.

{{Further|Prohibitions in Sikhism}}

Sikhism, a Dharmic religion from India, considers tobacco consumption as a taboo and very bad for health and spirituality. Initiated Sikhs are never to consume tobacco in any form.{{Cite web|last=Dhillon|first=Bikramjit Singh|date=n.d.|title=Sikhs and Smoking|url=https://www.sikhs.org/art9.htm}}

{{Main|Prevalence of tobacco consumption}}

Research on tobacco use is limited mainly to smoking, which has been studied more extensively than any other form of consumption. An estimated 1.1 billion people, and up to one-third of the adult population, use tobacco in some form.{{sfn|Gilman|Zhou|2004|p=26}} Smoking is more prevalent among men"Guindon & Boisclair" 2004, pp. 13–16. (however, the gender gap declines with age),{{sfn|Samet & Yoon|2001|p=5-6}}{{sfn|Surgeon General's Report Women and Smoking|2001|p=47}} the poor, and in transitional or developing countries.{{cite web|url=http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/exeres/978BE0FD-AE30-46C6-8F75-1F40AE7B57BC.htm|title=WHO/WPRO-Tobacco|access-date=January 1, 2009|year=2005|publisher=World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211215317/http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/exeres/978BE0FD-AE30-46C6-8F75-1F40AE7B57BC.htm|archive-date=February 11, 2009}} A study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that in 2019 approximately one in four youths (23.0%) in the U.S. had used a tobacco product during the past 30 days. This represented approximately three in 10 high school students (31.2%) and approximately one in eight middle school students (12.5%).{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Teresa W. |last2=Gentzke |first2=Andrea S. |last3=Creamer |first3=MeLisa R. |last4=Cullen |first4=Karen A. |last5=Holder-Hayes |first5=Enver |last6=Sawdey |first6=Michael D. |last7=Anic |first7=Gabriella M. |last8=Portnoy |first8=David B. |last9=Hu |first9=Sean |last10=Homa |first10=David M. |last11=Jamal |first11=Ahmed |last12=Neff |first12=Linda J. |title=Tobacco Product Use and Associated Factors Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2019 |journal=MMWR. Surveillance Summaries |date=6 November 2019 |volume=68 |issue=12 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.15585/mmwr.ss6812a1 |pmid=31805035 |pmc=6903396 |doi-access=free }}

Rates of smoking continue to rise in developing countries, but have leveled off or declined in developed countries.{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/ |title=Who Fact Sheet: Tobacco |publisher=Who.int |date=July 26, 2013 |access-date=October 3, 2013}} Smoking rates in the United States have dropped by half from 1965 to 2006, falling from 42% to 20.8% in adults.{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5644a2.htm#fig |title=Cigarette Smoking Among Adults – United States, 2006 |publisher=Cdc.gov |access-date=October 3, 2013}} In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year.{{cite web|url=http://www.wpro.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs_20020528/en/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826030927/http://www.wpro.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs_20020528/en/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 26, 2013 |title=WHO/WPRO-Smoking Statistics |publisher=Wpro.who.int |date=May 27, 2002 |access-date=April 21, 2014}}

{{Main|Health effects of tobacco|List of cigarette smoke carcinogens|Tobacco packaging warning messages|List of additives in cigarettes}}

File:HarmCausedByDrugsTable.svg study ranking various drugs (legal and illegal) based on statements by drug-harm experts. Tobacco was found to be the sixth overall most dangerous drug.{{cite journal | vauthors = Nutt DJ, King LA, Phillips LD | title = Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis | journal = Lancet | volume = 376 | issue = 9752 | pages = 1558–1565 | date = November 2010 | pmid = 21036393 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6 | s2cid = 5667719 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.690.1283 }}]]

File:Deaths from tobacco, alcohol and drugs, OWID.svg

File:Adverse effects of tobacco smoking.svg

Tobacco smoking harms health because of the toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke, including carbon monoxide, cyanide, and carcinogens, which have been proven to cause heart and lung diseases and cancer.

Thousands of different substances in cigarette smoke, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (such as benzopyrene), formaldehyde, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, and phenols contribute to the harmful effects of smoking.{{cite journal|author=Proctor Robert N|year=2012|title=The history of the discovery of the cigarette-lung cancer link: evidentiary traditions, corporate denial, global toll|url=http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/21/2/87.full.pdf|journal=Tobacco Control|volume=21|issue=2|pages=87–91|doi=10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050338|pmid=22345227|s2cid=2734836|doi-access=free}}

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death globally. WHO estimates that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004{{Cite book |last1=Mathers |first1=Colin |author-link=Colin Mathers |last2=Boerma |first2=Ties |last3=Fat |first3=Doris Ma |date=2008 |title=The Global Burden of Disease : 2004 Update |url=https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43942 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207114854/https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/43942/9789241563710_eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |archive-date=February 7, 2022 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |publisher=World Health Organization |hdl=10665/43942 |isbn=978-92-4-156371-0 |oclc=264018380}} and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century. Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide."{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/you_can_quit/nicotine.htm |title=Nicotine: A Powerful Addiction |work=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226225821/http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/you_can_quit/nicotine.htm |archive-date=February 26, 2009}} Due to these health consequences, it is estimated that a 10 hectare (approximately 24.7 acre) field of tobacco used for cigarettes causes 30 deaths per year – 10 from lung cancer and 20 from cigarette-induced diseases like cardiac arrest, gangrene, bladder cancer, mouth cancer, etc.{{cite journal |last1=Proctor |first1=Robert N |title=The history of the discovery of the cigarette–lung cancer link: evidentiary traditions, corporate denial, global toll: Table 1 |journal=Tobacco Control |date=March 2012 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=87–91 |doi=10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050338 |pmid=22345227 |doi-access=free }}

The harms caused by inhaling tobacco smoke include diseases of the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema), and cancer (particularly cancers of the lungs, larynx, mouth, and pancreas). Cancer is caused by inhaling carcinogenic substances in tobacco smoke.

Inhaling secondhand tobacco smoke (which has been exhaled by a smoker) can cause lung cancer in nonsmoking adults. In the United States, about 3,000 adults die each year due to lung cancer from secondhand smoke exposure. Heart disease caused by secondhand smoke kills around 46,000 nonsmokers every year.{{Cite web |title=Secondhand Smoke |url=http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov/health-effects/secondhand-smoke/index.html |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140920231625/http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov/health-effects/secondhand-smoke/index.html |archive-date=September 20, 2014 |website=BeTobaccoFree |publisher=Health and Human Services}}

In children, exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke is associated with a higher incidence and severity of respiratory illnesses, middle ear disease, and asthma attacks. Each year in the United States, secondhand smoke exposure causes 24,500 infants to be born with low birthweight, 71,900 preterm births, 202,300 episodes of asthma, and 790,000 health care visits for ear infections.{{Cite report |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8hk6960q |title=Proposed Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant |last=Air Resources Board |date=June 24, 2005 |publisher=California Environmental Protection Agency |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127163329/https://escholarship.org/content/qt8hk6960q/qt8hk6960q.pdf?t=krnni4 |archive-date=November 27, 2021}}

The addictive alkaloid nicotine is a stimulant, and popularly known as the most characteristic constituent of tobacco. In drug effect preference questionnaires, a rough indicator of addictive potential, nicotine scores almost as highly as opioids.{{Cite book |url=http://ww1.drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs/92.pdf |title=Testing for Abuse Liability of Drugs in Humans |publisher=National Institute on Drug Abuse, Health and Human Services |year=1989 |editor-last=Fischman |editor-first=Marian W. |editor-link=Marian Fischman |location=Rockville, MD |page=79 |id=NIDA Research Monograph No. 92 |editor-last2=Mello |editor-first2=Nancy K. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222041641/http://ww1.drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs/92.pdf |archive-date=December 22, 2016 |url-status=dead}} Users typically develop tolerance and dependence.{{cite web |url=http://www.tobaccofacts.org/tob_truth/soaddictive.html |title=Tobacco Facts – Why is Tobacco So Addictive? |publisher=Tobaccofacts.org |access-date=September 18, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314185950/http://www.tobaccofacts.org/tob_truth/soaddictive.html |archive-date=March 14, 2007}}{{cite web |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/SICD/PhilipMorris/pmorris.html |title=Philip Morris Information Sheet |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=September 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080405204802/http://www.stanford.edu/group/SICD/PhilipMorris/pmorris.html |archive-date=April 5, 2008}} Nicotine is known to produce conditioned place preference, a sign of psychological enforcement value.{{cite journal |last1=Le Foll |first1=Bernard |last2=Goldberg |first2=Steven R. |title=Nicotine induces conditioned place preferences over a large range of doses in rats |journal=Psychopharmacology |date=April 2005 |volume=178 |issue=4 |pages=481–492 |doi=10.1007/s00213-004-2021-5 |pmid=15765262 |s2cid=34966899 }} In one medical study, tobacco's overall harm to user and self was determined at three percent below cocaine, and 13 percent above amphetamines, ranking sixth most harmful of the 20 drugs assessed.{{cite journal |last1=Nutt |first1=David J |last2=King |first2=Leslie A |last3=Phillips |first3=Lawrence D |title=Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis |journal=The Lancet |date=November 2010 |volume=376 |issue=9752 |pages=1558–1565 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6 |citeseerx=10.1.1.690.1283 |pmid=21036393 |s2cid=5667719 }}

Tobacco also contains 2,3,6-Trimethyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (sometimes called 2,3,6-TQ and TMN) which is a reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitor of type A and B with a binding affinity somewhat similar to that of clorgyline and deprenyl. It is a stronger dopamine releasing agent than nicotine and inhibits dopamine metabolism from its MAOI activity.{{cite thesis | url=https://repository.nwu.ac.za/handle/10394/590 | title=Smoking and brain dopaminergic neurochemistry | date=March 25, 2024 | publisher=North-West University | type=Thesis | vauthors = McAfee G }}{{cite web | url=https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/1_4-Naphthalenedione_-2_3_6-trimethyl | title=1,4-Naphthalenedione, 2,3,6-trimethyl- }} Tobacco also contains Harmine and Norharmine which is a reversible MAO-A inhibitor.{{cite journal | pmc=6592107 | date=2019 | title=Effect of Harmine on Nicotine-Induced Kidney Dysfunction in Male Mice | journal=International Journal of Preventive Medicine | volume=10 | page=97 | doi=10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_85_18 | doi-access=free | pmid=31360344 | vauthors = Salahshoor MR, Roshankhah S, Motavalian V, Jalili C }}{{cite journal | url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28057462/ | pmid=28057462 | date=2017 | title=Monoamine oxidase inhibitory activity in tobacco particulate matter: Are harman and norharman the only physiologically relevant inhibitors? | journal=Neurotoxicology | volume=59 | pages=22–26 | doi=10.1016/j.neuro.2016.12.010 | vauthors = Truman P, Grounds P, Brennan KA | bibcode=2017NeuTx..59...22T }}{{cite journal | doi=10.3389/fnmol.2022.925272 | doi-access=free | title=Harmane Potentiates Nicotine Reinforcement Through MAO-A Inhibition at the Dose Related to Cigarette Smoking | date=2022 | journal=Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience | volume=15 | pmid=35832393 | pmc=9271706 | vauthors = Ding Z, Li X, Chen H, Hou H, Hu Q }}{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4253715 | jstor=4253715 | title=Nicotiana an Hallucinogen? | journal=Economic Botany | date=March 25, 1976 | volume=30 | issue=2 | pages=149–151 | doi=10.1007/BF02862960 | vauthors = Janiger O, De Rios MD | bibcode=1976EcBot..30..149J | url-access=subscription }} The MAO-A activity of tobacco alkaloids have been thought to play a role in the addictive qualities of tobacco.{{cite journal | url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1107244 | doi=10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.82 | title=Monoamine Oxidase a Binding in the Prefrontal and Anterior Cingulate Cortices During Acute Withdrawal from Heavy Cigarette Smoking | date=2011 | journal=Archives of General Psychiatry | volume=68 | issue=8 | pages=817–826 | pmid=21810646 | vauthors = Bacher I, Houle S, Xu X, Zawertailo L, Soliman A, Wilson AA, Selby P, George TP, Sacher J, Miler L, Kish SJ, Rusjan P, Meyer JH | url-access=subscription }}

Polonium-210 is a radioactive trace contaminant of tobacco, providing additional explanation for the link between smoking and bronchial cancer.{{cite journal|jstor=1712451|title=Polonium-210: A Volatile Radioelement in Cigarettes|journal=Science|volume=143|issue=3603|pages=247–249|last1=Radford|first1=Edward P.|last2=Hunt|first2=Vilma R.|year=1964|doi=10.1126/science.143.3603.247|pmid=14078362|bibcode=1964Sci...143..247R|s2cid=23455633}}

The radioactive particles build up over time in the lungs and a UCLA study has estimated that the radiation from 25 years of smoking would cause over 120 deaths per thousand smokers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.uclahealth.org/news/big-tobacco-knew-radioactive-particles-in-cigarettes|title=Big Tobacco knew radioactive particles in cigarettes posed cancer risk but kept quiet|website=www.uclahealth.org}}

Tobacco makes a significant economic contribution. The global tobacco market in 2010 was estimated at US$760 billion, excluding China.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bat.com/group/sites/UK__9D9KCY.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO9DCKFM|title=British American Tobacco – The global market|website=www.bat.com|language=en|access-date=March 15, 2018|archive-date=March 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310114510/http://www.bat.com/group/sites/UK__9D9KCY.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO9DCKFM|url-status=dead}} The global revenues from tobacco taxes in 2013–2014 was approximately $269 billion.

In China, cigarette manufacturing is one of the few profitable state-owned industries. For example, in 1998 the 1 429 state-owned enterprises in Yunnan province had revenue of Renminbi (RMB) 69.1 billion (US$8.3 billion) while 8 cigarette manufacturing plants alone accounted for about 53 percent (or RMB 36.2 billion) of total provincial industry sales.{{Cite book |date=2003 |title=Issues in the global tobacco economy : selected case studies. |url=https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/1391c97a-6e5f-59dc-b664-d14e5e401674/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307151442/https://www.fao.org/3/y4997e/y4997e.pdf |archive-date=March 7, 2022 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |publisher=United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization |pages=2, 39, 43 |isbn=925105083X |oclc=55056109 |id=Series number 1810-0783}} The Chinese government also collects tax on tobacco products. Tax revenues from cigarettes increased from 740 to 842 billion Chinese yuan between 2014 and 2016. This generated an additional 101 billion Chinese yuan in tax revenues for the government.{{cite journal |last1=Goodchild |first1=Mark |last2=Zheng |first2=Rong |title=Early assessment of China's 2015 tobacco tax increase |journal=Bulletin of the World Health Organization |date=1 July 2018 |volume=96 |issue=7 |pages=506–512 |doi=10.2471/BLT.17.205989 |pmc=6022610 |pmid=29962553 }}

In India, tobacco generates approximately 20 billion Indian rupees (US$0.45 billion) of income per annum as a result of employment, income and government revenue.{{Cite web|title=TOBACCO IN INDIA: 4.10 ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF TOBACCO|url=https://www.fao.org/3/y4997e/y4997e0h.htm|access-date=October 27, 2021|website=Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).}}

Statistica estimates that in the U.S. alone, the tobacco industry has a market of US$121 billion,{{cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/491709/tobacco-united-states-market-value/|title=Tobacco: U.S. market value 2012–2017 {{!}} Statistic|website=Statista|language=en|access-date=March 15, 2018}} despite the fact the CDC reports that US smoking rates are declining steadily.{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/trends/cig_smoking/index.htm|title=CDC – Trends in Current Cigarette Smoking – Smoking & Tobacco Use|last=Health|first=CDC's Office on Smoking and|website=Smoking and Tobacco Use|language=en-us|access-date=March 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307151249/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/trends/cig_smoking/index.htm|archive-date=March 7, 2018|url-status=dead}} In terms of health expenditures, cigarette smoking contributed to more than $225 billion (or 11.7%) of annual healthcare spending in the U.S. in 2014.{{cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Xin |last2=Shrestha |first2=Sundar S. |last3=Trivers |first3=Katrina F. |last4=Neff |first4=Linda |last5=Armour |first5=Brian S. |last6=King |first6=Brian A. |title=U.S. healthcare spending attributable to cigarette smoking in 2014 |journal=Preventive Medicine |date=September 2021 |volume=150 |pages=106529 |doi=10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106529 |pmid=33771566 |pmc=10953804 }} Smoking-attributable healthcare spending increased more than 30% for Medicaid between 2010 and 2014.

In the US, the decline in the number of smokers, the end of the Tobacco Transition Payment Program in 2014, and competition from growers in other countries, made tobacco farming economics more challenging.{{cite news|last1=Bomey|first1=Nathan|title=Thousands of farmers stopped growing tobacco after deregulation payouts|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/09/02/thousands-farmers-stopped-growing-tobacco-after-deregulation-payouts/32115163/|work=USA Today|date=September 2, 2015|language=en}}

Of the 1.22 billion smokers worldwide, 1 billion of them live in developing or transitional economies, and much of the disease burden and premature mortality attributable to tobacco use disproportionately affect the poor. While smoking prevalence has declined in many developed countries, it remains high in others, and is increasing among women and in developing countries. Between one-fifth and two-thirds of men in most populations smoke. Women's smoking rates vary more widely but rarely equal male rates.{{cite web|title=Tobacco: Active and Passive Smoking|url=http://www.greenfacts.org/en/tobacco/2-tobacco-smoking/1-smoke-tobacco.htm|website=Greenfacts.org|access-date=July 5, 2016}}

Tobacco users must also spend a significant amount of money on cigarettes to maintain regular use, as tobacco products are often heavily taxed by governments. For example, a pack a day smoker in the state of New York would have to spend around $4,690.25 a year on cigarettes alone.{{Cite web |title=Cost of Smoking |url=https://tobaccofreelife.org/why-quit-smoking/cost-smoking/ |access-date=July 6, 2022 |website=Tobacco-Free Life |language=en-US}}

In Indonesia, the lowest income group spends 15% of its total expenditures on tobacco. In Egypt, more than 10% of low-income household expenditure is on tobacco. The poorest 20% of households in Mexico spend 11% of their income on tobacco.

{{Main|Nicotine marketing}}

The tobacco industry advertises its products through a variety of media, including sponsorship, particularly of sporting events. Because of the health risks of these products, this is now one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing. Some or all forms of tobacco advertising are banned in many countries.{{Cite web |last=Products |first=Center for Tobacco |date=January 28, 2022 |title=Advertising and Promotion |url=https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/products-guidance-regulations/advertising-and-promotion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611174819/https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/products-guidance-regulations/advertising-and-promotion |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 11, 2019 |access-date=July 6, 2022 |website=FDA |language=en}}

{{See|Smoking age}}

• Biorefining of tobacco
• List of tobacco-related topics
• Research about cure of asthma and Bronchodilatation
• Smoking cessation

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web |title=Cancer Facts & Figures 2015 |url=http://www.cancer.org/research/cancerfactsstatistics/cancerfactsfigures2015/index |website=American Cancer Society |access-date=February 23, 2015 |ref=ACS2015 |archive-date=January 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117014219/http://www.cancer.org/research/cancerfactsstatistics/cancerfactsfigures2015/index |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www1.worldbank.org/tobacco/pdf/Guindon-Past,%20current-%20whole.pdf|title=Past, current and future trends in tobacco use|access-date=January 2, 2008|author1=G. Emmanuel Guindon |author2=David Boisclair |year=2003 |publisher=The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank|location=Washington DC|ref=HNPGuindonBoisclair}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Gilman |first1=Sander L. |author-link=Sander Gilman |last2=Zhou |first2=Xun |url=https://archive.org/details/smokeglobalhisto0000unse/mode/2up |title=Smoke : A Global History of Smoking |date=2004 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-86189-200-3 |location=London |oclc=56967899 }}
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• {{cite journal |title=Environmental causes of human cancers|author1=Montesano, R. |author2=Hall, J. |year=2001 |journal=European Journal of Cancer |volume=37 |pages=67–87 |doi=10.1016/S0959-8049(01)00266-0 |pmid=11602374 |ref=Montesano2001}}
• {{cite web |last1=Office of the Surgeon General |url=https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2001/|title=Surgeon General's Report — Women and Smoking |access-date=October 6, 2022 |year=2001 |publisher=Department of Health and Human Services |ref={{SfnRef|Surgeon General's Report Women and Smoking|2001}}|author1-link=Surgeon General of the United States }}
• {{cite journal |author1=Paul Lichtenstein |author2=Niels V. Holm |author3=Pia K. Verkasalo |author4=Anastasia Iliadou |author5=Jaakko Kaprio |author6=Markku Koskenvuo |author7=Eero Pukkala |author8=Axel Skytthe |author9=Kari Hemminki |title=Environmental and Heritable Factors in the Causation of Cancer — Analyses of Cohorts of Twins from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=343 |issue=2 |year=2000 |doi=10.1056/NEJM200007133430201 |pmid=10891514 |pages=78–85 |ref=Lichtenstein2000|doi-access=free }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/~tobacco/SMK_All_PAGES.pdf |title=Mortality from Smoking in Developed Countries 1950–2000: indirect estimates from national vital statistics |access-date=January 3, 2009 |author1=Richard Peto |author2=Alan D Lopez |author3=Jillian Boreham |author4=Michael Thun |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050224232603/http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/~tobacco/SMK_All_PAGES.pdf |archive-date=February 24, 2005|url-status=dead|ref=MortalityDevelopedOxford}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/WomenMonograph.pdf|title=Women and the Tobacco Epidemic: Challenges for the 21st Century|access-date=January 2, 2009 |editor-last1=Samet |editor-first1=Jonathan M. |editor-link1=Jonathan Samet |editor-last2=Yoon |editor-first2=Soon-Young |year=2001 |publisher=World Health Organization, The Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031128122821/http://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/WomenMonograph.pdf|archive-date=November 28, 2003|url-status=dead |ref={{SfnRef|Samet & Yoon|2001}}}}
• {{Cite book |date=2008 |title=WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008 : The MPOWER Package. |url=https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/43818/9789241596282_eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121162003/https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/43818/9789241596282_eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |archive-date=January 21, 2022 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |publisher=World Health Organization |pages=6, 8, 20 |isbn=978-92-4-068311-2 |oclc=476167599}}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3KhGwAACAAJ |title=Perique Tobacco Mystery and History: A Monograph |last1=Aristée Poché |first1=L. |year=2002}}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7nNkB8R4GkC&pg=PP1 |title=Golden-Silk Smoke: A History of Tobacco in China, 1550–2010 |isbn=978-0-520-94856-3 |last1=Benedict |first1=Carol |year= 2011|publisher=University of California Press }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ro45DgAAQBAJ |title=The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America|isbn = 978-0-7867-2190-0 |last1=Brandt |first1=Allan |year= 2009|publisher=Basic Books }}
• {{cite book |isbn=0-691-00596-6 |title=Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution |last1=Breen |first1=T. H. |year=1985|publisher=Princeton University Press }}. Source on tobacco culture in 18th-century Virginia pp. 46–55
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZfqS7vi9vEC |title=The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco |isbn=978-1-59213-482-3 |last1=Burns |first1=Eric |year= 2006|publisher=Temple University Press }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=392vBQAAQBAJ |title=The Golden Leaf: How Tobacco Shaped Cuba and the Atlantic World |isbn=978-0-8265-2034-0 |last1=Cosner |first1=Charlotte |date=February 10, 2015|publisher=Vanderbilt University Press }}
• {{cite news |last=Fuller |first=R. Reese |date=Spring 2003 |title=Perique, the Native Crop |work=Louisiana Life |url=http://www.reesefuller.com/articles/perique-the-native-crop/}}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x41jVocj05EC |title = Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization |isbn=978-0-8021-9848-8 |last1=Gately |first1=Iain |date=December 2007|publisher = Open Road + Grove/Atlantic }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DP-HAgAAQBAJ |title=Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence|isbn = 978-1-134-81840-2 |last1=Goodman |first1=Jordan |year= 2005|publisher=Routledge }}
• {{cite book |isbn=0-394-51238-3 |title=From a Limestone Ledge: Some Essays and Other Ruminations about Country Life in Texas |url=https://archive.org/details/fromlimestoneled00grav |url-access=registration |last1=Graves |first1=John |year=1980|publisher=Knopf }}
• {{cite journal |jstor=10.1086/ahr.111.5.1352 |doi=10.1086/ahr.111.5.1352 |pmid=17907367 |title=Smoking and "Early Modern" Sociability: The Great Tobacco Debate in the Ottoman Middle East (Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries) |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=111 |issue=5 |pages=1352–1377 |year=2006 |last1=Grehan |first1=James }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39KcvbVgHmEC |title = Making Tobacco Bright: Creating an American Commodity, 1617–1937|isbn = 978-1-4214-0286-4|last1 = Hahn|first1 = Barbara M.|year=2011| publisher=JHU Press }}; examines how marketing, technology, and demand figured in the rise of Bright Flue-Cured Tobacco, a variety first grown in the inland Piedmont region of the Virginia-North Carolina border.
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FsjAQAAMAAJ |title=Principles of Flue-Cured Tobacco Production |last1=Hawks |first1=S. N. |last2=Collins |first2=W. K. |year=1983}}
• {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/tobaccoleafitsc00myrigoog |title = Tobacco Leaf, Its Culture and Cure, Marketing and Manufacture: A Practical Handbook on the Most Approved Methods in Growing, Harvesting, Curing, Packing and Selling Tobacco, Also of Tobacco Manufacture|publisher=Orange Judd Company |last1 = Killebrew|first1 = Joseph Buckner|last2 = Myrick|first2 = Herbert|year = 1897}} Source for flea beetle typology (p. 243)
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_i1AAAACAAJ |author-link=Richard Kluger |title=Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris |isbn=978-0-517-45110-6 |last1=Kluger |first1=Richard |year= 1999 |publisher=Random House Value }}, Pulitzer Prize
• {{cite book |isbn=978-0-7546-5931-0 |title=Studies on Ottoman Society and Culture, 16th–18th Centuries |last1=Murphey |first1=Rhoads |date= 2007|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Company }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E7JDJzogCHMC&pg=PP1 |title=Balkan Smoke: Tobacco and the Making of Modern Bulgaria |isbn=978-0-8014-6550-5 |last1=Neuburger |first1=Mary C. |year= 2012 |publisher=Cornell University Press }}
• {{cite journal |jstor=1922038 |title=The Rise of Glasgow in the Chesapeake Tobacco Trade, 1707–1775 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=179–199 |last1=Price |first1=Jacob M. |year=1954 |doi=10.2307/1922038}}
• {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalstatis01scho |title=Historical and statistical information respecting the history, condition and prospects of the Indian tribes of the United States: Collected and prepared under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs per act of Congress of March 3rd, 1847|publisher=Historical American Indian Press |last1=Schoolcraft |first1=Henry Rowe |year=1851}}
• {{cite book |isbn=1-84511-137-0 |title=Smoking, Culture and Economy in the Middle East |last1=Shechter |first1=Relli |year= 2006 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}
• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtwkuAAACAAJ |title=The Bright Tobacco Industry, 1860–1929 |isbn=978-0-8078-7953-5 |last1=Tilley |first1=Nannie M. |year=2012|publisher=University of North Carolina Press }}

• Werner, Carl Avery. Tobaccoland: A book about tobacco; its history, legends, literature, cultivation, social and hygienic influences, commercial development, industrial processes and governmental regulation. (1922) [https://archive.org/details/tobaccolandbooka00wernuoft/page/n10/mode/1up online]

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• [https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco WHO fact sheet on tobacco]

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