6,000 BC
Native Americans first start cultivating the tobacco plant.
Circa 1 BC
Indigenous American tribes start smoking tobacco in religious ceremonies and for medicinal purposes.
1492
Christopher Columbus first encounters dried tobacco leaves. They were given to him as a gift by the American Indians.
1492
Tobacco plant and smoking introduced to Europeans.
1531
Europeans start cultivation of the tobacco plant in Central America.
1558
First attempt at tobacco cultivation in Europe fail.
1571
European doctors start publishing works on healthy properties of the tobacco plant, claiming it can cure a myriad of diseases, from toothache to lockjaw and cancer.
1600
Tobacco used as cash-crop – a monetary standard that lasts twice as long as the gold standard.
1602
King James I condemns tobacco in his treatise A Counterblast to Tobacco.
1614
Tobacco shops open across Britain, selling the Virginia blend tobacco
1624
Popes ban use of tobacco in holy places, considering sneezing (snuff) too close to sexual pleasures.
1633
Turkey introduces a death penalty for smoking but it doesn’t stay in effect for long and is lifted in 1647.
1650
Tobacco arrives in Africa – European settlers grow it and use it as a currency.
1700
African slaves are first forced to work on tobacco plantations, years before they become a workforce in the cotton fields.
1730
First American tobacco companies open their doors in Virginia.
1753
Tobacco genus named by a Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus – nicotiana rustica and nicotiana tabacum named for the first time.
1753
Tobacco genus named by a Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus – nicotiana rustica and nicotiana tabacum named for the first time.
1791
British doctors find that snuff leads to increased risk of nose cancer.
1794
First American tobacco tax.
1826
Nicotine isolated for the first time.
1847
Philip Morris opens their first shop in Great Britain, selling hand-rolled Turkish cigarettes.
1961
First American cigarette factory produces 20 million cigarettes.
1880
Bonsack develops the first cigarette-rolling machine.
1890
American Tobacco Company opens its doors.
1990
4 billion cigarettes are sold this year and manufacture is on the rise.
1902
Philip Morris starts selling cigarettes in the US – one of the brands offered is Marlboro.
1912
First reported connection between smoking and lung cancer
1918
An entire generation of young men returns from war addicted to cigarettes
1924
Over 70 billion of cigarettes are sold in the US.
1925
Philip Morris starts marketing to women, tripling the number of female smokers in just 10 years.
1947
Lorillard chemist admits that there is enough evidence that smoking can cause cancer.
1950
50% of a cigarette now consists of the cigarette filter tip
1967
Surgeon General definitively links smoking to lung cancer and presents evidence that it is causing heart problems.
1970
Tobacco manufacturers legally obliged to print a warning on the labels that smoking is a health hazard.
1970 – 1990
Tobacco companies faced with a series of lawsuits. Courts limit their advertising and marketing.
1992
Nicotine patch is introduced – in the following years more cessation products will start being developed.
1996
Researchers find conclusive evidence that tobacco damages a cancer-suppressor gene.
1997
Liggett Tobacco Company issues a statement acknowledging that tobacco causes cancer and carries a considerable health risk.
1997
Tobacco companies slammed with major lawsuits – ordered to spend billions of dollar on anti-smoking campaigns over the next 25 years predominantly focused on educating the young on dangers of smoking.
1997
For the first time in history a tobacco company CEO admits on trial that cigarettes and related tobacco products cause cancer. His name was Bennett Lebow.
1990 – 2000
Bans on public smoking come into effect in most states in America, as well as in other countries in the world.
