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Tobacco

Tobacco
Tobacco plants
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Solanales Family: Solanaceae Genus: Nicotiana
Species
N. acuminata N. alata N. attenuata N. clevelandii N. excelsior N. forgetiana N. glauca N. glutinosa N. langsdorffii N. longiflora N. obtusifolia N. paniculata N. plumbagifolia N. quadrivalvis N. repanda N. rustica N. × sanderae; N. suaveolens N. sylvestris N. tabacum N. tomentosa Ref: ITIS 30562 as of 2002-08-28

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is a broad-leafed plant of the nightshade family, indigenous to North and South America, whose dried and cured leaves are often smoked (see tobacco smoking) in the form of a cigar or cigarette, or in a smoking pipe, or in a water pipe or a hookah. Tobacco is also chewed, "dipped" (placed between the cheek and gum), and consumed as finely powdered snuff tobacco, which is sniffed into the nose. The word "tobacco" is an Anglicization of the Spanish word "tabaco", whose roots are unclear; it is thought to derive from a Native American word for the pipe in which tobacco was smoked.

Tobacco contains nicotine, a stimulant that can form strong physical and psychological dependence. Most researchers consider this to amount to addiction: according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "nicotine is a very addictive drug."

All of the mentioned means of consuming tobacco result in the absorption of nicotine in varying amounts into the user's bloodstream. Absorption quantity and speed seem to have a direct relationship with how strong a dependence might be created. Nicotine is a highly effective insecticide and is acutely poisonous to humans in large doses. Additional hazards of tobacco use include carcinogenic compounds in tobacco and tobacco smoke. Many jurisdictions have enacted smoking bans in an effort to mimimize possible damage to public health due to tobacco smoking.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Varieties 2.1 Fire-cured 2.2 Brightleaf Tobacco 2.3 White burley 3 Tobacco products 3.4 Snuff 3.5 Chewing tobacco 3.6 Gutka 4 Further reading 5 See also 6 External links

History

Native Americans smoked tobacco before Europeans arrived in America, and early European settlers America adopted the habit and brought it back to Europe with them, where it became hugely popular.

Since the beginnings of colonial America, long before the creation of the United States, tobacco, almost entirely on its own, fueled the colonization of New England. The notion that "America was built on tobacco" is quite accurate; and the initial colonial expansion, fueled by the desire to increase tobacco production, caused the first colonial conflicts with Native Americans, and also soon led to the use of African slaves for cheap labor.

Until 1883, tobacco excise tax accounted for one third of internal revenue collected by the United States government.

Varieties

Fire-cured

Fire-cured smoking tobacco is a robust variety of tobacco used as a condimental for pipe blends. It is cured by smoking over gentle fires. In the United States, it is grown in Missouri, Kentucky and northern Virginia. Latakia is a 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. Latakia has a pronounced flavor and a very distinctive aroma, and is used in the so-called Balkan and English-style pipe tobacco blends.

Fire-cured tobacco grown in Kentucky and Tennessee is used in some chewing tobaccos, moist snuff, some cigarettes and as a condiment leaf in pipe tobacco blends. It has a rich, slightly floral taste, and adds body and aroma to the blend.

Mowing young tobacco
in greenhouse of half million plants
Hemingway, South Carolina

Sometime after the War of 1812, demand for a milder, lighter, more aromatic tobacco arose. Ohio and Maryland both innovated quite a bit with milder varieties of the tobacco plant. Farmers around the country experimented with different curing processes. But the breakthrough didn't come until 1854.

It had been noticed for centuries that sandy, highland soil produced thinner, weaker plants. Abisha Slade, of Caswell County, North Carolina had a good deal of infertile, sandy soil, and planted the new "gold-leaf" varieties on it. When Stephen, Abisha's slave, used charcoal instead of wood to cure the crop, the first real "bright" tobacco was produced.

News spread through the area pretty quickly. The worthless sandy soil of the Appalachian piedmont was suddenly profitable, and people rapidly developed flue-curing techniques, a more efficient way of smoke-free curing. By the outbreak of the War, the town of Danville, Virginia actually had developed a bright-leaf market for the surrounding area in Caswell County, North Carolina and Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

Danville was also the main railway head for Confederate soldiers going to the front. These brought bright tobacco with them from Danville to the lines, 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 suddenly there was a national market for the local crop. Caswell and Pittsylvania counties were the only two counties in the South that experienced an increase in total wealth after the war.

Tobacco blossom: longtitudinal section
Hemingway, South Carolina,

White burley

In 1864, George Webb of Brown County, Ohio planted Red Burley seeds he had purchased, and found that a few of the seedlings had a whitish, sickly look. He transplanted them to the fields anyway, where they grew into mature plants but retained their light color. The cured leaves had an exceedingly fine texture and were exhibited as a curiosity at the market in Cincinnati. The following year he planted ten acres from seeds from those plants, which brought a premium at auction. The air-cured leaf was found to be mild tasting and more absorbant than any other variety. It thus became the main component in chewing tobacco, American blend pipe tobacco, and American-style cigarettes.

See also : Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Snuff

Some it chew,
Some it smoke,
Some it up the nose do poke!

The second, and more popular, variety of snuff is moist snuff. This is occasionally referred to as "snoose" derived from the Scandinavian word for snuff, "snus". Like the word, the origins of moist snuff are Scandinavian, and the oldest American brands indicate that by their names. Moist snuff is made from fire-cured Kentucky burley tobacco, that is ground, sweetened, and aged by the factor. Prominent North American brands are Copenhagen, Skoal, and Kodiak. American moist snuff tends to be dipped.

In the Scandinavian countries, moist snuff come either in loose powder form or powder packaged in small bags, suitable for placing inside the upper lip. In the case of the unpackaged form, the snus will be baked and pressed into a small ball or ovoid either by hand or by use of a special tool. Prepackaded snuff is therefore called "portion snuff", whereas the loose powder variant is called "baking snuff".

Chewing tobacco

Chewing is one of the oldest ways of consuming tobacco leaves. Native Americans in both North and South America chewed the leaves of the plant, frequently mixed with lime. Modern chewing tobacco is produced in three forms: twist, plug, and scrap.

Twist is the oldest form. One to three high-quality leaves are braided and twisted into a rope while green, and then are cured in the same manner as other tobacco. Until recently this was done by farmers for their personal consumption in addition to other tobacco intended for sale. Modern twist is occasionally lightly sweetened. It is still sold commercially, but rarely seen outside of Appalachia. Popular brands are Mammoth Cave, Moore's Red Leaf, and Cumberland Gap. Users cut a piece off the twist and chew it, expectorating.

Plug chewing tobacco is made by pressing together cured tobacco leaves in a sweet (often molasses-based) syrup. Originally this was done by hand, but since the second half of the 19th century leaves were pressed between large tin sheets. The resulting sheet of tobacco is cut into plugs. Like twist, consumers cut a piece off of the plug to chew. Major brands are Day's Work and Cannonball.

Scrap, or looseleaf chewing tobacco, was originally the excess of plug manufacturing. It is sweetened like plug tobacco, but sold loose in bags rather than a plug. Looseleaf is by far the most popular form of chewing tobacco. Popular brands are Red Man, Beechnut, and Mail Pouch. Looseleaf chewing tobacco can also be dipped.

Gutka

Gutka is a confection-like tobacco product manufactured and used mainly in India. It contains sweeteners and flavorings and is marketed to children. It is used by placing it between one's cheek and gums.

Further reading

• Smoking cessation
• Tobacco smoking

• Image of Nicotiana tabacum from 'Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz'
• Nicotiana tabacum at Liber Herbarum II
• Nicotiana tabacum at plants for a future