History of Smoking

History of Smoking

Smoking has a long history in America. But what and who started the trend of smoking and why has it developed to take over million of peoples lives today?
    The use of tobacco in smoking has been used and practice for many centuries. The tobacco plant that is used for cigarettes has been grown in America since the 17th century. Tobacco was the first crop grown for money in North America. In 1612 the settlers of the first American colony grew tobacco as a cash crop. This cash crop was the settlers main source of income. As the years went on more and more people began using small amounts of tobacco. Some chewed, others would roll it and smoke it either in a cigarette or cigar. During the 1800's the average person would smoke 40 cigarettes a year. In 1865 a man of the name of Washington Duke began to roll cigarettes for no profit at all. They were said to be the first commercial cigarettes. His cigarettes were sold to many soldiers during the civil war.

     Cigarette smoking did not become widespread until a man of the name James Bonsack invented the cigarette machine in 1881. His machine could make up to 120,000 cigarettes every day of production. A couple years later he join Washington Duke's son and built a factory for making cigarettes. They produced 10 million cigarettes in the first year of business, and 5 years later increased it to 1 billion. They named their business The American Tobacco Company. It was the largest and most powerful cigarette company until the early 1900's. In 1902 Philip Moris Company came out with it's Marlboro brand. They took the lead after 1 year of introducing the brand. In the late 19th century cigarettes were beginning to be sold in packs and were being marketed all over the United States. They were packaged in into containers of 10 cigarettes which was marked with the name of the company of manufacturer and a logo or design. These pack of 10 cigarettes were sold for five cents. This is a huge change from what cigarettes cost today in 2016.
     Cigarettes are still evolving today as we speak. It seems like every month their is new form of smoking which is said to be better for your health. The major cigarette industry's are still in production today and have developed into giant industries. Smoking has a long history and as it keeps evolving into something better, its making the health of our citizens a even bigger problem.

References:

 History of Tobacco. (n.d.). Retrieved March 06, 2016, from http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/tobacco/Unit1/2history_of.html