Tobacco

The English word tobacco originates from the Spanish word tabaco. 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 Y-shaped pipe used for sniffing tobacco smoke (according to Oviedo, with the leaves themselves being referred to as cohiba). Another version suggests that the term tobacco comes from the indigenous people of Tabasco, Mexico, who smoked it.

According to Haudenosaunee mythology, tobacco first grew out of Earth Woman's head after she died giving birth to her twin sons, Sapling and Flint.

Tobacco has long been used in the Americas, with some cultivation sites in Mexico dating back to 1400–1000 BCE. Many Native American tribes traditionally grow and use tobacco. 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. 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.

Some Native Americans consider tobacco to be a medicine and advocate for its respectful usage, rather than a commercial one.

Following the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, tobacco became increasingly popular as a trade item. In 1559, Francisco Hernández de Toledo, Spanish chronicler of the Indies, was the first European to bring tobacco seeds to the Old World, 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). The word cigar originally derives from the Mayan sikar ("to smoke rolled tobacco leaves"). 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. While a lucrative product, the growing expansion of tobacco demand was intimately tied to the history of slavery in the Caribbean.

The alleged benefits of tobacco also contributed to its success. …

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. Most nightshades contain varying amounts of nicotine, a powerful neurotoxin to insects. However, tobacco contains a much higher concentration of nicotine than the others.

Despite containing enough nicotine and other compounds such as germacrene and anabasine and other piperidine alkaloids (varying between species) to deter most herbivores, 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. As a result, some tobacco plants (chiefly N. glauca) have become established as invasive weeds in some places.

Tobacco, alongside its related products, can be infested by parasites such as Lasioderma serricorne (the tobacco beetle) and Ephestia elutella (the tobacco moth), which are the most widespread and damaging parasites to the tobacco industry. Infestation can range from the tobacco cultivated in the fields to the tobacco leaves used for manufacturing cigars, cigarillos, cigarettes, etc. Both the larvae of Lasioderma serricorne and caterpillars of Ephestia elutella are considered major pests.

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 the 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. 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 8 inches (20 cm) tall, they are transplanted into the fields. Farmers used to have to wait for rainy weather to plant. 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 their 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.

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 and are pulled off from the ground upwards. 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. In modern times, large fields are harvested mechanically.

In the U.S., North Carolina and Kentucky are the leaders in tobacco production, followed by Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Curing and subsequent aging allow for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoids in tobacco leaf. …

Tobacco is consumed in many forms and through a number of different methods.

Anogenital usage refers to the use of tobacco in genitals and the anus.

Buccal usage refers to the use of tobacco in the mouth.