The history of smoking tobacco.
Smoking is a habit that many people are trying to kick.
The point is, there are now more former smokers compared to current smokers in the US alone. Furthermore, fewer Americans are smoking these days compared to years ago.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 20% of adults smoked during 2010 and dropped by 25% compared to a survey done in 1997.
During the 1950s, more than 45% of people smoked and this number continued to grow to the 1970s. Another fact is that medical dangers do not make people quit. Therefore, what made them stop maybe it is the cost, ban in restaurants, the stares they get, or more.
The truth remains that many people are trying to quit, and that is what is essential. Nevertheless, whether you are a smoker or on the road to recovery, the following facts about smoking you may not have known.
The Whole Story about Smoking
1. Smoking dates back to 5000 BC
While Cannabis was common before tobacco, smoking as whole dates back to early 5000 BC in shamanistic and Americas rituals. When the Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century, the use, agriculture, and trading of tobacco spread fast.
Another truth is that cannabis was not smoked but vaporized over hot rocks to burn as incense. The direct smoking of the plant started with the Southeastern African countries during the 10th and 12th century.
The herb people ate for its medicinal properties and smoking it became widespread during the 19th century from the British trading with China. A fact is that both the smoking plants produce nicotine and tar, which is harmful to the lungs.
2. The spread of smoking throughout the world was made possible by European traders
The practice of tobacco spread across the globe once the Europeans were hooked on it. They took the smoke with them everywhere in the early 18th century.
The French and Portuguese traders took it with them to Africa while an English captain introduced it to the people in Japan. As time progressed, it reached other places and became the hallmark of different cultures.
The hookah or water pipe started with the Moguls of India. Furthermore,African cultures made it part of religious rites and weddings. Once introduced globally, it evolved into a human habit in different cultural and social lines.
3. People used smoking to make magic and cure ailments
Shamans of South America used smoking for snakebites and toothaches, and the Aztecs found it was sacred. According to the Aztecs, the goddess of childbirth’s body was made of tobacco. The shamans would rub a paste of tobacco on the pregnant woman in the tribe to protect them from witchcraft.Furthermore, they used it in brews or footbaths.
4. Smoking quickly changed from a miracle cure to common affliction
According to historians, smoking started in the 1560s in England. It began as a miracle cure and then became a pastime for the rich and famous. People used it to cure anything the problem is that once they started,they could not stop smoking. Eventually, smoking became a daily habit, and the meerschaum pipe of Sherlock Holmes became a status symbol.
5. The first ban of smoking started in the 1600s
Once smoking became part of the ordinary people, the rulers became uncomfortable with it. According to historians, it became a threat to the social order. Furthermore, they thought that tobacco made people lazy. In the 17th century, the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV banned it as a threat to people’s health and morals. Even Chinese emperors from the mid-1600s banned smoking among the people.
6. Women were not supposed to smoke
During Victorian times, it was a regular thing for men to retreat to the smoking-room after dinner. Furthermore, smoking became well known in the United States with the introduction of the cigar.
As women became liberal and started smoking in public, it became a problem with the social order. A fact is that Lucky Strike Cigarettes was the first manufacturer to promote smoking with a woman.
Eventually, it became the torch of freedom for them, and sales tripled as the liberated woman had to smoke.
7. Doctors warned about the adverse effects of smoking since the 18th century
During 1948, Sir Richard Doll started studying the effects that smoking has on lung cancer. He was the first British physiologist accredited to prove that puffing away on a smoke causes the dreaded disease.
The doctor was also a smoker and gave it up during his initial studies. Doctor Doll’s research became the foundation for all other research that followed related to the subject.
However, he was not the first doctor that raised the issue!A fact is that the medical questioned grew a few decades after it became popular in the UK.
In the early 18th century, during a debate at Oxford, the people produced charcoal-colored veins and blackened brains of smokers.
In 1761, John Hill started noting the presence of cancer in smoker’s nasal passages. As time progressed, researchers found that smoking causes different ailments during the mid-19th century.
Final Thought about the Facts of Smoking
Regardless of the facts provided here, the truth is that once you get started, you struggle to stop. The truth is that it has taken more than 500 years for people to regain his or her self-control when it comes to smoking.
So if you are one of the millions trying to quit smoking, get your Quit Plan ready and start putting it into action before it is too late.
Start your quit journey with us today!
