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Tobacco seeds were brought from the Amazon and the forests of Peru and distributed and cultivated by Native Americans throughout North, South and Central America nearly 8,000 years ago. Used in small quantities at the end of the day for relaxation and in ceremonies, some tribes believed it could impart super-natural powers. European settlers in America began to smoke tobacco for pleasure. The Englishman, Sir Walter Raleigh, who had acquired the habit of pipe smoking from the returning Roanoke Island colonists, persuaded his countrymen to take up the practice which was to become an integral part of English life. By the middle of the 16th century, tobacco was being cultivated in the gardens of physicians and botanists throughout Europe. In large part, this expansive recognition of tobacco was credited to the French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot (from which the term nicotine is derived). He had successfully cured the French queen's headaches with a powder of crushed tobacco leaves. The origin and development of tobacco culture in colonial Virginia was a reflection of the growing British demand for leaf. In the early years of the colony, the settlers cultivated Nicotiana rustica, a variety of tobacco native to Virginia. It was inferior, however, to the milder Spanish type known as Nicotiana tabacum preferred by most Europeans.
In 1612, John Rolfe brought seeds of the Spanish variety from the West Indies where it was flourishing. In combination with the Virginia soil, the seed produced a pleasant tobacco which soon rivaled the Spanish product. With the current demonization of cigarettes, it is easy to forget that there were good reasons to smoke a pipeful of tobacco -- an excerpt from a medical journal notes: "Regardless of how nicotine is administered, there is some pleasure derived from its central nervous system actions, with the oral smoking of it being the most pleasant way of administration. Radio-tagged nicotine is diffusely distributed throughout the brain soon after injection, with the nerve cell bodies having highest concentrations. Smoking, as with other psychotomimetic drugs, has a "paradoxical reaction" of initial wake up and in larger dosage, a depressing or soporific effect. "The specific area of accumulation of radio-tagged nicotine is in the hippocampus. The electroencephalogram (EEG) shows hippocampal pyramidal cells altering their theta rhythm (ie, increased theta) and increasing their activity rate in response to even small amounts of nicotine. Similar effects on these cells are seen with some tranquilizing drugs..." The cigarette is a delivery system for nicotine, inhaled into the lungs; it is certainly not a healthy habit. A preferred method of delivering nicotine to the system at a slower rate is the pipe. It is not without risks, but a pipeful of tobacco per week does not result in the same health hazards as a pack of cigarettes per day. There are many good tobacconists around the country. The cigar craze
of the past few years has resulted in renewed interest in tobacco cultivation
and appreciation. Many farmers are now producing organically-grown tobacco
and cultivating some of the original Native American species. For more information on pipes and quality tobacco, go to http://www.peterson.ie/. For more information on cigars, go to http://www.cigarlife.com. To purchase and cultivate native tobacco, go to http://www.batnet.com/rwc-seed/tobacco.html.
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