tainly no later than 1610, they were shipping small quan- 

 tities of imperfectly cured leaves of native tobacco to 

 England. 



The homeland represented a profitable market for 

 tobacco but profits from the trade then lay entirely with 

 Spanish exporters. They held a virtual monopoly of to- 

 bacco exports to England. The English market had, in 

 the words of a modern wit, "begun through spontane- 

 ous combustion" in the late 1580's and had developed 

 rapidly. 



Excellent leaf from the West Indies, Venezuela and 

 Mexico, roughly prepared in twisted rolls or other com- 

 pact shapes called in England "pudding," "ball," "cane," 

 was in great demand by affluent or extravagant English 

 pipe smokers. The costs were high; by present-day 

 standards they were fantastic. Records exist to show 

 that prime tobacco was occasionally sold in the London 

 market for the equivalent of $125 a pound. Ordinary 

 varieties cost a sum that would be equal to $17.50 a 

 pound. The expense of smoking was the chief reason 

 why English pipes of the period had tiny bowls. 



So rich an outlet for tobacco could hardly be ignored 

 by English settlers in a land where the commodity in its 

 natural state seemed readily available. But they did not 

 have the tobacco. What they did grow or obtain from 

 the Indians and send home was the shrubby little plant 

 native to most of eastern North America. This was 

 Nicotiana rustica, a tobacco which, as a contemporary 

 wrote, was "biting, bitter, harsh." London merchants dis- 

 couraged further importations of a tobacco that was 

 unacceptable to smokers accustomed to "Spanish" leaf. 



