The Tobacco Story 



By 



J. H. CYRUS and R. L. MOZINGO 



Tobacco Marketing Specialist 



Tobacco is first mentioned in American History in the second 

 voyage of Columbus to the New World in 1515. As Columbus approached 

 shore he saw the natives smoking a long stick with a hollow end; he 

 asked the natives what they were smoking. The reply was, ' 'tobago' ' , 

 meaning the pipe. Since then the leaves smoked in the pipe have been 

 referred to as ' 'tobaco' ' , or today, tobacco. 



On Columbus' return to Spain he carried some of the seed of the 

 tobacco plant with him, and introduced the cultivation of tobacco to 

 Europe. 



It was believed that tobacco had medicinal value and its first 

 use in Europe was as medicine, rather than for smoking. A famous 

 doctor of that time said of tobacco, ''as an ointment it has great 

 healing powers.' ' 



The use of tobacco for smoking in Europe is credited to Jean 

 Nicot, a Frenchman, who started its cultivation in the year 1561. 

 John Rolf e is given credit for being the first farmer to raise tobacco 

 commercially in the New World. He lived on the James River in 

 Virginia. It was soon discovered that tobacco raised in America was 

 superior in aroma and flavor to any other, and this has accounted for 

 the great strides that have been made in the industry in the South. 



During the first half of the nineteenth century tobacco was air- 

 cured by hanging it in loosely built barns to allow the passage of 

 air while curing. Later, fire-curing became almost universal in the 

 tobacco growing areas of North Carolina. This was short-lived, and 

 many growers returned to air-curing. 



The flue-curing of tobacco was started accidently while an old 

 slave was curing tobacco in the old manner by maintaining a wood fire 

 on the ground in the barn. He fell asleep and the fire burned down 

 to a few coals. The wood was too wet to catch readily, so the slave 

 ran to a charcoal pit at the nearby blacksmith shop, got a sack of 

 charcoal and put it on the fire. It caught readily and he continued 

 to use it. He and his owner noticed that the tobacco was curing up a 

 bright yellow. This curing process made the tobacco milder and pro- 

 duced a better smoke. From this beginning in Caswell County, North 

 Carolina in 1856, the present flue-curing and production methods have 

 developed. 



The manufacturing of tobacco products began to expand with the 

 discovery of the flue-curing method. Chewing tobacco was the first 

 product to be manufactured in a few small factories around 1850. 

 Later a few factories manufactured granulated tobacco for "roll your 

 own" cigarettes and pipes. However, the first .real expansion of the 

 industry was in 1884 with the invention of the cigarette making 

 machine. 



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