Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the Nicotiana genus and

the Solanaceae (nightshade) family, and the general term for any product prepared from

the cured leaves of the tobacco plant. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but

the chief commercial crop is N. tabacum. The more potent variant N. rustica is also used

around the world.

Tobacco contains the stimulant alkaloid nicotine as well as harmala alkaloids.[2] Dried

tobacco leaves are mainly used for smoking in cigarettes, cigars, pipes, shishas as well

as e-cigarettes (both rechargeable and disposable), e-cigars, e-pipes and vaporizers.

They can also be consumed as snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco and snus.

Tobacco use is a risk factor for many diseases; especially those affecting the heart, liver,

and lungs, as well as many cancers. In 2008, the World Health Organization named

tobacco use as the world's single greatest preventable cause of death

Following the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, tobacco became increasingly popular as

a trade item. Hernández de Boncalo, Spanish chronicler of the Indies, was the first European to

bring tobacco seeds to the Old World in 1559 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). 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
smoking 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.[12]

The alleged benefits of tobacco also account for its considerable success. The

astronomer Thomas Harriot, who accompanied Sir Richard Grenville on his 1585 expedition

to Roanoke Island, explains that the plant "openeth all the pores and passages of the body" so

that the natives’ "bodies are notably preserved in health, and know not many grievous diseases,

wherewithal we in England are often times afflicted." [13]

Tobacco smoking, chewing, and snuffing became a major industry in Europe and its colonies by

1700.[14][15]

Tobacco has been a major cash crop in Cuba and in other parts of the Caribbean since the 18th

century. Cuban cigars are world-famous.[16]

In the late 19th century, cigarettes became popular. James Bonsack created a machine that

automated cigarette production. This increase in production allowed tremendous growth in

the tobacco industry until the health revelations of the late-20th century