Sweet addiction of the European culture

The Holy Herb
Austin Gibbs

Tobacco in the 16th century was first thought as “A custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the Nose, harmful to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and blacke stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible… smoke of the pit of the bottomlessse.” Said by King James 1st, but when Spaniards first brought tobacco to Europe during the 16th century physicians praised it as a wonder drug, healing all ailments. “It’s not just for the sick, but the healthy as well”. Such strong recommendations by learned men and everyday experiences from commoners sparked a new past time for all of Europe. The main sorce of tobacco was grown in the English colonies in the Chesapeake, who were “wholly built on smoke”, the colonies prospered by the ever-increasing demand for this “holy herb”. In 1603 England imported only 25k pounds of tobacco, by 1700 the imported 40 million pounds , almost all from the Chesapeake colonies. The huge increase of tobacco supply caused the price of tobacco to plummet, making it affordable to everyone including commoners and slaves. Tobacco altered European culture and spawned new industries, since everyone smoked because it was highly addictive, the public needed pipes, boxes to hold their tobacco/snuff, pipe cleaners, spittoons, flint or sparkers to light their (most of the time) flavored tobacco. This cause European growth because of the high demand of tobacco and all the jobs it created caused England to prosper.