The use of tobacco spread rapidly among European sailors landing in the New World, partly because it was attributed with aphrodisiac properties, so much so that as early as 1527 Bishop Bartolomé de Las Casas blamed the Iberian residents of Hispaniola for contracting the 'shameful habit' of smoking. Smokers defended themselves by claiming that they could not quit, providing the first evidence of tobacco addiction.
In 1558, tobacco arrived in Portugal, and in 1560, the French ambassador to the Portuguese Court, Jean Nicot de Villemain, convinced of its medicinal virtues, promoted its cultivation and importation, and recommended its use to Queen Catherine de' Medici of France as a remedy for migraine. The Queen became a supporter of the plant, which was then also called Herba Catharinaria, although the botanical name, in honour of Nicot, was from then on Nicotiniana tabacum.
Tobacco was introduced to Italy in 1579 by Cardinal Prospero di Santa Croce, papal nuncio to Lisbon. After receiving the seeds, the Pope entrusted them to the monks of the various religious orders, who began to cultivate them in their gardens, convinced of the medicinal properties of the plant (holy herb) as it belongs to the solanaceae family, which includes curative herbs such as belladonna and newly discovered nutritional plants such as tomatoes, potatoes and peppers.
Its use as a voluptuary product came later; it started in England in 1590, and spread rapidly, soon degenerating into abuse, so much so that the rulers of the time began to exploit the vice to feed the income of their state, by imposing taxes on tobacco. The first monopolies were created.
In 1828, nicotine began to be extracted from tobacco leaves. With the invention of cigarette machines in the mid-20th century, the rise of tobacco was unstoppable, and what was once a vice became a social scourge. cuvie