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The beginnings in Indian religious ceremony
The history of tobacco and tobacco related products started with the Europeans on 12th October 1492, when Christopher Columbus disembarked onto one of the Bahama islands. At his disembarkation, the natives came to greet the "white God". They brought him many gifts and among them, big, dried leaves of an unknown plant, which was tobacco. Columbus has also written in his logbook that he had met men and women, who had carried fire in their hands and they had smoked. Those men and women were carrying smoking pipes with herbs and among different herbs was tobacco. They lit up fire at one end of each pipe and on the other end they inhaled the smoke. That's how they intoxicated themselves and this also made them sleep. Columbus added that the smoke also kept them off the tiredness. After his return to Spain, he reported this unusual smoking habit.

Tobacco conquers Europe
Reputation of tobacco spread to the East mostly because of Jean Nicot, French ambassador in Portugal. He also gave the name to that plant HERBA NICOTIANA, and it's main substance "NICOTINE". In 1560, Jean Nicote sent some pieces of tobacco to the mother of the French King, Catherine de Medici, along with the report about the medicinal powers of tobacco. He recommended that she inhale the burning smoke from the pulverized tobacco leaves. In that time, people started to call tobacco "HERBA PANACEJA" - the plant that cures everything. News about the medicinal powers of tobacco quickly spread across Europe. Sir Francis Drake first brought a pipe to England in 1586. Smoking a pipe then became a habit, mostly for English high society. At the end of the sixteenth century, the use of tobacco was widely used in Turkey, although Turkish authorities opposed smoking. After Turkey, tobacco arrived in the Near East and the whole Balkan, where people started to smoke cigarettes and 'water pipes'.

First opponents appear
Soon after tobacco use spread across Europe, the first opponents appeared. At first, there were writers and other wise people, who opposed the praise of tobacco as a very healthy plant and they also opposed tobacco's use for intoxication. One of the important opponents was English King James I, who described smoking as "bad for the eyes and a disgusting habit, offensive to the nose, harmful to the brain and dangerous for the lungs."  He also stated that the black, stinky smoke of tobacco is the same as the soot found on the bottom of hell. Although there were many initial opponents of tobacco, the popularity of tobacco use continued to increase. Authorities were faced with a dilemma.  They wanted people to understand the dangerous of tobacco use, while at the same time, the local governments enjoyed the benefits of the additional tax revenue.

More and more people smoke and also first cigarettes appear
Smoking habits changed a lot in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In Spain and in Portugal people smoked cigarettes, but in England, Germany and in the Netherlands people smoked pipes. By exchanging Spanish habits and English habits during Napoleon's wars, cigarette smoking was introduced to England. Thus cigarette smoking started, and it spread to Turkey. In 1767, Casanova talked about small smoking pipes named "SIGARITE". In the eighteenth century, Francisco Goya, drew smokers with cigarettes. Many Europeans started smoking cigarettes after the war between Turkey and Russia. The tobacco rolled into paper allowed for the easy transport of tobacco worldwide.  People did not need a pipe in order to smoke. The introduction of the cigarette created worldwide use and increased demand.

Tobacco use continues
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the tobacco industry developed. Additionally, Hollywood movies featured celebrities using smoking as a seductive tool. This is the time that the term "fountain of pleasure" appeared. After certain progress in chemistry, it was possible to find out what kind of substances were contained within the leaves of the tobacco plant. In 1950, scientists discovered how harmful tobacco was and the American Medical Association (AMA) published it's first report concerning the dangers of tobacco smoking. In 1970, the government required tobacco companies to print a warning on each pack of cigarettes.  This warning had to include text concerning the risks involved with smoking. This helped to alert the public, but many smokers disregarded the printed warning. Even though scientists and governments actively educated people concerning the dangers of cigarette smoking, people continued to inhale.