Smoking

HISTORY OF SMOKING

Tobacco and hallucinogenic drugs have been smoked in the Americas since at least 5000 BC. The smoking of euphorants probably had its origins in the incense-burning ceremonies of shamans but was later adopted for pleasure, or as a social tool.

Cannabis smoking was common in the Middle East before the arrival of tobacco, and was early on a common social activity that centered around the type of water pipe called a hookah.

Aztec women are handed flowers and smoking tubes before eating at a banquet, Florentine Codex, 1500

Rodrigo de Jerez, a crewman of Columbus, was the first known European smoker. He was thrown in jail for it as exhaling smoke was seen as satanic.

In 1557, European doctors recommended smoking to combat bad breath and cancer.

Tobacco was introduced as snuff to France in 1560 by the diplomat and scholar Jean Nicot, from whose name the word “nicotine” derives.

Urban VII was chosen to succeed Sixtus V as pope on September 15, 1590. His death from malaria 13 days later made his the shortest papal reign in history. His very short time as pope nevertheless gave rise to the world's first known public smoking ban when he threatened to excommunicate anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe, or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose."

In 17th-century Turkey ruler Murad IV ordered that anyone caught smoking be executed on the spot and their bodies be left where they were as a deterrent to others.

A Persian girl smoking by Muhammad Qasim. Isfahan, 17th century

In 1665 pipe-smoking was compulsory among pupils at Eton College in England as a defense against the plague.

The term “smoking” wasn’t established until the late eighteenth century. Before then, it was often referred to as “Dry Drunkenness."

The practice of smoking opium became common in Europe in the 19th century. Widespread medical use of unprocessed opium continued until late in the century when it gave way to morphine, which could be injected at a precisely controlled dosage.

An illustration of an opium den on the cover of Le Petit Journal, July 5, 1903

By the end of the 19th century, doctors began to suspect that smoking cigarettes caused lung cancer, despite the fact that there were only 140 published cases of the then rare disease in 1900.

On January 21, 1908, New York City's Board of Aldermen passed the Sullivan Ordinance, a controversial law that prohibited women from smoking in public places. It didn't outlaw smoking for women altogether, but made it illegal for owners or managers of public places like restaurants, hotels, and theaters to allow women to smoke on their premises. Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. vetoed the ordinance just two weeks after its passage, citing public opposition and concerns about its enforceability.

Torches of Freedom was a 1920's campaign to get more women to smoke. Tobacco companies targeted feminists, portraying it as emancipating, and even hosted seminars to teach women how to smoke "correctly."

Winston Churchill is said to have been the only person whom Field Marshal Montgomery would allow to smoke in his presence.

The Nazis were the first ever people in modern history to start an anti-smoking and tobacco movement.

In the 1940s there was a large increase in lung cancers and evidence began to be found that this was linked with the huge increase of smokers at the beginning of the decade. It was suspected that tobacco smoke and tar contained cancer causing chemicals and in the early 1950s an extensive study carried out by English epidemiologist Richard Doll statistically established that cigarette smoking is linked with lung cancer and that tobacco smoke, like tar, contains the cancer causing chemical benzene.

A few years later, in 1954 the British Doctors Study, a study of some 40 thousand doctors, confirmed the link, based on which the government issued advice that smoking and lung cancer rates were related (See below).

On January 11, 1964 the Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., published the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States stating that smoking may be hazardous to health. This sparked national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.

Even before the surgeon general issued his report on the dangers of tobacco, Mad Magazine went on an anti-smoking crusade ridiculing big tobacco companies, ad agencies, and even smokers. Also before it became law, Mad Magazine's offices were smoke free and none of their content featured smoking.

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Director of Research wrote in a private internal memo dated February 2, 1973 that the warning labels on cigarettes helped boost sales with young adults who love taking risks and believe they are "immortal."

In 1975 the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to US geneticist and virologist Howard Temin for his research on cancer. During his acceptance speech in Sweden, he called out some present -- including a Queen and other royalty -- for smoking. He insisted that the ashtray on the laureates' table be removed.

The resort town of Aspen, Colorado, became the first city in the US to restrict smoking in restaurants in 1985.

The U.S. ban on inflight smoking began with domestic flights of two hours or less in April 1988. It was extended to domestic flights of six hours or less in February 1990. There was an exemption for pilots out of safety concerns of them going through nicotine withdrawal.

U.S. consulting firm Arthur D. Little International Inc. studied the impact of smoking on Czech public finances at multinational cigarette company Philip Morris's request in 2000. They concluded that smoking was highly beneficial to the country's economy, as more people would die earlier, hence allowing the government to save millions on health-care, pension and public-housing.

Motorcycle world champion, Barry Sheene, enjoyed smoking so much that he had a hole drilled through the chin-bar on his full-face helmet allowing him to smoke right up to the start of a race. He died aged 52 on March 10, 2003 from cancer of the oesophagus and stomach.

In 2004 The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.

Three years later, in 2007, smoking in England was banned in all public indoor spaces.

When France increased the price of cigarettes by 66% between 2000-2008, the smoking rate among French executives and professionals declined. However, the smoking rate among manual laborers remained about the same and among the unemployed, it increased.

FUN SMOKING FACTS

Nicorette was actually created to help smoking seaman get through their time stuck on submarines.

About one billion of the world’s 7.6 billion people (14 per cent) are smokers.

The Chinese are the world’s biggest smokers. The average Chinese adult has 11 cigarettes a day.

2% of Indonesians will be smoking by age 4.

Four of the six ‘Marlboro Men’ have died of smoking-related diseases.

People in Japan carry portable ashtrays to keep streets clean.

Pantone 448 C, the "world's ugliest color" according to research, is used by many European countries on their tobacco products to dissuade people from smoking.

No Smoking Day is held on the second Wednesday in March each year. in the UK Appropriately enough, the first was on Ash Wednesday in 1984.

Today it is estimated that around 80% of lung cancers result from smoking and the chance of contracting lung cancer increases both the longer and the times the person smokes. However if someone stops smoking then these chances steadily decrease as the damage to their lungs is repaired.

Smoking is often the cause of other cancers such as cancers of the larynx, mouth and urinary bladder. Indeed in the United States cigarette smoking is thought to be responsible for nearly half the cancer cases considered to be environmentally caused and for almost one third of the cancer deaths overall of men.

Smoking can negatively affect bone healing after a fracture. Studies have shown that smokers have a higher risk of delayed and/or non-union bone healing, which means the bone takes longer to heal or may not heal properly at all.

One study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma found that smokers had a 2.2 times higher risk of delayed and/or non-union bone healing after a fracture compared to non-smokers. This is because smoking can affect the blood flow and oxygen supply to the bone, which are essential for the healing process.

Within 48 hours of quitting smoking, your senses of smell and taste begin to return to normal.

Source Daily Express