A Brief History of Tobacco Tobacco is native to the Americas. It was cultivated and used in pipes, as cigars, and as snuff by indigenous peoples for medicinal and ceremonial purposes as early as 6000 BC. In the 1500s, Spanish and Portuguese sailors carried it to Europe, where it became wildly popular. A French diplomat named Jean Nicot presented tobacco to the French court as a medicinal herb. It’s use became fashionable amongst the French nobility, and it was soon all the rage throughout Europe. (The word nicotine was derived from Jean Nicot’s name). As the European appetite for tobacco grew, American colonists began growing it to meet the demand.…