Tobacco is derived from the leaves of the genus Nicotiana, a plant from the night-shade family, indigenous to North and South America. It was first discovered by the native people of Mesoamerica and South America and later introduced to Europe and the rest of the world. Archeological studies suggest the use of tobacco in around first century BC, when Native Americans cultivated the plant and smoked it in pipes for medicinal and ceremonial purposes.

It is believed that the first European to discover smoking was Christopher Columbus in 1492 - introduced to him by the Native Americans that greeted him as he set foot on the new continent. As Columbus realized that dried tobacco leaves were a prized possession among the natives, he brought tobacco leaves and seeds with him back to Europe. In 1531 tobacco was cultivated for the first time in Europe and tobacco use began to spread across Europe and England. Portuguese sailors were planting tobacco around nearly all of their trading outposts. By mid-century they started growing tobacco commercially in Brazil. Tobacco became a sought-after commodity and traded across the ports in Europe and the Americas. By the end of the 16th century, tobacco plant and use of tobacco were both introduced to every single country in Europe. The first successful commercial crop was cultivated in Virginia in 1612 and was the colony's largest export.

Curing and drying the tobacco leaf and rolling in paper to smoke - called cigarette today - has been around since the early 1600s but didn't become widely popular until after the Civil War. Tobacco companies were being established and started selling hand-rolled cigars and cigarettes as expensive handmade luxury items for the urban elites of Europe. By the 1700s tobacco was being grown and cultivated in India, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa. Cigarettes came to the height of their popularity during the First and the Second World War and after the invention of the cigarette-making machine by James Bonsack in 1881 which enabled tobacco companies to inexpensively mass-produce cigarettes. By the mid-19th century, smoking had become an established ritual throughout the world. Today, cigarette smoking is still the most common form of tobacco use worldwide.

Types of Tobacco

	Oriental - Commonly referred to as Turkish tobacco is a highly aromatic, small-leafed variety of tobacco which is sun-cured. These tobacco plants usually have a greater number and smaller size leaves and have a high sugar content. Many of the early brands of cigarettes were made mostly or entirely of Turkish tobacco and is more suitable for cigarette production.
	Burley - Burley tobacco has a robust aroma, large leaves that range from light brown to dark brown and is air-cured. These tobacco plants have very low sugar content as its leaves often contain no natural sugar. Burley tobacco is used primarily for cigarette production and burns well in the pipe carrying a slight hint of cocoa in its taste. White Burley, similar to Burley tobacco, have large light leaves that shade from yellow to white, also air-cured and is the main component in chewing tobacco.
	Virginia - Commonly referred to as Brightleaf tobacco is a good high yielding tobacco with large leaves that is heat or flue-cured to a light color. Belonging to the same family as the Oriental tobacco, these plants have high sugar and aromatic content. This tobacco has an especially sweet taste and is often used for light cigarettes and is the most widely used base in pipe tobacco mixtures.
	Latakia - Latakia is an oriental tobacco that has been smoke-cured and considered a spice tobacco as it has a pronounced flavour and a very distinctive smoky aroma. This tobacco is very strong, spicy, and unpleasant to smoke in a pure form and it is often mixed with other tobacco used in pipe tobacco blends.
	Havana - Havana is a beautiful, productive, striking plant with long narrow dark leaves that can be heat or air-cured. Havana tobacco is widely renowned as the flavourful leaf of the infamous Cuban cigar and also used as a chewing tobacco.