Episode 1 - History of the American Tobacco Industry

1. Cue “Welcome to the Party” By Pop Smoke

2. Introduce myself
a. Introduce who I am and what were doing
b. What I am going to be talking about
c. Early history of tobacco, dark upbringings, early to mid 20th century promotion,
effects and statistics of smoking, 2000s propoganda, why are kids vaping today?
3. Early History
a. History of tobacco goes very far back to 6000 B.C.. That is where we can see the
first cultivation of the plant
b. Circa 1 B.C. we start to see Indiginous people starting to smoke and using
tobacco enema
i. Medical practice used by indiginous, pump people with smoke through
rectum
c. 1492, Columbus lands on Cuba and is offered a dried leaves as a gift from
indiginous people, he brings it back to Eurpoe and the plant explodes with
popularity
i. People believed it was the medicinal “cure for all”; bad breath to cancer
d. 1531, European settlers of Santo Domingo begin tobacco cultivation
e. Virginia was the state that could grow tobacco the best
i. It remained to the cash crop of the state throughout the 17th and 18th
century
f. During the 1600s tobacco could be used in place of currency
i. Tobacco became the reason slaves were imported to America
g. In 1632 it became illegal to smoke tobacco publically in Massachusetts, more
based on belief than health concerns
h. In 1790, Pierre Lorillard created a company in New York City for processesing
and manufacturing cigarettes, cigars and snuff. It is the oldest tobacco company
in the US
i. During the American Revolution, the US didnt have enough money to pay France
for their help, so they paid them with the copious amounts of tobacco they we’re
producing
j. The high European demand for tobacco led to a rise in the value of tobacco. The
rise of value of tobacco accelerated the economic growth in America
i. subsistence economy to an agrarian economy
ii. Used as currency, and backed by the gold standard
k. Many plantation owners turned to slavery to maximize profits
l. 1826, the pure form of nicotine is finally discovered.
m. In 1836, New Englander Samuel Green stated that tobacco is an insecticide, a
poison, and can kill a man.
 n. In 1847, the famous Phillip Morris was founded, first selling hand rolled Turkish
cigarettes. (Own Marlboro)
o. Cigarettes in the U.S. were mainly made from scraps left over after the
production of other tobacco products. Chewing tobacco became popular at this
time with the "cowboys" of the American west.
4. The Modern History
a. In the 1900's the cigarette became the major tobacco product made and sold. In
1901 3.5 billion cigarettes were sold, while 6 billion cigars were sold.
b. 1902, the British Phillip Morris sets up a New York headquarters to market its
cigarettes
i. This is when it really began to explode in the US markets
c. 1913 R.J. Reynolds began to market a cigarette brand called Camel
d. The use of the cigarette exploded due to WWI
e. By 1923 Camel controlled 45% of the US market
f. The American Tobacco Company began to market their cigarettes to women and
were able to gain 38% of the market
i. Smoking among female teens trippled 1925-1935
g. You see the height of cigarette sales during WWII while it was included in
soldier's C-Rations
h. During the 50’s more evidence is starting to show that cigarette are bad for you
i. Tobacco companies start to promote their cigarettes as more safe than
ever
i. In 1952, the P. Lorillard compay markets its new “micronite” filter which contained
asbestos
i. Discontinued in 1956
j. 1953, Doctor Ernst L. Wynders discovered through experiments that putting
cigarette tar on the backs of mice it causes cancer
k. In 1954 the first filtered cigarette was released
5. The Beginning of Health concerns
a. The Surgeon General's report of “Smoking and Health” was released in 1964,
this was when the federal government started to regulate the advertisement and
sale of tobacco products
b. Major Tobacco companies start to diversify their product lines. Companies
started investing in beer. Others started to lose the “Tobacco” in the company
name
i. American Tobacco Company → American Brands Inc.
c. In 1968 they tired to market a non tobacco cigarette that featured ‘lettuce’
i. It failed miserably
d. 1971 was when cigarette ads we’re taken off of T.V.
e. 1976 An all time high with 28% of highschool seniors admiting to smoking
f. 1977 the first Great American Smokeout took place
i. Event held by the American Cancer Society to try a push Americans to
quit tobacco
g. In 1979 the Surgeon General reported the health concequences of smoking for
women
i. Virgina Slims had a ad targeted towards women “You’ve come a long way
baby”
h. During the 1980’s you start to see lawsuits filed against tobacco corporations
i. Smoking became politically incorrect
ii. Many public places banned smoking
i. 1982 the Surgeon general reports that smoking may cause lung cancer
i. Smoking becomes more prohibited especially in the workplace
j. 1985 the number one killer in women was lung cancer, it even beat out breast
cancer!!!
k. 1987 congress had banned smoking on all domestic flights lasting 2 hours
i. 1990 all flights had been banned
1. An exception was made for alaska and hawaii
l. Phillip Morris continued to diversify and in 85’ they bought Nabisco
i. (Oreo People)
m. 1990 Ben and Jerry actually boycotted Nabisco and stopped serving oreo ice
cream
n. During the 80’s and 90’s the tobacco industry really started to become heavily
regulated by the government
i. Companies started marketing heavily in developing asian countries
o. In 1994 the CEOs all 7 major tobacco companies testified infront of congress and
stated that they believed “Nicotine is not an addictive substance”
p. 1996 the FDA finally steps in and takes a roll on regulating tobacco
q. 1992 the federal law is set to 18 years old to buy
r. Truth Campaign began in 1998 to combat teen smoking
s. Teen smoking lowers throughout the 80’s to a low 10% of seniors
t. Rose again to a high in the late 90’s to 22-25% of high school seniors
u. The influence of hollywoods use of the cigarette allowed it to become more
mainstream
i. Many characters smoking in pop culture throughout 20th century
v. By 1996 nearly 40 states had filed lawsuits against the big tobacco companies for
money for health related reasons
i. Mississippi settled for 3.4 Billion, Florida for 11.3 billions
ii. Texas got 15.3 billions plus an additional 2.3 billion in other damages by
the following summer
w. These cases we’re major, tobacco agreed to drop Marlboro Man and Joe Camel,
which were marketed towards teenagers
x. To pay out the settlements tobacco raised prices by $1.40 which made it so a
high of 36% of teenagers smoking to 12% today
i. Money strapped kids
y. CDC reported that 27.5% (1 and 4) high school students attmited to smoking a
electronic vape in the last 30 days
 z. Vapes were first released in china in 2003 but came to the western world in 2006

Sources:
- https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-development/substance-use/drugs/tobacco/tre
nds/index.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tobacco
- https://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm#industry
- https://www.who.int/tobacco/en/atlas2.pdf
- https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/youth_data/tobacco_use/index.
htm