A Brief History of Tobacco Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nicotiana tabacum

Tobacco is a member of the nightshade family, which includes the tomato, potato and eggplant. The genus is named in honor of Jean Nicot, a French diplomat, who introduced tobacco to the French court in 1561. It was first used for medicinal purposes, including the treatment of asthma.

Answer: Both

The tobacco plant is native to both American continents, and played an in important role in many Native American cultures.

Answer: Jamestown

The colony at Jamestown might well have failed if it had not been for tobacco. Colonists found that it was an easy crop to raise, and that it fetched high prices in Europe, which enabled them to purchase the staples they needed to survive. Tobacco was such an important crop in Virginia and the other southern colonies that it was used as currency.

Answer: James I

James I of England (he was also James VI of Scotland) did not like smokers. He described the use of tobacco as "a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless." James was a bad king; he was also known as "the most learned fool in Christendom."

Answer: Snuff

Snuff is powdered, dry tobacco which is often flavored or scented. A pinch of it is "snuffed" or inhaled through the nose. Taking snuff was an almost universal habit among the aristocracy, both men and women. Most carried a "snuff box," made of silver or gold, and enamelled or embellished with precious stones.

Many of these snuff boxes survive, and are exquisite miniature works of art. European snuff is very different from American snuff, which is a moist tobacco, used by holding a pinch between the lip and gum, a practice known as "dipping."

Answer: Ulysses S. Grant

Of the 43 men who have served as President, at least 28 were regular users of tobacco sometime during their lives. While Bill Clinton is known to have enjoyed an occasional cigar, it was Grant who was best known for puffing up a storm. He died of throat cancer at age 63, perhaps as a result of his habit, although it should be noted that the three Presidents who lived the longest - Hoover, Ford, and Reagan - were all smokers.

Answer: True

Jeanne Louise Calment was born February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997 at the age of 122 years, 164 days. She smoked all her life. She gave up smoking at age 117, but took up the habit again at age 118, because she said "not smoking makes me miserable." She attributed her long life to cigarettes, garlic, olive oil and red wine. Marie-Louise Meilleur, who succeeded Calment as the world's oldest living person at age 116, chain-smoked cigarettes all her life, and, according to one source, when she had to go to a nursing home at age 105, she arrived smoking a corncob pipe.

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Hitler was said to have been a smoker in his youth, but somewhere along the line he became a furious tobaccophobe. No one was allowed to smoke in his presence. The Nazis banned smoking in public buildings and all forms of public transport. Tobacco taxes were raised, and advertising of tobacco products was restricted. During the war, cigarettes were strictly rationed. An edict was issued declaring abstinence from tobacco use to be a "National Socialist duty." None of these things did much to reduce smoking.
Mussolini and Franco were also non-smokers. Roosevelt, Churchill and MacArthur were all smokers.

Answer: All of them

Many smoking opponents are outraged when it is claimed that smoking may actually have some health benefits, but the data are pretty clear that smoking helps to prevent many neurological diseases. No one seems to know why, but it may be due to the fact that nicotine stimulates brain activity.

There are even some cancers, such as endometrial cancer and some skin cancers, that are rarer in smokers than non-smokers. The increased risk of respiratory diseases and heart disease far outweighs the benefits, however, and it would be foolish to pretend that smoking is good for you.

Answer: China

Despite efforts to stamp out tobacco use, both the production and consumption of tobacco continue to increase. While the use of tobacco in Western countries has showing modest declines, developing countries can't get enough of it. Love it or hate it, tobacco looks like it's here to stay.