Ash You Like It Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mexico

Dating as far back as 1400-1600 BC, old cultivation sites for growing tobacco have been found in Mexico. This substance was smoked in many American Indian tribes as well, both for ceremonial purpose or just as a relaxing pastime. This took place long before tobacco was introduced to the rest of the world through European settlement.

Answer: Carried prayers to the Creator

That rather poetic belief was based on the wreaths of smoke that surrounded the head and then drifted up towards the heavens, as one puffed away contentedly. It was believed that it conveyed the thoughts and prayers of the smokers up to the god or gods who had created everything, and that tobacco itself was a gift from the Creator.

Answer: Spanish

That was one Hernandez de Boncalo who was a Spanish writer on events relating to the Indies. He took these seeds back in 1559, after having been requested by the Spanish King, Philip II, to do so - and there was no turning back after that.

Answer: Los Ciggarales

Los Ciggarales had nothing at all to do with cigarettes, which hadn't been invented yet, but was named instead after a plague of cicadas. The early tobacco cultivated from these seeds was initially too strong for inhalation and could only be smoked in small amounts in a pipe or hookah. It wasn't too long after this, though, that milder form of tobacco began to be cultivated as well.

Answer: Opened up the pores and passages of the body

The astronomer Thomas Harriot was responsible for this belief. He had travelled with Richard Grenville on his 1585 expedition to Roanoke Island and observed the natives smoking there. He believed that their excellent health and fit bodies were the result of smoking tobacco, and that it had the added benefit of opening up all the pores and passages in the body.

Answer: Chewing and snuffing it

The chewing of tobacco is a rather gross activity but was once very popular in days gone by - along with snuffing it. Users chopped off a thick piece of tobacco and chewed it either with their rapidly browning front teeth, or between their side teeth and cheeks. That released the flavour and the nicotine content.

As they chewed, they spat out the juices every so often. Snuff is finely ground tobacco leaves. Users snuff it up their nose to receive an instant surge of nicotine to the brain, with a pleasant scent left in the nose afterwards.

This practice began in Brazil centuries ago before making its way over to the European world. Apart from the nicotine hit, it helped mask the unpleasant smells of the day, and, during the Great Plague, was especially popular because people believed it would keep the plague away.

Incredibly so, because of the ban on smoking in public places today, snuff taking by both men and women has started to replace it.

Answer: Cuban cigars

Cuban cigars are made from rolled tobacco leaves. All work related to the manufacture of these products is carried out in Cuba alone and is strictly monitored by the government. That includes the manufacturing process right up to export regulations. Those who roll these cigars are very skilled at their work and are known as Torcedores.

Many travel around the world giving displays of their skills. The sale of these products remains one of Cuba's leading exports.

Answer: Late 19th century

Prior to the 1880s, cigarettes were made by rolling a small amount of tobacco in the centre of one's palm, and then fitting it into a small wrapping known as a cigarette paper. After the paper was wrapped around the tobacco, the remaining end was licked and then stuck on to the cigarette to hold it together. Over a period of years of this, one's fingers that held the cigarette while smoking turned a dull orange or brown colour.

Answer: James Bonsack

James Albert Bonsack (1859-1924) invented the automatic cigarette rolling machine in 1880, after a tobacco manufacturing company in Virginia, in 1875, offered a prize of $75,000 to anyone who could come up with this invention. This was all to do with making money of course and not out of the kindness of their hearts. Even the most skilled person who made hand rolled cigarettes couldn't produce more than four of these a minute (an impressive record on its own). Bonsack's 1880 invention could produce 200 cigarettes every minute.

The cigarette manufacturing industry took off from that time.

Answer: Increased the nicotine content in cigarettes

This was utterly diabolical. In the mid 20th century, and in spite of scientific findings revealing that smoking cigarettes were a health hazard and could cause cancer, the tobacco company Brown and Williamson deliberately pursued research into producing higher nicotine content tobacco.

This was accomplished in the 1970s and, horrifyingly so, almost doubled the nicotine content in their tobacco. The new cross-bred tobacco was known as the Y1 strain. To their cigarettes, Brown and Williamson also added ammonia.

This increased the rate at which nicotine reached the brain and further enhanced addictiveness. Following on from this, after the government stepped in to monitor the amount of nicotine allowed in each cigarette in affluent countries, many tobacco and cigarette manufacturing companies deliberately increased advertising in third world countries of higher nicotine addictive brands to ensnare consumers there.