A History of Tobacco

Abstract

In this first chapter on the historical aspects of the testimony of expert historians in tobacco litigation, I discuss the origin and rise of the tobacco industry and its product. There are seven key developments which I review here: flue-curing, safety matches, mechanization, the oligopolistic structure of the industry, World War I, taxation, and aggressive advertising campaigns. Their combined dynamic introduced, what Brandt has called: “The Cigarette Century.”