Don't Want You to Die: A Global and Personal History of Tobacco

I come back for one final episode, 365 days after quitting. The Russian Orthodox Church hates tobacco and its "stinking evil". The birth of the cigarette and the cigarette company. Surprise, but tobacco multinationals are the worst. Thank you, it's been fun.

After 73 days, I finally break down and smoke. The results, and my feelings about it, are mixed. Enslaved labor changes the economic model of the Chesapeake colonies. China becomes accustomed to what they called the "dry liquor". Cuban farmers revolt against the Spanish Crown's attempts at a tobacco monopoly.

A step by step guide on how to make a profit from the sinful herb in 17th century Virginia. The Vatican comes out against smoking. What is snuff anyways? Tobacco as a social currency.

With the help of around 75,000 indentured servants, tobacco fully reaches cash crop status. But still, there's a labor shortage and too much smuggling. The English and Dutch go to war over maritime trade. Nostalgic for the emotional side of smoking, but really starting to feel effects of quitting.

People started writing cool songs about smoking. James I backs up his hate for tobacco with lots of taxes. His son realizes that without the sinful herb, the Chesapeake colonies would not exist. Officially smoke free for one month.

Tobacco turns into a flashy fad in Elizabethan England. But James I is much less fun. His Counterblaste to Tobacco is one of the first harangues against tobacco, and I had a lovely time summarizing it here. Also, Mikey legally buys his first pack of smokes and my diary from Day 4.

In the 16th century, a Spanish doctor and botanist claimed to have found the cure for pretty much any ailment you could think of: tobacco. How and why? Well, that has to do with the belief in the Four Humors, which was the predominate understanding of the human body for nearly 2000 years. And, as always, my quitting diaries and smoking memories.

My second day without nicotine, and I sound terrible. The first accounts of Europeans trying tobacco

Diary from my first day without nicotine, an introduction to the tobacco plant and nicotine.