Chronography of Tobacco and Smoking
Page last
modified 12 August 2023
See Morals and Fashions page for more social morals
timelines
Progressive
bans on smoking
Belgium
2007,
Belgium banned smoking in all restaurants and bars serving food.
1 September 1987, Belgium became one of the first countries to ban smoking inside
public buildings, two decades
before Britain followed suit.
Bhutan
2005, Bhutan banned smoking in all public
places.
15 November 2004, Bhutan
became the first country to ban all sales of cigarettes and tobacco.
Anyone caught selling these products could be charged with smuggling.
Canada
6/1969, Canada banned tobacco
advertising on radio and TV.
Cuba
2005,
Cuba banned smoking in workplaces.
Denmark
2007,
Denmark banned smoking in restaurants, bars and clubs
France
2007,
France banned smoking in workplaces and on public transport.
Ireland
3/2004,
Ireland
became the first EU country to ban smoking in the workplace.
Italy
2005,
Italy banned smoking in enclosed public places, cafes and restaurants.
Netherlands
2004,
The Netherlands banned smoking in workplaces and on public transport.
New
Zealand
13 December 2022, New Zealand passed
a law effectively making it impossible for anyone aged 14 or under there to
ever start smoking. The country introduced a minimum age for buying tobacco
products, that will rise by one year every year from now. In 2022, 8% of New
Zealanders smoked daily, down from 9.4% in 2021, one of the lowest rates in the
world.
2004,
New Zealand banned smoking in indoor public places including bars and
restaurants.
North
Korea
7/2007,
Smoking was banned in Kim Jong Il�s home, his office, and in any
public place he might visit.
Norway
2004,
Norway banned smoking in public buildings, cafes, bars and restautrants.
Singapore
March 1993, Singapore
banned under-18s from buying cigarettes or smoking in public
Spain
2006,
Spain banned smoking in workplaces and on public transport.
UK
5/2017,
Cigarettes sold in the UK could now only be retailed in plain packets.
10 February 2014, In the UK, MPs
voted to ban smoking in cars carrying children.
7/2007, The UK banned smoking in �enclosed
workplaces�, including bars and restaurants.
4/2007,
Wales banned snoking in public places.
29 November 2006, Allen
Carr, British anti-smoking campaigner, died (born 2 September 1934).
24 January 2005, JD Wetherspoon announced that
all its 650 pubs were to be smoke-free from 2006, with 60 of its London pubs
banning smoking by May 2005.
10 November 2004, The Scottish Executive
announced it was to ban smoking in public places from June 2006.
31 July 1965, The last advert for cigarettes appeared on British
TV.
8 February 1965. The British Government, Health Minister Kenneth Robinson, announced a ban on
cigarette advertising on TV, to take effect on 31 July 1965.
2 September 1934, Allen Carr,
British anti-smoking campaigner, was born (died 29 November 2006).
USA
1 January 1998, California banned
smoking in all its bars and restaurants.
2 January 1997, The US State of
California extended its smoking ban to bars and other drinking establishments.
1988, In the US, smoking
was banned on all airline flights of less than 2 hours duration.
1971, Cigarette adverts were banned on US radio and
television.
27 July 1966, In the USA, cigarette packets had to carry labels
warning of the health risks.
General
health awareness
4 October 2002, Betty Bullock of Newport Beach, California, a terminally ill cancer patient, won US$
28 million punitive damages against the Philip Morris tobacco company for
suppressing evidence on the link between smoking and cancer.
6 June 2001, A jury in Washington awarded lifelong smoker Richard Boeken, 56, US$ 3 billion after deciding that tobacco
giant Philip Morris was responsible for his cancer.
15 January 1998, Five cigarette manufacturers agreed a
settlement with the State of Texas for US$ 7.25 billion in compensation for the
treatment costs of tobacco-related diseases. This was the largest payment in
history. However this settlement was dwarfed on 20 November 1998 by a
settlement of US$206 billion by the 4 largest US tobacco firms to agree claims
by all US States.
7 January 1993, In the USA, the Environmental Protection Agency released the
results of a 4-year study proving that second-hand
cigarette smoke was killing 3,000 non-smokers a year through lung cancer, as
well as causing asthma attacks and respiratory infections in babies.
1992, Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, in Switzerland,
produced the first nicotine skin patch.
24 June 1992, The
family of US
woman Rose
Cipollone, who died of lung cancer after 42 years of smoking,
succeeded in a lawsuit against the cigarette companies.
16 May 1988, The US Surgeon-General declared that nicotine�s
�pharmacological and behavioural processes� were addictive in similar ways to
heroin and cocaine.
31 May 1987, The World Health Organisation first designated
this day �No Tobacco Day�, to
highlight the health problems caused by smoking.
29 March 1985, Luther Terry, US
Surgeon-General whose report in 1964 concluded that smoking caused cancer,
died.
1976, Adult smoking
prevalence in the USA had decreased, but total cigarette consumption wa sup,
due to a growing population and the increasing popularity of cigarettes with
teenagers, especially girls.
1980, Nicorette chewing gum
(registered in the USA 1981) became available in the UK, as a method of getting
off cigarette addiction.
1971, Awareness of the health risks of passive
smoking began to increase.
1964, Public pressure forced the
tobacco industry to stop advertising
in college newspapers, sports programs and on college radio.
11 January 1964. Health experts in America
published the first warnings that cigarettes could be dangerous for your
health.
1961, US cigarette producers
spent US$ 115 million on TV advertising, up from US$ 40 million in 1957. Cancer fears were threatening their sales.
12 July 1957, US Surgeon-General Leroy
E Burney announced the US Public Health Service�s belief that there
was a direct causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer.
27 June 1957, The Medical Research Council announced that
smoking caused cancer.
26 June 1957. The UK government began an anti-smoking campaign, despite fears that this
would cause tax revenue to fall. As recently as 1956, the Health Minister, Mr R Turton, had said there was no proof that
smoking caused any harm, but recent reports in the UK and USA now suggested
links to some bronchial and heart diseases.
7 May 1956. The UK Health Minister refused to back an
anti-smoking campaign because he wasn�t convinced it was harmful.
12 January 1954, A UK official committee linked cigarettes with cancer.
24 January 1927, The British
Medical Association warned that cancer deaths,
especially of the chest and tongue, had risen sharply in the past 20 years. Smoking had become much more popular over
this period.
25 January 1926, British
surgeon Sir
Berkeley Moynihan said cancer of the tongue was partly caused by
smoking.
Rise of filter tip cigarettes
27 May 1959, Sales of
filter tipped cigarettes helped tobacco manufacturers maintain sales after
recent reports linking smoking to cancer.
1926, Du Maurier produced the
first filter cigarette. In te 1930s filter tips were advertised as �removing
many of the throat irritants� from smoking.
1907, The first filter tip cigarettes were produced. Cork was initially used
for the filter.
General other tobacco chronology
1933, �Mentholated� cigarettes were on sale,
marketed as being more sophisticated than ordinary ones.
1930, Hollywood
helped glamourise cigarette smoking by having film stars smoke in many films.
10 August 1928, British cigarette smoking was rising fast (see
Cigarette Cards, 1902). In 1924 the
country consumed 77,458,000 lbs of tobacco, up from 23,766,000 lbs in 1907,
according to figures from the Imperial economic Committee. In 1927 Britons
consumed 3.4 lbs of tobacco per head. All the increase was from cigarettes;
pipe smoking and cigars had declined. Cigarette sales were boosted by marketing
techniques such as free cards, and cigarette
smoking had become a powerful symbol of female emancipation. Younger females
also saw the habit as romantic. However some doctors were concerned about links
to the rise in various cancers.
21 March 1923. �Scientists in Paris claimed smoking is
beneficial.
11� April 1921, Iowa became the first US
State to impose a cigarette tax, of 2 cents per pack. By 1991 this tax stood at
36 cents.
28 October 1912, Birth of Sir Richard
Doll, British cancer specialist who proved the link between cigarette smoking and cancer.
1910, US cigarette sales reached
8.6 billion; 62% of sales were controlled by the American Tobacco Trust, set up in 1890. US
tobacco companies spent US$ 18.1 million on advertising this year.
1908, New York made smoking by
women in public illegal.
2 August 1907, Dr Herbert Tidswell, a Devon GP, spoke out at
a meeting of the British Medical Association about the undesirability of
allowing children to smoke. He claimed smoking could cause cancer, but other doctors were
unconvinced that moderate smoking was dangerous.
1902, Cigarette Cards were first used in cigarette packets. They were a
powerful sales tool, used until well after World War Two, as people tried to
collect full sets of them. By 1936 there vwere �cartophilists�, those who collected, arranged and studied such
cards; a hobby which peaked in the 1930s and 40s.
1896, Although women in Britain
has smoked in private since around 1890, the Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre
shocked guests at the Savoy Hotel, London, by lighting up in the dining room.
27 February 1883, Oscar Hammerstein patented the first practical
cigar rolling machine
1854, During the Crimean War,
British soldiers acquired the habit of smoking cigarettes from the Turkish
soldiers. Previously, smoking in Britain was more an activity for the wealthy.
1853, In Cuba, Don Luis opened the world�s first
mechanised factory for mass-producing cigarettes.
1843, The Manufacture Francaise
des Tabacs (French Tobacco Factory)
opened as the world�s first commercial cigarette factory.
1761, The first association
between tobacco and cancer was observed by London physician John Hill. He reported six cases of
�polypusses� related to excessive use of snuff in his work, �Cautions Against
the Immoderate Use of Snuff�.
1612,Tobacco cultivation began
in Virgina, USA.
1604, King James I of England
described smoking tobacco as �a custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the
nose, harmful to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and in the blacke and
stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the Stigian smoke of the pit that is
bottomless�. He imposed large import taxes on tobacco.
1550, Tobacco first brought to Europe, from the Americas, and
cultivated in Spain.
UK smoking
prevalence
|
|
All adults |
Men |
Women |
|
2020 |
15.0% |
|
|
|
2019 |
14.8% |
|
|
|
2017 |
15.5% |
|
|
|
2015 |
17.2% |
|
|
|
2011 |
20.2% |
|
|
|
1994 |
28.0% |
|
|
|
1988 |
|
33.0% |
30.0% |
|
1984 |
33.0% |
36.0% |
32.0% |
|
1974 |
46.0% |
|
|
|
1972 |
|
52.0% |
41.0% |
US smoking prevalence %
|
|
Adults 21+ |
Adult males |
Adult females |
|
1976 |
33.5 |
39.3 |
28.9 |
|
1970 |
36.3 |
42.3 |
30.5 |
|
1964 |
42.5 |
52.5 |
31.5 |
US cigarette production, consumption (m = millions)
|
Year |
Production |
Consumption |
Per capita, adults 18+ |
% smokers |
|
1971 |
|
547,200 m |
|
|
|
1970 |
|
|
|
42(M), 31(F) |
|
1968 |
|
517,100 m |
4,100 |
|
|
1966 |
|
|
|
52(M), 34(F) |
|
1964 |
|
524,000 m |
4,300 |
|
|
1930 |
130,000 m |
|
|
|
|
1925 |
82,200 m |
|
|
|
|
1923 |
66,700 m |
|
|
|
|
1921 |
48,000 m |
43,000 m |
|
|
|
1917 |
35,300 m |
|
|
|
|
1910 |
8,600 m |
10,000 m |
|
|
|
1875 |
50 m |
|
|
|