World No Tobacco Day

 

May 31

Tobacco – in the Footsteps of the Pioneers.

Smoking is "a custome that is lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the nose, harmefull to the braine, daungerous to the Lungs …" so wrote James VI of Scotland a year after his accession to the English throne as James 1 in 1603. Although James was centuries ahead of his time in recognising the health hazards of smoking, his distain for tobacco and smokers had no influence on curtailing the spread of the habit that was by then already well established in Britain and Europe.

The tobacco plant genus 'Nicotiana' is native to sub tropical regions but – weeds being weeds – can be sucessfully cultivated in more temperate regions. There are two main species used in the production of tobacco on the American continent - the hardy wild tobacco 'Nicotiana rustica', used for centuries by the indigenous peoples before the arrival of the Europeans, and a hybrid 'Nicotiana tabacum' cultivated for commercial tobacco production . Nicotine, a poisonous addictive alkaloid found in both species has narcotic and soothing qualities so was used by the native people for ceremonial and medicinal purposes as well as for everyday social use. Nicotiana rustica has nicotine content up to nine times greater than N. tabacum.with consequently more powerful pharmacological effects of intoxication, hallucination and addiction. Tobacco is commonly consumed by smoking or chewing the prepared leaf of the tobacco plant or by inhaling through the nose a fine powder made from the dried leaf (snuff).

Tobacco, made into a liquid infusion to extract the nicotine, was also an important insecticide spray for fruit growers.

The population of New France having acquired the smoking habit from the First Nations peoples cultivated N. rustica for their own use from the 17^th C onwards – a strong tasting home grown product known as 'le tabac canadien'. Further South, conditions in the newly established British colony of Virginia at the beginning of the 17^th C were found to be favourable for the commercial cultivation of tobacco. The first exports of tobacco from Virginia to England were prepared from the N. rustica plant but soon after, seeds of the milder N. tabacum were smuggled into the colony from Spanish held territories in the Carribean to establish commercial production of this more valuable variety – then literally worth its weight in silver. Hence N. tabacum was also to become known as Virginia tobacco.

This variety of tobacco plant was introduced to Canada by the United Empire Loyalists fleeing persecution during the American Revolution in 1783 leading to establishment of commercial tobacco production in South Western Upper Canada by the early 19^th C.

Tobacco is prepared by curing or drying the leaf of the plant. The earliest procedure was to harvest the whole plant at maturity cut close to the ground and hung in well ventilated barns to air cure for several weeks. The curing time could be reduced by raising the air temperature with smouldering hardwood fires (fire cured). Cured tobacco could be further improved by fermentation (akin to composting) and by aging for a year or longer – procedures requiring large quantities of cured leaf and so practically limited to commercial growers. Flavourings such as rum and molasses were also sometimes added. All of the early tobaccos were produced for pipe, chewing and snuff consumption, cigarettes becoming commercially available only during the late 19^th C.

The pioneering settlers of Glengarry County likely had access to home grown 'tabac canadien' but could they possibly have cultivated the milder but frost sensitive N. tabacum for their own personal consumption? To find out, a few years ago I planted some heritage Virginia tobacco seeds on the old Cuthbert farm property (established 1825) in Lochiel Township, Concession 3. The seedlings were raised indoors in April and then planted outside after the last frost. At maturity the plants were cut down whole and hung in the original log barn to air cure. The unfermented tobacco was found to be somewhat harsh to the taste but nevertheless the experiment was considered successful. Some of this tobacco is now on display in Roxborough Hall, Glengarry Pioneer Museum.

Written by the late John Downing in September 2017 and published in the Glengarry Pioneer Museum's annual newsletter, Timelines in the spring of 2018.

Some of the tobacco cutters from the Glengarry Pioneer Museum Collection.

                                      Made by the Empire Tobacco Company in Granby 
                                        Quebec at some point between 1864 and 1908.         

Air dried Tobacco plants