Tobacco is the agricultural product of the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. All species of Nicotiana contain the recreational drug nicotine—a stimulant and sedative contained in all parts of the plants except the seeds—which occurs in varying amounts depending on the species and variety cultivated. It is thought that an interaction between nicotine and MAOI beta-carbolines found in tobacco account for the addictive properties of its use.
Tobacco is primarily derived from the species Nicotiana tabacum, although it is also produced from Nicotiana alata, and to a lesser extent Nicotiana clevelandii, Nicotiana longiflora, Nicotiana rustica, and others.
Once tobacco has been grown, harvested, cured, and processed, it is used to produce a number of different products. These are most often consumable; however, tobacco and the nicotine derived from it are also used to create pesticides.
Tobacco products can generally be divided into two types: smoked tobacco and smokeless tobacco.
An expert in tobacco and tobacco products—especially pipes, pipe tobacco and cigars—including their procurement and sale, is called a tobacconist.
Famous quotes containing the words tobacco and/or products:
“There is held to be no surer test of civilisation than the increase per head of the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. Yet alcohol and tobacco are recognisable poisons, so that their consumption has only to be carried far enough to destroy civilisation altogether.”
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939)
“All that is told of the sea has a fabulous sound to an inhabitant of the land, and all its products have a certain fabulous quality, as if they belonged to another planet, from seaweed to a sailor’s yarn, or a fish story. In this element the animal and vegetable kingdoms meet and are strangely mingled.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)