ORIGIN
The cigarette’s ancestry spans back to pre-Colonial South and Central America where among the Maya smoking tobacco was commonly wrapped in banana skin, bark, and maize leaves. The Spanish brought these papalettes back to Europe and replaced the maize-wrappers with fine paper. From at least the 1830s, papalettes crossed into France where the name “cigarette” was adopted by the French tobacco monopoly in 1845. In addition to changing the name, the French monopoly also changed the type of tobacco used in cigarettes after smokers were found to prefer American to French tobacco, which was seen as too bitter. The French introduced cigarettes in Germany and Russia where American tobacco was blended with Turkish or Balkan tobacco.
The American Blend
The American blend includes three different types of tobacco with varying nicotine content. Virginia tobacco, also known as bright tobacco, has a moderate amount of nicotine relative to burley and oriental tobacco which are used in the American blend.
•Virginia tobacco is flue cured. Flue curing involves the use of heat which turns the green leaves to a bright (hence the name) golden brown color.
•Burley tobacco has a higher amount of nicotine, but can be hard to inhale unless mixed with other tobaccos. Burley tobacco is typically air cured.
•Oriental tobacco also referred to as Turkish tobacco is low in nicotine content and is added to the American blend because of its flavor characteristics. Oriental tobacco is sun cured.
