Prologue
Bollywood – Back since Dev Anand murmuring, “Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala Gaya” till Sanju Baba’s “dhue ka chhalla” in the present day, the dashingly characterized protagonist of Indian cinema has always been shown to add to his character with a smoke stick in his fingers and flumes of smoke blown out of mouth; that ultimately gains an overall effect to the manly charm. Also to fairly mention, female characters too have been practicing the same as per the need and design of their bold characters as well as the otherwise parameters. The censor board has been quite firm and bent toward banning smoking in films. The fonts on cigarette packets also highlight bigger and larger with statutory warnings, “CIGARETTE SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH” or “SMOKING KILLS” etc. Despite the efforts and practices against promoting smoking or in favor of the “STOP SMOKING” campaigns, the endeavored meaning has not survived. People have not and might not surrender their smoking habits to the awareness of its anticipated cruel aftereffects, instead more and more people continue to get fascinated for smoking and submit their risk of healthiness to the stunning tobacco stick i.e. cigarettes.
How did this all happen?
Much earlier when cigarettes how they are today were non-existent, people used to enjoy stimulation through cigars or by means of drinking tobacco through pipes. Also, chewing tobacco was quite common (this phenomenon still persists in the present age as well, but it rarely prevails in the urban areas and that too is moreover limited to rural areas in India (with keeping Indian scenario in mind)). Gradually, with the passage of ages and times in motion, several ways of tobacco consumption were further developed and one of which is cigarette, came out to be the most popular and favorite invention for all. Cigarette was the last method of taking tobacco to be developed. As been said, previously, it had been smoked in pipes and cigars, inhaled as a snuff and chewed. There is no eminent information available on who invented the cigarette; however, an obvious assumption explains that cigarette must have been made out as an alternative to cigars. But there definitely are rough derivations and spread-heard stories behind the birth of cigarettes.
In former times, cigars were popular in the rich and higher classes of the society in Spain; also, that cigar was invented in Spain, apparently, its production was also carried out over there. Cigars were made by hand and were excessively expensive. Being a status quo and because of its high-end utility by the rich people, cigars were clearly too costly to be affordable by the beggars and the poor people. What these poor people would do is also very strange though natural. They would collect the cigar butts thrown by rich cigar smokers. These cigar left-over were a waste to throw away for cigar smokers but the same were the raw material for further tailored smoking tools for other men. After gathering enough raw materials, these poor men would then extract the tobacco components from the left over and crush them. They would then roll the same crush into a piece of paper and take pleasure in smoking the same. This fabricated brew was colloquially started being called as “cigarillos” by people, there; popularly dejected as “the poor man’s smoke” by the wealthy class.
With there being no point in doubting the whether or not truthfulness of the story; Such phenomenon of rolling tobacco in a piece of paper for smoking reached Europe in the 18th century and then it was made to reach France, further. Here, it was given the name, “cigarette” and it is after France that the cigarette took the flight. It became well-liked, admired and for it being the new trendy thing in all the rage, cigarettes got increasingly widespread amongst throughout the human existence, just like air. This progression was due to the reason that cigarettes had become so common and easily achievable by then that any man could readily roll a cigarette for self anywhere just with having some tobacco and a piece of paper. One more incentive was that cigarettes came out to be at the least cost of making as compared to the ready made cigars, also, that it involved far lesser amount of complicated efforts to smoke a cigarette than smoking a pipe. Hence, an encompassed bunch of valid reasons for cigarettes to receive unstopping popularity would contain these; they were cheaper than cigars, less troublesome than a pipe and more stylish than a snuff. One would simply carry his own quantity of tobacco and some sheets of paper to wherever he wants and form his own cigarettes at the ease of choice and smoking desirability.
It was when Columbus discovered America that tobacco was conveyed to Europe and the rest of the whole world. And tobacco, as a matter of fact was misconstrued to having possessed splendid medically therapeutic properties. While it being said above that there isn’t eminent information on who invented the cigarette, it as is good to confess that no one could be credited to have truly invented the cigarette. It came as a modification, a reduction of cigars and that was out of desperate passion to smoke tobacco because of the thrill and the pleasure giving ride that it gives to one. Cigarettes then finally got introduced to the British soldiers during their participation in the Crimean war in 1850. These army men from Britain picked up to being habituated to cigarette smoking with the soldiers of Turkey and Russia. From there, it continued till America where tobacco had been discovered for the first most time, centuries ago. Initially, cigarettes were only handmade until in 1880 that an anonymous American invented a machine to do the mechanism, increasing the numbers made every year from 500 million to 4,000 million – in America alone! Today, a cigarette is every minute.
How is a cigarette made to production?
As is made up of composing a mixture of paper, processed tobacco, PVA and cellulose acetate filter. Albeit that the process of producing a cigarette is seemingly simple, the more complicated and much specialized is the course of processing the tobacco that is used. As indicated by an approximated estimation, the tobacco to be used in making a cigarette comprises of more than 100 different chemicals and compositions.
Facts!
Based on a study conducted in the direction, figures state that approximately 11.55 billion cigarettes are produced in the whole world yearly. And this whole amount of cigarettes is consumed by more than 1 billion people worldwide.
Overall, cigarette consumption is more often and most commonly noted in males, however, America denotes up to a boisterous 22% of female candidates treating their indulgence in smoking cigarettes. Whereas, Europe contends that number with even more rowdy 26% of female smokers; while on the contrary, Africa and Asia are way behind by measly & modest 4%.
On the same tangent concerning India, as per the obtainable statistics on account of World Health Organization (WHO), 43% men and 3% women in India enjoy cigarette smoking. India alone produces nearly 10 billion cigarettes, annually.
Whether it does or does not be a worrying matter, but the real fact is that half men out of the total male population in India are cigarette-captivated and all the more are picking up on the fondness.
