The first tobacco plants are believed to have grown in the Americas. By about 1 B.C., indigenous people were growing tobacco and using it for ceremonial, spiritual and cultural purposes.

The sacred pipe, also known as the peace pipe, was a revered object used for ceremonial occasions. The act of smoking was a bonding between humans and sacred spirits, with the narcotic effect of the tobacco and the rising smoke considered signs the communication was completed.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus observed Native Americans using tobacco for its pleasurable effects as well as for treating maladies.

The plant was brought to Europe, where herbs were thought to have therapeutic properties.

In the 1560s, French ambassador Jean Nicot saw tobacco in backyards of Lisbon, where he worked as a diplomat. He brought the plant back to France, where botanist Carl Linneaus honored him by giving tobacco the Latin name Nicotiana tabacum.

Nicot introduced snuff to the queen of France, Catherine de Medici, who found it helped relieve migraine headaches.

The moist smokeless tobacco, called snus in Sweden, could be placed in the upper lip and did not require spitting, so it could be enjoyed with elegant flair.

With Paris as the model for European courts, snus became prized by aristocrats, who carried it in expensive in gold cans, symbols of upper-class status.

In the U.S., the use of chewing tobacco became widespread, as America was separating politically and culturally from England. American men disdained the pretentious use of snuff by sophisticated Englishmen.

In baseball, which was a developing into popular sport, players chewed tobacco to increase saliva production and prevent dry mouths in a dusty infield. Players moistened their leather gloves with spit, and pitchers used the chaw to lubricate deliveries of “spitballs” to gain an advantage over hitters.

At its peak, in 1890, the average American chewed more than 3 pounds of tobacco per year. The same year, German microbiologist Robert Koch conducted research that showed spitting of chewing tobacco was spreading tuberculosis, and its use began declining in the general population. Cancer deaths eventually led to bans of smokeless tobacco from college baseball in 1990 and Minor League baseball in 1993.

In 2016, Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement banned new major league players from using it.