Tobacco is the agricultural product of the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana, commonly called 'tobacco plants'. It is widely legally sold and used recreationally through various routes of administration (most commonly smoking) for the addictive drug nicotine – a stimulant alkaloid found in all parts of the plants except the seeds.
Nicotine is most heavily concentrated in the leaves (and hence makes up most tobacco products), which occurs in varying amounts depending on the species of Nicotiana grown; the breed, type, or variety of tobacco cultivated and produced; and the method used to cure and process tobacco leaves once they have been harvested. Tobacco sales (particularly cigarettes) reached a height in the 20th century, but have since reduced due to the discovery of the health effects of smoking tobacco.
This article provides a list of tobacco preparations and products. This list includes both tobacco products meant for consumption and those intended for other uses. Under the heading of consumable tobacco products, several categories of tobacco product are described in this list. Of these four basic categories, the first two include what are most often traditional types of tobacco products and preparations, relegated to the broad sub-categories of smoked tobacco and smokeless tobacco; the latter two categories include those types of tobacco products which have only recently been developed or widely adopted: heated tobacco products and nicotine-only products.
A sub-category of nicotine-only products, nicotinized herbal tobacco alternatives, consists of products which include added nicotine but mainly consist of non-tobacco herbal or plant material.
Following is a brief description of each of these categories:
Smoked tobacco products — Tobacco-containing products which consist of tobacco meant for smoking. Common smoked tobacco products include cigarettes, cigars, and hookah tobacco (usually mu'assel). Smokeless tobacco products — Tobacco-containing products used in a manner which does not produce smoke, while still being distinct from heated tobacco products. Common smokeless tobacco products include dipping tobacco (also called moist snuff or dip), snus, and the various forms of chewing tobacco. Heated tobacco products — Tobacco-containing products used by heating tobacco in order to produce an aerosol or particulate suspension that can be inhaled. Also known as heat-not-burn tobacco products or smokeless cigarettes, common lines of heated tobacco products include IQOS tobacco cylinders and the loose tobacco blends vaporized in Pax dry herb vaporizers. Nicotine-only products — Nicotine-containing products that do not contain tobacco, featuring nicotine either extracted from tobacco or non-tobacco nicotine, usually synthetic nicotine. Common nicotine-only products include e-liquid (aerosolized using an e-cigarette or vape), nicotine pouches, and various types of nicotine replacement therapy products. Nicotinized herbal tobacco alternatives — A sub-category of nicotine-only product which comprises products consisting of herbal or plant-based ingredients infused with nicotine, including nicotinized herbal cigarettes and herbal smokeless tobacco.
Overview
Cultivation and types of tobacco
The vast majority of commercially available tobacco is derived from the species Nicotiana tabacum (cultivated tobacco or common tobacco), although to a lesser extent it is also produced from Nicotiana alata, Nicotiana clevelandii, Nicotiana longiflora, and Nicotiana rustica, among others. (This is especially the case in certain areas, among particular cultures, or by certain industries or businesses; for example, the use of N. alata to produce particular kinds of hookah tobacco by various tobacco companies or retailers in Iran.) N. rustica (called Aztec tobacco, strong tobacco, thuốc lào in Vietnam, mapacho in South America, and makhorka (Russian: маxорка) in Russia) in particular contains much more nicotine than N. tabacum and other species of Nicotiana, and forms the basis of a number of unique tobacco products, as well as typically noncommercial preparations traditionally used in a shamanic, spiritual, or entheogenic context by various Indigenous peoples of the Americas. (For example, the use of rapéh mapacho snuff by Indigenous Brazilians.)
Once tobacco has been grown, harvested, cured, and processed, it is used to produce a number of different products, both commercial and noncommercial. These are most often consumable; however, tobacco and the nicotine derived from it are also used to create pesticides.
Terminology
Tobacco products, when the term is used to refer specifically to those products which contain material from the tobacco plant and are intended for consumption, often implies two general categories of product: smoked tobacco and smokeless tobacco.
When the term tobacco product is used to refer to any product containing tobacco or nicotine and intended for consumption, a third and fourth category of such products may become relevant, and especially with regard to recent developments in methods of nicotine consumption: heated tobacco products (HTPs) and nicotine-only products (also called alternative nicotine products or simply nicotine products)—the latter term itself essentially a misnomer because, while nicotine-only products do not contain tobacco, but rather nicotine in the absence of tobacco, they typically also contain other ingredients besides nicotine—both of which function to deliver nicotine to a user while potentially providing harm reduction from the negative effects of using smokeless tobacco or consuming tobacco smoke. (Tobacco smoke contains tar, carbon monoxide, and other dangerous constituents; tobacco in general normally contains high levels of carcinogenic nitrosamines.)
Another phrase used to denote various types of tobacco product, including "tobacco-adjacent products" which contain synthetic, or non-tobacco, derived nicotine (non-tobacco nicotine, or NTN), is alternative tobacco products—a catch-all term for any non-cigarette tobacco product.
An expert in tobacco, tobacco products, and tobacciana (objects, accoutrements, and paraphernalia associated with tobacco consumption, and especially items of historical or collectible value)—namely pipes, pipe tobacco, and cigars—including their procurement and sale, is called a tobacconist. (The term tobacconist may also refer to the type of business run by tobacconists; to a lesser extent the word refers to retail outlets, often called smoke shops or head shops, that typically sell tobacco products alongside other smoking products, legal psychotropics, cannabis culture-associated products and paraphernalia, and related consumables and accoutrements.)
Health impacts
Tobacco products
The health effects of tobacco consumption are significantly deleterious: tobacco use, and especially smoked and smokeless tobacco use, is associated with the development and aggravation of numerous diseases, many of which may lead to mortality or a lessening of lifespan and quality of life. Nicotine is an exceptionally addictive chemical, its repeated consumption associated with a high likelihood of developing a physical and psychological dependence upon the substance. (Additionally, nicotine withdrawal is associated with nicotine cessation following addiction or habituation to nicotine—this includes the discontinuation of tobacco smoking.)
While nicotine is one of the most widely used recreational drugs, the consequences of its popularity and addictiveness are considerably negative. The effects of the prevalence of tobacco consumption upon society include what has long been the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, economic losses, and serious strains upon the healthcare systems of various countries.
There is some evidence to suggest that when nicotine is consumed in the form of tobacco, MAOIs called harmala alkaloids present in the tobacco leaf may interact with nicotine in the body to increase its effects, and therefore addictiveness.
Nicotine-only products
of what are largely recently developed products: that is, nicotine-containing products which do not contain tobacco, i.e. non-tobacco products which contain either nicotine isolated from tobacco or non-tobacco nicotine (NTN, as abbreviated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, mainly consisting of products containing synthetic nicotine).
This type of product mainly includes nicotine products consisting of nicotine—typically free nicotine, nicotine salts, or nicotine polacrilex—combined with other ingredients, which themselves may or may not be harmful to health depending on the particular ingredients in question and the route of administration involved.
E-cigarette liquid (otherwise known as vape juice, e-liquid, vape oil, or simply juice), for instance, may contain ingredients that when vaped (aerosolized and inhaled) alongside nicotine, such as formaldehyde, are harmful to health and well-being. However, scientific evidence currently points to the possibility that e-cigarettes are at least somewhat safer than conventional (combustible) cigarettes.
The use of nicotine, either in the absence of tobacco or via tobacco consumption, produces a number of physiological effects. These include, but are not limited to: a form of euphoric intoxication typically known among recreational users as a buzz, nicotine buzz, or nic buzz; changes in blood pressure and circulation; and acute—or, with frequent or repeated use, chronic—alterations of the hormonal, cardiac, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems; with acute adverse effects including nausea, lightheadedness, sleep disturbances, rapid heart rate, and headaches.
The only medicinal nicotine agents currently approved as safe for medical intervention—namely nicotine cessation—are nicotine replacement therapy products. NRT products were first approved for use in 1984, when they were introduced in the United States.
A more recent introduction to the growing list of tobacco- and tobacco-related products generally, alternative nicotine products are a type of nicotine-only product which were developed, and are intended, for potential recreational use, rather than for strictly medicinal purposes. (As are NRT products.)
Consumable
Heated tobacco products
Heated tobacco products (HTPs) are a relatively recent introduction among the various types of tobacco products: also known as "heat-not-burn" or "heat, not burn" products ("heat-not-burn" being a marketing term employed by the tobacco industry), the use of HTPs involves heating tobacco at a temperature lower than conventional, combustible cigarettes.
Nicotine-only products
Nicotine-only products are, like HTPs, a category of tobacco product which, except in the case of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products, were developed only somewhat recently. Nicotine-only products consist of nicotine in the absence of tobacco, whether the nicotine contained in the product is extracted from tobacco plants or synthesized. They include nicotine-containing e-liquid—aerosolized in an e-cigarette or "vape"—nicotine pouches, and NRT products—those used to achieve nicotine cessation or tobacco cessation—such as pharmaceutical nicotine gum, nicotine lozenges, nicotine patches, and nicotine inhalers. The term alternative nicotine products refers specifically to those nicotine-only products which, unlike NRT products, have been developed for recreational, rather than strictly medicinal, use: these include the aforementioned e-liquid and nicotine pouches, as well as disposable or pre-filled nicotine vaporizers and nicotine toothpicks.
Smoked tobacco
Cigars