A Counterblaste to Tobacco

A Counterblaste to Tobacco is a treatise written by King James VI and I in 1604. In it he expresses his distaste for tobacco and tobacco-smoking.Steve Luck, The Complete Guide to Cigars: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Finest Cigars, Bath, UK: Parragon, p. 13 It is one of the earliest known anti-smoking publications.

Style and content It is written in Early Modern English and refers to medical theories of the time (e.g. the four humours).A Counterblaste to Tobacco (retrieved February 22, 2008) In it James blames the Native Americans for bringing tobacco to Europe, complains about passive smoking, warns of dangers to the lungs and decries tobacco's odour as "hatefull to the Nose."

Effects and legacy James's dislike of tobacco led him in 1604 to authorise Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, to levy an excise tax and tariff of six shillings and eight pence per pound of tobacco imported,Commissio pro Tobacco, James I, 1616 or £1 per three pounds, a large sum of money for the time. This would be £90 per pound in 2024, or £198 per kilogram.Tobacco Price Inquiry - March 2022 (Slideshow) USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Because of the persistently high demand for tobacco in the Kingdom of England and the negative effects on the economies of its colonies in British America, the King in 1624 instead created a royal monopoly on tobacco. 150 years later the British utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham would cite A Counterblaste to Tobacco as an example of antipathy run wild.

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A Counterblaste to Tobacco

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