''A Counterblaste to Tobacco'' is a treatise written by King James VI of Scotland and I of England in 1604, in which he expresses his distaste for tobacco, particularly tobacco smoking.Steve Luck, ''The Complete Guide to Cigars: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Finest Cigars'', Bath, UK: Parragon, p. 13 As such, it is one of the earliest anti-tobacco 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)
/ref> In it, James blames Native Americans for bringing tobacco to Europe, complains about

passive smoking Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called secondhand smoke (SHS), or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by persons other than the intended "active" smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke enters an environment, causing its inhalat ...

, warns of dangers to the

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...

s, and decries tobacco's odour as "hatefull to the nose."

Effects and legacy

James's dislike of tobacco led him in 1604 to authorize Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, to levy an

excise tax file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

and tariff of six

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

s and eight

pence A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...

per pound of tobacco

import An import is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. In international trade, the importation and exportation of goods are limited ...

ed,pro Tobacco'', James I, 1616
/ref> or £1 per three pounds, a large sum of money for the time. Because of continued high demand for tobacco in England and negative effects on the economies of the American colonies, the king in 1624 instead created a royal monopoly for the crop. 150 years later, British utilitarian

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Jeremy Bentham would cite ''A Counterblaste to Tobacco'' as an example of

antipathy Antipathy is a dislike for something or somebody, the opposite of sympathy. While antipathy may be induced by experience, it sometimes exists without a rational cause-and-effect explanation being present to the individuals involved. Thus, the ori ...

run wild.

Quotation

References

External links

Full text of ''A Counterblaste to Tobacco''

''A Counterblaste to Tobacco'' on Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Counterblaste to Tobacco, A Works by James VI and I History of tobacco Medical literature 1604 books Smoking in the United Kingdom