In 1779, Jonathan Carver wrote A Treatise on the Culture of the Tobacco Plant, which includes two rather exceptional drawings and engravings of the plant itself.
Carver begins his book by relating facts about the discovery and spread of tobacco, which he refers to as a medicinal plant. He relates that it has had several names: “The Americans of the continent called it Petun; those of the islands, Yoli. Hernandez de Toledo sent it into Spain from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan…and from which place he gave it the denomination it still bears.” And, “The French, on its first introduction among them, gave it various names, as Nicotiana, or the Ambassador’s Herb, from John Nicot, who came soon after it was discovered, as ambassador to that court, from Francis the Second of Portugal, and brought some of it with him; which he presented to…Queen Catherine de Medicis”.
He notes that tobacco came into England before Sir Walter Raleigh popularized it there, but gives Raleigh credit for teaching the English how to smoke.
This book includes one of the early accounts of cigars:
“Before pipes were invented, it was usually smoked in segars, and they are still in use among some of the southern nations. The method of preparing these is at once simple and expeditions: a leaf of tobacco being formed into a small twisted roll somewhat larger than the stem of a pipe, and about eight inches long, the smoke is conveyed through the winding folds, which prevent it from expanding, as through a tube; so that one end of it being lighted, and the other applied to the mouth, it is in this form used without much inconvenience.”
Carver includes descriptions of the tobacco plant, information about how it is grown and cured. These descriptions are particularly interesting because you can see clear parallels to how some things are done today. There are differences, to be sure. But there are a large number of similarities as well. You can see how the processes have evolved by reading books like this one and then learning about how tobacco is grown and processed today.
A Treatise on the Culture of the Tobacco Plant is in the public domain and available to read for free on Project Gutenberg.