Science 7 - LAND and SEA BREEZE and its Characteristics
No smoking
1. No Smoking
Smoking is a practice where a substance, most
commonly tobacco, is burned and the smoke tasted
or inhaled. This is primarily done as a form of
recreational drug use, as combustion releases the
active substances in drugs such as nicotine and
makes them available for absorption through the
lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to
induce trances and spiritual enlightenment. The
most common method of smoking today is through
cigarettes, primarily industrially manufactured but
also hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling
paper. Other forms, though not as common, are
pipes, cigars, hookahs and bongs.
2. An industrially manufactured cigarette
burning in an ashtray; the most common
form of smoking today.
Smoking is one of the most
common forms of
recreational drug use.
Tobacco smoking is today by
far the most popular form of
smoking and is practiced by
over one billion people in the
majority of all human
societies. Less common drugs
for smoking include cannabis
and opium. Most drugs that
are smoked are considered to
be addictive. Some of the
substances are classified as
hard narcotics, like heroin
and crack cocaine, but the
use of these is very limited as
they are often not
commercially available.
3. Aztec women are handed flowers and
smoking tubes before eating at a
banquet, Florentine Codex, 16th
century.
A carving from the temple at
Palenque, Mexico, depicting a
Mayan priest using a smoking tube.
Smoking has been practiced in one form
or another since ancient times. Tobacco
and various hallucinogenic drugs were
smoked all over the Americas as early as
5000 BC in shamanistic rituals and
originated in the Peruvian and
Ecuadorian Andes. Many ancient
civilizations, such as the Babylonians,
Indians and Chinese, burnt incense as a
part of religious rituals, as did the
Israelites and the later Catholic and
Orthodo Christian churches. In Ancient
Greece, smoke was used as healing
practice and the Oracle of Delphi made
prophecies while intoxicated by inhaling
natural gases from a natural bore hole.
The Greek historian Herodotos also
wrote that the Scythians used cannabis
for ritual purposes and, to some degree,
pleasure. He describes how Scythians
burned hemp seed:
“At once it begins to smoke, giving off a
vapour unsurpassed by any vapour-bath
one could find in Greece. The Scythians
enjoy it so much that they howl with
pleasure.
4. Thetobaccorevolution
After the European exploration and
subsequent colonization of the
Americas in the 16th century, the
smoking, cultivation and trading of
tobacco quickly spread to all corners
of the globe. By the mid-17th century
every major civilization had been
introduced to tobacco smoking and
in many cases had already
assimilated it into the native culture,
despite the attempts of many rulers to
stamp the practice out with harsh
penalties or fines. Tobacco, both
product and plant, followed the
major trade routes to major ports
and markets, and then on into the
hinterlands. The English language
term 'smoking' was coined in the late
17th century; until then it was
referred to as 'drinking smoke'
An engraving from Jakob Balde's Die
truckene Trunkenheit ("The Dry
Drunkenness") from 1658.
5. Europe
A Frenchman named Jean Nicot (from whose name the word nicotine is derived)
introduced tobacco to France in 1560. From France tobacco spread to England.
The first report of a smoking Englishman is of a sailor in Bristol in 1556, seen
"emitting smoke from his nostrils" Like tea, coffee and opium, tobacco was just
one of many intoxicants that was originally used as a form of medicine.Early
modern European medical science was still to a great extent based on humorism,
the idea that everything had a specific humoral nature that varied between hot and
cold, dry and moist. Tobacco was often seen as something that was beneficially in
its heating and drying properties and was assigned an endless list of beneficial
properties. The concept of ingesting substances in the form of smoke was also
entirely new and was met with both astonishment and great skepticism by
Europeans. The debate raged among priests, scientists and laymen whether
tobacco was a bane or boon and both sides had powerful supporters.
Gentlemen
Smoking and
Playing
Backgammon in
an Interior by
Dirck Hals, 1627.
6. Physiology
Inhaling the vaporized gas form of substances into
the lungs is a quick and very effective way of
delivering drugs into the bloodstream and affects
the user within seconds of the first inhalation. The
lungs consist of several million tiny bulbs called
alveoli that altogether have an area of over 70 m²
(about the area of a tennis court). This can be used
to administer useful medical as well as
recreational drugs such as aerosols, consisting of
tiny droplets of a medication, or as gas produced
by burning plant material with a psychoactive
substance or pure forms of the substance itself. Not
all drugs can be smoked, for example the sulphate
derivative that is most commonly inhaled through
the nose, though purer free base forms of
substances can, but often require considerable skill
in administering the drug properly. The method is
also somewhat inefficient since not all of the smoke
will be inhaled. The inhaled substances trigger
chemical reactions in nerve endings in the brain
due to being similar to naturally occurring
substances such as endorphins and dopamines,
which are associated with sensations of pleasure.
The result is what is usually referred to as a "high"
that ranges between the mild stimulus caused by
nicotine to the intense euphoria caused by heroin,
cocaine and methamphetamines.
A graph that shows the efficiency of
smoking as a way to absorb nicotine
compared to other forms of intake.
8. Social effects and demographics
Smoking, primarily of tobacco, is an activity that is practiced by some
1.1 billion people, and up to 1/3 of the adult population. The image of the
smoker can vary considerably, but is very often associated, especially in
fiction, with individuality and aloofness. Even so, smoking of both tobacco
and cannabis can be a social activity which serves as a reinforcement of
social structures and is part of the cultural rituals of many and diverse
social and ethnic groups. Many smokers begin smoking in social settings
and the offering and sharing of a cigarette is often an important rite of
initiation or simply a good excuse to start a conversation with strangers in
many settings; in bars, night clubs, at work or on the street.
Smoking, is an
activity that is
practiced by
some 1.1 million
people,
9. Publichealth
Tobacco-related diseases
are some of the biggest
killers in the world today
and are cited as one of the
biggest causes of premature
death in industrialized
countries. In the United
States some 500,000 deaths
per year are attributed to
smoking-related diseases
and a recent study estimated
that as much as 1/3 of
China's male population
will have significantly
shortened life-spans due to
smoking.
Chart showing the relation
between lung-cancer and
smoking.
10. Smoking in culture
Smoking has been accepted into culture, in
various art forms, and has developed many
distinct, and often conflicting or mutually
exclusive, meanings depending on time, place
and the practitioners of smoking. Pipe smoking,
until recently one of the most common forms of
smoking, is today often associated with solemn
contemplation, old age and is often considered
quaint and archaic. Cigarette smoking, which
did not begin to become widespread until the
late 19th century, has more associations of
modernity and the faster pace of the
industrialized world. Cigars have been, and
still are, associated with masculinity, power
and is an iconic image associated with the
stereotypical capitalist. Smoking in public has
for a long time been something reserved for
men and when done by women has been
associated with promiscuity. In Japan during
the Edo period, prostitutes and their clients
would often approach one another under the
guise of offering a smoke and the same was
true for 19th century Europe.
An
Apothecary
Smoking in an
Interior by
Adriaen van
Ostade, oil on
panel, 1646.
Film star
and iconic
smoker
Humphrey
Bogart.
