1870s

Until the twentieth century cigarettes were not an important threat to public health. Men used tobacco mainly in the form of cigars, chewing tobacco, piping tobacco and snuff. Most women did not use tobacco at all.
    The cigarette industry began in the 1870s with the development of the cigarette manufacturing machine. This made it possible to produce great numbers of cigarettes very quickly, and it reduced the price. Today cigarette smoking is a widespread habit. About forty-three percent of the adult men and thirty-one percent of the adult women in the United States smoke cigarettes regularly. It is encouraging to note, however, that millions of people have given up the smoking habit. Seventy-five percent of the male population and forty-six percent of the female population have smoked cigarettes at some time during their lives, but twenty-six of these men and eleven percent of the women have stopped smoking. The number of persons who have given up smoking is increasing.
    Men as a group smoke more than women. Between men and women the age group with the highest proportion of smokers is the age group 24-44. Income, education, and occupation all play a part in determining a person’s smoking habit. City people smoke more than people living on farms. On the one hand, well-educated men with high incomes are less likely to smoke cigarettes than men with fewer years of schooling and lower incomes. On the other hand, if a well-educated man with a higher income smokes at all, he is likely to smoke more packs of cigarettes per day.
    The situation is somewhat different for women. There are slightly more smokers among women with higher family incomes and higher education than among the lower income and lower educational groups. These more highly educated women tend to smoke more heavily.