The rise and fall of America’s deadly love affair with the cigarette

The cigarette, once a symbol of American glamour and sophistication, has been linked to tens of millions of U.S. deaths. Nicknames such as "cancer stick," "coffin nail," and "cowboy killer" have historically described this deadly product. The cigarette's rise in popularity began in the 20th century, when it was portrayed as a rite of passage for many young people and found in nearly every public space, from bars and restaurants to airplanes and hospitals.

By the 1950s, nearly half of U.S. adults smoked, making it a ubiquitous part of American culture. The invention of an automated cigarette-rolling machine in the 1880s by James Bonsack revolutionized the industry, making cigarettes 50 times faster to produce. This innovation allowed companies like James Buchanan Duke's to build a major American industry around the product.

Despite early warnings about the addictive nature and potential health risks of smoking, such as Henry Ford's 1914 brochure, smoking remained socially accepted. However, a watershed moment came in 1964 when a U.S. surgeon general report definitively linked smoking to illness and death. This led to warning labels on cigarette packs, bans on cigarette commercials, and restrictions on where people could light up.

Despite these measures, the dangers of smoking were slow to sink in, and it took decades for smoking rates to decline to their historically low levels.