tobacco

tobacco consumption was well established in Ireland by the early 17th century, and the word ‘tobaca’ occurs in a native Irish text written between 1605 and 1615. In the late 16th century some Munster settlers had considered growing tobacco on their lands but this did not prosper. Imports came mainly from England, but there were also direct shipments from the American colonies. The importance of the trade is shown by the violent reaction to the attempt by Lord Deputy Wentworth to establish a tobacco monopoly in 1638 which affected both suppliers and retailers and became one of the complaints against him at his impeachment in 1640.

The most significant expansion of the tobacco trade came in the late 17th century. This was facilitated by growing trade with the Americas, an increase in disposable income, and a growing monetization that made luxury purchases easier. The Navigation Acts of 1671 prohibited direct importation of tobacco into Ireland, thus marginally increasing its price, but this had little effect on consumption. Imports rose from 1.8 million pounds in 1665 to 2.4 million pounds by the end of the 1670s and to 3.3 million pounds by 1686. (By contrast the volume of trade only doubled over the entire 18th century.) So universal was smoking by the 1690s that one account of Ireland described men, women, and even children as being addicted to tobacco. It seems likely that tobacco consumption per capita varied little until the middle of the 19th century, with the sharp decline in official imports around 1815 being offset by smuggling. Post‐Famine prosperity permitted a significant increase in tobacco consumption so that by 1870 it had risen to English levels. The growth in industrial activity in Ulster during the late 19th century saw Ireland become an exporter of manufactured tobacco and by 1907 Belfast produced almost all the 5.7 million pounds of manufactured tobacco exported annually.

Smoking was an important aspect of Irish sociability at all social levels. It was usual at events such as wakes and weddings to provide pipes for communal use. John Dunton in the 1690s described the distribution of pipes and snuff at funerals and dances where a short pipe would serve a dozen people. At upper social levels tobacco was a normal stimulant available at the Dublin coffee houses of the 18th century.

Bibliography

Bielenberg, A., and and Johnson, D. , ‘The Production and Consumption of Tobacco in Ireland 1800–1914’, Irish Economic & Social History, 25 (1998)

Raymond Gillespie