A tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum), its flowers and seeds, bordered by six scenes illustrating its use by man. Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It is most commonly used as a recreational drug, and is a valuable cash crop for countries such as Cuba, China and the US. In consumption it commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or dipping tobacco. Tobacco had long been in use as an entheogen in the Americas, but upon the arrival of Europeans in North America, it quickly became popularized as a trade item and a recreational drug. This popularization led to the development of the southern economy of the US until it gave way to cotton. Following the Civil War, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed for the development of the cigarette. This new product quickly led to the growth of tobacco companies, until the scientific controversy of the mid-1900s. Colored lithograph, 1840.