When Columbus brought tobacco to Europe, he did not think how much the world would change that. As the American Indians did not know this, they used this grass only for sacred rituals. Europeans disposed of tobacco differently.
In Russia, tobacco had a complicated history. It was banned, legalized, and again vetoed trade, distribution and use. It is already impossible to trace all the vicissitudes of this story, but there is some information that has survived to this day.
Tobacco in Russia
In Russia, tobacco first appeared in the sixteenth century. Even under Ivan the Terrible, he began to get to Moscow along with mercenaries, invaders and Cossacks. Especially during the Time of Troubles. In many ways, this was also supported by English merchants. In those days, there were no special laws on the sale and consumption of tobacco. Only 50 years after the Time of Troubles, under the influence of the Church, tobacco was banned.
Perhaps, if the death penalty for smoking were to be preserved, in Russia now there would be no problems with tobacco.
Especially cruel to smokers was Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. And he had reasons, because in 1634 in Moscow there was a big fire due to the fault of smokers. For these and other reasons, smoking has become a serious crime, which was punishable by death. However, this was not always the case.
At one time, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, flattered by the great economic benefits of the tobacco trade, tobacco received a green light. The king decided to legalize the "demonic potion", but only for three years. Against such an initiative was Patriarch Nikon himself, who sought a ban.
However, the death penalty was replaced by corporal punishment. The smokers were smashed in public by a whip and, to ridicule the crowds, were driven on a goat. If a similar sin was repeated, the perpetrator referred to a distant city, but not just like that. First, they cut out his nostrils or cut his nose, which is similar to punishing a fugitive convict.
The seriousness of the anti-tobacco company was enshrined in the Cathedral Code of 1649, where a dozen points were dedicated to the “infernal potion”. Tobacco use was considered a mortal sin, because in the image of the people only Satan himself could exhale smoke from his mouth, that is, it was an act of incense to the Unclean.
