It all started in America, and long before the arrival of Columbus ­ but then the Red Indians smoked a pipe. The European villain of the piece is said to have been Sir Walter Raleigh, though some say that tobacco-smoking was introduced in Europe by Bristol seamen when Sir Walter was still in his boyhood. However, smoking was not unknown in Europe before the th 16 century; Roman remains in Great Britain and Ireland suggest that hemp and aromatic herbs had already been smoked in pipes. During the last War, at least in Malta, the wheel had turned full-circle; because of the shortage of tobacco due to the siege enterprising "addicts" started smoking dried fig, vine and lemon leaves as well. After the second World War, a worldwide rise in the consumption of tobacco occurred, largely due to an increase in smoking by women.

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