WI: Tobacco plant extinct

Native Americans completely changed due to butterfly effect. None of the tribes are recognizable. possibly more peyote usage, as it is believed that early tabbacco was hallucinogenic. There are a couple of other native drugs, that I'm just not remembering now. Those will probably see more usage to.
 
Without tobacco Jamestown will soon fail, slowing development in the area.

Without Jamestown the famous Pilgrims may decide to try and go somewhere else. Other destinations the Pilgrims considered OTL were Guiana and Essequibo.

A reduced English presence in Virginia and New England means the Dutch and the French are more influential in the area. The Dutch may hold New Amsterdam, the French may hold Ohio country.
 
On a more serious note, here are some ideas yet untouched:

1. Different development of pesticides. Tobacco-water was one of the earliest bug sprays, and is still pretty cheap and useful even today. Boil up tobacco and use the water on insects. Kills them pretty quick. I use stale pipe tobacco and cigar butts for that. Yes, I am aware of the irony.

2. Different native American religions. I've tried Indian Tobacco, yes, it is much stronger, but unlikely to become popular. Throwing up happens long before anything interesting happens. I would not catagorize it as hallucinatory but more dissociative.

Also Hendryk:
If a bar owner is okay with me smoking in his bar, then who are you to demand that he tell me to put it out in his own bar? But hey, once they get me, they're not going to stop. Fatty foods are next.

ObWI: No Trans-Fats
 
Just as we have a penchant for deep frying anything and turning any sort of vegetable into a 'chip' or 'crisp', I suspect that there are alot of leaves and other stuff that will end up being smoked. The point about cutting marijuana with tobacco is interesting and probably done, but I've never heard of it. There is alot of stuff that can be set on fire and their toxins breathed in.
 
Without tobacco Jamestown will soon fail, slowing development in the area.

Without Jamestown the famous Pilgrims may decide to try and go somewhere else. Other destinations the Pilgrims considered OTL were Guiana and Essequibo.

A reduced English presence in Virginia and New England means the Dutch and the French are more influential in the area. The Dutch may hold New Amsterdam, the French may hold Ohio country.

Not necessarily since without tobacco its far more likely that Jamestown may not be founded or established primarily as a cash crop colony. It may be settled by farmers, that could clear land and grow crops, and not 'gentlemen adventurers' that couldn't do very much.
 
People would smoke tea

That's news to me.

Still there must be some reason they don't. People have drank tea for millenia without out trying to smoke it. Tobacco has been smoked for centuries without real competition. Certainly if tobacco were to go extinct today alternatives would be found. However without the tobacco precedent I question whether it's human nature to want to inhale smoke habitually.

It would be more likely IMO that a tobacco alternative would not be as popular or would enter popular culture at a different time.
 

Glen

Moderator
I don't know about moving this. The development of Pre-Columbian civilization would be significantly effected without tobacco.

If it were to stay here, I'd suggest a massive die-off just before Columbus arrives. That would allow for the same history up to contact, but no one in the West ever seeing the mythical plant.

I was told I should move this thread from the ASB forum.

What if the tobacco plant went extinct in pre-Columbian America? Tobacco farming was crucial to the plantation economy of Virginia. Without it the early English colonies would have been less profitable and their expansion would have been retarded. This too, would lead to less confrontaion with the Indians and perhaps later introduction of slavery to the colonies.

Tobacco had major effect on world history being the essential component of opium smoking. Although opium was used for medical purposes for centuries, it was the mixing with tobacco that made it smokable and transformed it into a hugely profitable trade commodity. Without opium, the British colonies in India would have been less profitable. The East India company would generate less income for the crown and be less influencial. The Opium Wars with China would not happen, and 19th century China would be much more stable.

It was the oversupply of opium production that lead to the mass production of morphine, another great addiction of the 19th century. And perhaps heroine addiction too would be less of a factor. Butterfly effects on the drug culture as a whole.

Of course there is also no health problems caused by tobacco smoking. Much less lung cancer, oral cancer, erectile dysfunctions, longer life expectancy, and so on.
 
I would say Jamestown would find something else like dye or some other crop to fill the void. But ultimately the economic (ahem, slavery...) makeup of viginia would be radically different and far weaker. I still think that due to French and Dutch competition in north America that the British will have a presence, just not as good of one.
 
Just as we have a penchant for deep frying anything and turning any sort of vegetable into a 'chip' or 'crisp', I suspect that there are alot of leaves and other stuff that will end up being smoked. The point about cutting marijuana with tobacco is interesting and probably done, but I've never heard of it. There is alot of stuff that can be set on fire and their toxins breathed in.

Really? I've never come across anyone smoking the stuff pure. Not unless they're out of baccy. I think the idea is that it stretches your supply by at least half, possibly more - depends on the ratio you use. This also makes sense given the higher % THC content of skunk (i.e. the strong stuff), as opposed to weed.

Enough druggie talk... tobacco!

Yes, I think there must be something else we would end up smoking instead
 
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