The scarce Chilean historiography on the subject points out that smoking was a natural and essential habit among all social classes, including women and children. The product was in the form of sticks from Saña (Peru), whose lower cost made it the preferred product among modest smokers in the cities, while snuff, mainly of Cuban origin, was consumed exclusively in wealthy circles. The few surviving chronicles of the ancestral use of tobacco in Chile are linked to its use as a medicine for the care of the sick by means of incense and even for religious rituals. Consumption, in those cases, was by inhaling the smoke, a habit later adopted by the white population despite the introduction of powdered tobacco, the snuffing of which was reserved for the higher income group. Prior to the monopoly, tobacco was imported by a small number of merchants. Up to the 1810s, around 5,000 pounds of powder were supplied each year, while raw tobacco amounted to 140,000 pounds a year. Once the Estanco managed to stabilise, there was a notable shift in the origins: picado, habano, virginia and guayaquil. The evolution of the pattern reflected the deepening of the smoking habit among the Santiago population, which meant that the powdered supply practically disappeared from the market.
Collection: Statistics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe., 9. Travels and travelers: economic, social and cultural connections.
Chronology: XVIII, XIX
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Link: https://www.historiaagraria.com/FILE/articulos/RHA76_WEB_martinez_barraza.pdf
Resource type: Statistics
Format: Table
Source: Martínez Barraza, Juan José, «Consumo de tabaco en Santiago de Chile durante el periodo tardío colonial e inicios de la era republicana», Historia Agraria, 76 (2018), pp. 123–156.
Language: Spanish
Date: 2018
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Copyright: © Juan José Martínez Barraza © Revista de Historia Agraria
Abstract: Patterns of tobacco consumption in Santiago de Chile between 1769 and 1832
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