Don't Know Much About Tobacco

Ask most Americans to name our country's most important crop, and you'll probably hear something about wheat, corn, or if you're lucky, cotton. But these answers miss of one the biggest pieces of the puzzle. Tobacco's story is at many juncture's America's story-- from early treaties with Native Americans, to the thriving colonies, through the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and up to the present day. In the highly addictive and indisputably dangerous forms in which it is distributed today, our country's most important crop has become wildly unpopular-- except, of course, with smokers. Still, it remains one of the federal government's biggest money makers, as it has been for centuries. And remarkably, all these years later it still figures prominently in negotiations between sovereign Native American nations and the United States. This one little plant is a very big deal.

For all these reasons (and a few more) I was thrilled to have a rare opportunity today: seeing the inner workings of a cigarette factory. You might never have the chance, so check out the pictures.