It is highly unlikely that in 1881, when James A. Bonsack invented a cigarette-making machine, that he or anybody else could have predicted the mélange of future symbolism contained in each conveniently packaged stick of tobacco. The cigarette has come to stand for more than just the unhealthy habit of millions in American popular culture. It represents politics, money, image, sex, and freedom.

The tobacco plant held residence in the New World long before Columbus even set sail. American Indians offered Columbus dried tobacco leaves as a gift and, it is rumored, he threw them away because of the fowl smell. Later on, however, sailors brought tobacco back to Europe where it gained a reputation as a medical cure-all. Tobacco was believed to be so valuable that during the 1600s, it was frequently used as money. In 1619, Jamestown colonists paid for their future wives' passage from England with...