On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus - an Italian explorer, observed the natives of San Salvador Island using tobacco while in search of the “New World”. The natives were using tobacco in various forms including smoked and smokeless tobacco. Smoked tobacco is tobacco that is administered as cigarettes, cigars or pipes. It involves the burning of tobacco and ingesting the smoke. Smokeless tobacco is tobacco that is administered as chewing tobacco and snuff. It involves dipping the tobacco and inhaling it through the nose.   

The San Salvador natives also administered tobacco as enema and poultice, a paste for treating - back pain, burns, cancer, chills, colds, colic, convulsions, dog bites, dysentery, insect bites, poisonous snake bites, rheumatism, sciatica, soars, skin infection, womb related diseases.