When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, members of his crew observed the Taíno people offering them dried leaves as gifts.

They had no clue why, but they soon found out that native people smoked the burning leaves, and when they brought these leaves back to Europe, it became a sensation.

It created a demand for the product, which lasted for centuries and defined entire economies, until research in the 20th century found that it was doing far more harm than good.