The Tobacco Takers : Puritanism, Smoking, Health, and the Archaeology of Bodily Care

about smoking in the Atlantic world, a discussion of the motivation behind early Colonial smoking is new. The assumption has been that smoking during this period was a leisure activity, but in the 17th-century Puritan world, smoking tobacco was often prescribed to alleviate numerous illnesses, as evidenced in the writings of physicians and ministers as well as pharmacopeia. In this book, the presence of white clay tobacco pipes found in the archaeological record of Puritan colonies receives further scrutiny. For Puritans, drunkenness, excessive tobacco consumption, and conspicuous displays of prosperity were strictly forbidden. While laws in the Puritan colonies and the laws of Harvard College prohibited smoking as a form of licentious self-indulgence they did permit the medicinal use of smoking tobacco. When viewed through this lens, tobacco pipes can be viewed as an item of bodily care that addresses physical and metaphysical ailments. [Publisher's text]

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