The men who began the irresistible and devastating rise of Big Tobacco| Tabaccologia

Abstract

The creators of the modern cigarette were James Albert Bonsack, the inventor of the Bonsack machine in 1880, and the American industrialist James Buchanan Duke, who helped pioneer marketing systems that led to the global success of the cigarette. This success eventually led Duke, at the end of the 1800s, to establish the American Tobacco Company, challenging the British Imperial Tobacco Company, founded and led by Henry H. Wills. The rivalry eventually gave way to an agreement, resulting in the formation of the British-American Tobacco Company, monopolizing the global market. Thus, Big Tobacco was born.