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I have a set of characters who have, effectively, traveled back in time to the days of serfs, manors, swords, knights, and castles. But I'm wondering how the people of the era would respond to the "new" technology they encounter. Everything from strange clothing, to firearms, to cigarettes. It would be say to do like many writers and just say "their firesticks" or something, but then I got to thinking that primitive civilizations in the Americas have been smoking, in one form or another, for a long time. Is this true of Europe as well? Would some people of that era understand what smoking was, even if they thought the form of a cigarette was alien to them?
Other things as well. Metal, horseless vehicles, guns, etc.
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Bob Newhart had it right: (scroll down to transcript of his comedy sketch) -- we'd have been utterly bemused by the concept of lighting a tube of leaves and sucking on it:
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Their reaction to technology would, I think, depend largely on their religion. If it happened to be a Catholic civilization, they'd even see them has heralds of God or something of the like, or they could denounce them as minions of satan; it all depends on the explorers' attitude, whether openly laic, (read: heretics) or religious, falsely or otherwise.
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No hard data, but I've often wondered if there was any pre-Columbian smoking going on in medieval Europe and historical points back and beyond. Smoking seemed to fill a niche...but if so, what was in the niche before?
It's been stated-without-dispute that tobacco was introduced to the Old World from the New World right after 1492...but it's been just as stated-beyond-dispute that certain venerial diseases rode back with Columbus...until some recent research indicated its presence a century or so before that point. Smoking, too?
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Shamans burned and inhaled herbs for a long time before smoking pipes became fashionable in Europe. I wouldn't be at all surprised if smoking tobacco in Europe became fashionable due to its lesser potency than most shamanistic herbs.
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My understanding is that tobacco won't grow here in Europe, so prior to 1492 we simply didn't have it. The niche before was alcohol--in many, delightful forms. Even monks made it!
I suspect smoking became popular in Europe because first a King, then a Csar and finally the Pope declared it Sinful:
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So back before 1492, in all social circumstances where somebody would've lit up a cigarette, they instead drank?
Come to think of it, certain recreational drugs would probably have been smoked---I don't mean crystal meth, but something like marijuana or opium. Where were their origins? When and how did they reach Europe?
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The people would probably burn the newcomers at the stake for being witches or demons, or at a minimum heretics. Smoking would probably just seem odd, but a cigarette lighter ...
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AH the feel of smoke filling my lungs ans Nicaten calming my brain.
i love smoking, been smoking for 11 years half my life. being deployed i smoke more than ever. almost a pack a day. everything i gan get, Marlborl, Cammel, Newport, Kools, disgusting 88Milds, Zest and what ever the Locals are selling at their on post shop.
i think smoking is good for you, it relaxes, helps head aces and makes you feel better after a fire fight, and it looks cool in picters when you are gunning the .50cal with a pack of Maarlborl Reds in your helmt band. just my .02C
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