"From ancient, South American meter-long cigars...to modern Chinese tennagers lighting up because it 'looks cool', a fast-paced, comprehensive look at tobacco and its consumers...A smart, engaging history of the uses of, attitudes towards, adn wars over the world's most mysterious plant."
-- Kirkus Reviews

"Tobacco's...roller-coaster journey is the subject of Gately's excellent biography of the smoker's bewitching mistress....[He] presents this eventful tale with lucid, if partisan, eloquence."
-- Peter Ingham, The Times (London)

"Like a great detective writer, Iain Gately traces the origins...of tobacco, the deadly but fascinating weed, in a robust narrative style....No Nicotiana Rustica leaf is left unturned at the quest....As enjoyable and seductive as a fine Silk Cut. I was hooked."
-- Zenga Longmore, The Spectator (London)

"A pacy journey through a sweep of history, full of energetic comparisons, telling anecdotes and springy prose...with zesty brio, buoying the reader with delightful tidbits."
-- Robbie Hudson, The Sunday Times (London)