In the 17th century an ingenious smoker came up with the pipe tamper, or stopper, as it's known in England, a tool for pressing down lit tobacco in the pipe's bowl.

FORBES: Where There's Smoke, There Are Buyers

On it he placed a peasant's pipe and tobacco and behind the chair a box of sprouting onions, a symbol of nature and the new life that might grow from art.

ECONOMIST: Van Gogh and Gauguin: Sunny side down | The

At first, tobacco was produced mainly for pipe-smoking, chewing, and snuff.

CNN: A brief history of tobacco

Federal authorities have not said whether the arrest of Bryce Reed was connected to the fire and blast, and Robert Champion of the Dallas office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives declined Thursday to discuss whether a pipe bomb could cause the damage that led to the explosions.

CNN: Cause of catastrophic Texas explosions remains mystery

According to the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society, secondhand smoke is the combination of two types of smoke that is produced when burning tobacco: the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe and the smoke that is exhaled by the smoker.

CNN: Study: Smoke-free laws may cut heart attack hospitalizations