We have had fire for a really long time. It is very likely that we have been using fire for 1.6 million years. At first we would capture fires from natural sources, like wildfires, and keep them going. Only much later would we develop the technology to actually make a fire from scratch.

Although the dates are disputed, one thing is for certain: fire helped shape our physiology. Fire helped soften foods so our jaws no longer had to be as strong. It is thought that speaking replaced chewing as the dominant evolutionary force. Our mouths, jaws, throats, and windpipes are all designed for speaking. Our brains, it would seem, grew larger at the same time our tummies grew smaller. Controlling fire, no doubt, required technological knowledge that must have spurred on the beginnings of scientific inquiry, even if rudimentary.

But what about smoke? Smoke is demonized in our society to an astonishing extent. In fact, smoking must be the oldest human hobby—a hobby since before we were even physiologically human. Virtually every old religion incorporates fire and incense in significant ways. Fire keeping and using incense for blessing was sacred in so many cultures it can be considered a universal feature until very recent times. In fact, recent research shows that smoke is purifying. Smoke sterilizes the air. There is a reason it was used with large gatherings of people until recent times.

For these reasons, I find the demonization of smoke and smoking quite disturbing. To be human is to be around smoke. Only in the past few decades and in some places have humans been able to live life free of smoke.

One of my acquaintances has been a high school teacher for decades. He recently commented that in his opinion, teenagers will always smoke one thing or another. It used to be tobacco. Then there was a massive campaign against cigarettes. Now it is a marijuana or vaping. Perhaps that is because smoking is so profoundly natural for our species. It provides relaxation for our brains. It is an opportunity to socialize. Both of these things are lacking in American society.

Not that I support smoking commercialized products. Cigarettes are known to have numerous unnatural addictive additives and pesticides. Marijuana products are also impure and filled with a variety of unknown substances. I also don’t support daily chain smoking. Clearly there is a difference between chain smoking anything and intermittent smoking for ceremonial or social reasons, although this has not been well-researched.