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EagleEyez in reply to @hugo7

I noticed quite a few tabac fields in France which I haven't seen for a long time.

Maybe it's booming again. I doubt they feed it to the cattle. Are you sure it's not sugar beets?
I spent a few summers when I was a teenager picking up leaves in tobacco fields. Back-breaking, low-paying (obvs undeclared by the local slavedriver of a farmer) tough job.
The dark nicotine residue on your finger nails after a week's work is enough to get anyone never to take up smoking.

(hourly rate paid to us at the end of the season was something like £1.35 c. 1987-88)

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nick_h. in reply to @EagleEyez

The dark nicotine residue on your finger nails after a week's work

When I picked it we got a layer of tar on the backs of our hands and our forearms. It was so thick that it was crumbling at the knuckles. When we passed the plants the hairs on our forearms would get pulled out, so we shaved them.

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EagleEyez in reply to @nick_h.

You might be correct. Tar rather than nicotine. Equally horrible stuff. And so hard to get off your hands. To think this will be lining the walls of your lungs as you indulge as a smoker. I can't think of a better reason never to pick up a cigarette ever.

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