For the treatment of dropsy a Tobacco Wine was made-"leaves of tobacco one ounce, Spanish white wine one 1b, ; macerate for seven days, then strain through paper: dose 30 drops, twice a day."
During the Great Plague of 1665 smoking became compulsory for schoolboys; mothers sent them off to class with pipes ready filled; and masters at Eton and elsewhere broke off lessons to instruct pupils in the protective art.
Also during the Great Plague, Pepys reports a visit to a stricken district of London, when he was forced to chew tobacco to protect himself. A certain Dr. Cleland wrote that "tobacco was repeatedly employed in the treatment of lapsus uvulae, ranulo-polypus nasi, carbuncle, pernio, urinary calculus, hemicrania, mammary engorgement, worms, ileus, surditas and a multitude of other diseases."

Pipe balancing acts became a craze in the mid-18th century. This picture shows an event that took place at Sadler's Wells in 1743.

Tobacconist's sign of the late 1600's, three hands offering snuff, a pipe and shreds of tobacco.

Chewing tobacco was practised from early days and gentlemen were highly skilled in the art of spitting, as this early 17th century drawing shows