Do you know who made a first drag of a smokables in a world history? I think this question is very confusing even from the professional historians. Someone says that it was ancestors from China, other that it was native population of America. However, smoking had appeared and spread around the globe very fast and different nations has different point of view on it.

In Ukraine smoking is one of most recognizable features of Kozaks (see photo). Essentially Kozaks were slaves who run away from the masters and created an own kingdom, which were never conquered. Kozaks were the most powerful worriers of XVI century in Europe and other nations often recruit them to participate in pivotal battles.

Despise an ancient tradition of smoking; in modern Ukrainian society a question of smoking policy has been vividly discussed. Now far ago the price of cigarettes was increased and a reach a mark of 1.50 for Marlboro. It did not bother me a lot because I’m not smoking, but it was horrible news for my dad, who has been smoking for a 35 years. Also it is widely know that cigarettes make horrible impact on health of the smokers and lead to cancer, which is not easily to overcome and thousands researchers work on this problem for a long time. So now in Ukraine a lot of people try to quit smoking for saving some money and become healthier. However, population of people in Ukraine, who are smoking on the streets, is almost the twice bigger that I’ve observed in USA.

I would be very happy to see less and less people without cigarette in mouse around the globe, because personally I believe that smoking is stereotype which must be overcome in modern society. Nevertheless I would like to finish this blog with question, which was kindly provided to me, by one very talented Fulbright colleague, who I’m very proved to know: “How about the smoking in your country?”.