No Smoking Day 2025: This man invented cigarettes in…, his innovation led to…

On No Smoking Day 2025, let us delve into the history of, James Buchanan Duke, the man who invented modern cigarettes in the 1880s, when he and his brother, Benjamin Duke, took over their father, Washington Duke's tobacco company.

No Smoking Day 2025: Each year, the second Wednesday of March is marked as No Smoking Day across the globe, especially in the United Kingdom (UK), aimed at spreading awareness about the harmful effects of smoking and encouragung people to quit this debilitating addiction.

The first No Smoking Day was marked on Ash Wednesday in 1984 in Ireland, and now takes place on the second Wednesday in March. Researchers have hailed the success of No Smoking Day, claiming that at least one out of ten people have quit smoking after being made aware about the life-threatening effects of smoking.

Scientific research has proven that smoking tobacco is directly linked to cancer and respiratory illnesses, but despite the obvious harm, millions of people continue to puff away, while seemingly ignoring the threat posed to their health by cigarettes. But did you know who invented this literal instrument of death? Let us find out?

Who invented cigarettes?

While Jordan Goodman, the author of Tobacco in History and Culture, has avoided naming any one person as the creator of cigarettes, its is widely acknowledged that American industrialist James Buchanan Duke, is the inventor of modern cigarettes.

According to historians, James Buchanan Duke came up with the idea of hand-crafting cigarettes (known as pre-rolled tobacco back then) in the 1880s, when he and his brother, Benjamin Duke, took over their father, Washington Duke’s tobacco company.

In 1885, James Buchanan Duke, better known by his nickname “Buck” acquired a license to operate the first automated cigarette making machine which was invented by James Albert Bonsack. By 1890, Duke had managed to capture the American cigarette market and accounted for over 40 percent of cigarettes.

In same year, Duke, a cutthroat businessman, bought out four of his major competitors, merging them under a single entity called the American Tobacco Company, which essentially monopolised the cigarette market in the United States, with a 90 percent market share.

Notably, following the popularity of Duke’s pre-rolled tobacco, the first incarnation of what would become modern cigarettes, some tobacco companies in North Carolina’s Durham City tried to replicate his success by producing their own version of hand-rolled cigarettes, but the corners were folded and sealed.

The cigarettes were sold under the brand name ‘Duke of Durham’.

James Buchannan Duke philanthropy

Despite earning the dubious distinction of being the inventor of something as harmful as cigarettes, James Buchanan Duke is also known for his philanthropic ventures, and established the $40 million (equivalent to $734 million in 2024)  The Duke Endowment trust fund in 1924, a portion of which was to go to Trinity College, later renamed Duke University in honor of his father, Washington Duke, a benefactor of the varsity.

Additionally, the main library at Furman University, the James B. Duke Library, is named after him, because of his philanthropic ties with the varsity.

In his last will and testament, Duke had left approximately half of his estate to the Duke Endowment, adding another $67 million (equivalent to $1.2 billion in 2024) to the trust fund, and had specified that endowment must support Duke University,  Davidson College, Furman University, and Johnson C. Smith University; non-profit hospitals and children’s homes in the two Carolinas; and rural Methodist churches in North Carolina, retired pastors, and their surviving families.

The remainder of Duke’s $100 million (equivalent to $1.79 billion in 2024) estate went to his daughter, Doris Duke, who became “the richest girl in the world” in 1927 after she won a lawsuit against her mother for the control of the family’s house in Manhattan.