Jean Nicot was 29 years old in 1559 when he was sent from France to Portugal to negotiate the marriage of six-year-old Princess Marguirte de Valois to five-year-old King Sebastian of Portugal.

When Nicot returned, he brought tobacco plants. The queen mother, Catherine de Medici, became an instant tobacco convert.

The plant was also an instant success with the Father Superior of Malta, who shared tobacco with all of his monks.

More and more of the fashionable people of Paris began to use the plant, making Nicot a celebrity.

At first, the plant was called Nicotina. But nicotine later came to refer only to the active ingredient of the plant.