The Food and Agricultural Organization (2023) reports that Nicotiana tabacum is grown in almost every country in the world. While production has slowed compared to previous years, in 2022, 3,136,777 hectares were planted, yielding 5,780,939 metric tonnes of raw tobacco. Most of the production is done in Asia (64.8%), followed by the Americas (21.7%). The top 10 leading producing countries are China, Brazil, India, the United States, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Turkiye, Malawi, Argentina, and Pakistan.

The global tobacco market was worth $912 billion USD in 2022 (Naik et al. 2023). Nicotiana tabacum is the main species used in commercial tobacco, with cultivars selected for large leaves that are dried, cured, and blended for use as a mild intoxicant in the form of smoking tobacco in cigarettes and cigars or as chewing tobacco (FNA 1993+; PFAF 2009; CABI 2024).

The active component of tobacco, nicotine, is highly addictive and, when smoked, is delivered to the brain within seconds, making it difficult to quit; the thousands of other chemicals in the smoke make it particularly deadly, causing fatal lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer (FDA 2021). The World Health Organization (2024) suggests that global tobacco use in 2022 was 1 in 5 people compared to 1 in 3 in 2000. Despite this declining use, the tobacco industry expects that the increase in demand in developing markets in Asia and Africa will create an annual growth rate of 3.75% from 2023 to 2028 (Naik et al. 2023).

The leaves, powder, or extracts obtained from the stems and waste products of tobacco production have been used as a contact insecticide for hundreds of years for agricultural pests as well as medical or veterinary parasites and ticks and can be rubbed on the body as an insect repellant (PFAF 2009; Schorderet et al. 2019; CABI 2024). However, no nicotine-based pesticides are commercially available since synthetic neonicotinoids have become common in agriculture and have a higher selectivity for insects with a reduced effect on vertebrates (Schorderet et al. 2019). Still, recent studies have investigated its use as a botanical insecticide against the Oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molesta (Busck), a major pest in stone and pome fruits (Sarker and Lim 2018).

Nicotiana tabacum plants are sometimes grown as garden ornamentals (WFO 2024) for their pretty flowers and large leaves. The seeds contain no nicotine and have been used as a substitute for groundnut oil, in the paint and varnish industries, and as feed for cattle and horses (CABI 2024).

Shi et al. (2019) and PFAF (2009) report that waste tobacco leaves can be processed to extract soluble plant proteins with high nutritional and medicinal values. They also have a well-balanced amino acid composition equivalent to milk and eggs. These proteins can be whipped like egg whites, liquefied, or gelled and used as a substitute for mayonnaise and whipped cream.

Nicotiana tabacum has a long history of cultivation for medicinal use and is still used today for skin ailments, including snakebites, scorpion stings, caterpillar stings, wounds, ringworm, and ulcers (PFAF 2009; CABI 2024). It has also been used as a sedative, vermifuge, antispasmodic, discutient, diuretic, emetic, expectorant, narcotic, and sialagogue and used for gastrointestinal disorders and rheumatic swellings, and in homeopathic remedies for nausea and travel sickness (PFAF 2009; CABI 2024). However, due to its highly addictive properties, it is seldom used internally (PFAF 2009).
Native Indigenous tribes throughout the Americas used Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica L. for thousands of years as psychotropic agents for magico-religious and ceremonial purposes, smoking, and as medicines for earaches, toothaches, asthma, skin diseases, analgesics, diaphoretics, emetics, expectorants, and gastrointestinal and kidney aids (NAEB 2003; Mishra and Mishra 2013; Grechanik 2015).

Some common weeds in Nicotiana tabacum crops include Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (common ragweed), Amaranthus L. species (pigweeds), Cyperus esculentus L. (yellow nutsedge), Solanum carolinense L. (Carolina horse-nettle), Galinsoga quadriradiata Ruiz & Pav. (hairy Galinsoga), Cynanchum laeve (Michx.) Pers. (honeyvine milkweed), annual Ipomoea L. species (morning glory), Chenopodium album L. (common lambsquarters), Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. (johnsongrass), Setaria L. species (foxtails), Panicum dichotomiflorum Michx. (fall panicum), Xanthium strumarium L. (cocklebur), Abutilon theophrasti Medik. (velvetleaf), Ambrosia trifida L. (giant ragweed), Portulaca oleracea L. (common purslane), Persicaria L. species (smartweed) (Green et al. 2019; University of Kentucky 2024).