large farms to continuously expand. Into the late 17th century, however, farmers in the Caribbean islands had the same ideas of creating large farms with the use of slaves. Most slaves were not treated as animals, though, for the farmer it would have cost them more money than needed to replace a slave than to keep the ones already owned alive. In comparison, however, even in the Caribbean, the slaves working on tobacco were treated somewhat more fairly than those on sugar plantations whereas the slaves growing tobacco on the islands had often come from regions in Africa that grew tobacco and as such had an appreciated knowledge for the planting and harvesting of tobacco. However, this is not to say they were treated equally. Slavery was an important part of the process of growing tobacco, especially in the American colonies. The use of slaves kept the cost down in general. But with successive generations of slaves born to past generations, slave masters gained new employees at little or no cost. This fact is proven by a trend toward low immigration of African slaves, while there was still an increase in African population in the colonies. However, issues still ensued with taxation by Britain. In the mid-1770s taxes blossomed to 300,000 pounds sterling per year for exportation of tobacco alone. In 1735, John Cockburn published an excerpt on the use of ceegars (cigars) in Spanish colonies. This publication helped support the sale of tobacco goods. Although for a time in Britain and other European countries like Germany, "smoking" tobacco was frowned upon, it would find its favor eventually amongst society who, up to this time, took tobacco mainly as "snuff." Although tobacco began to find favor amongst certain societies, the American Revolution would become a temporary setback for some, and a permanent one for others. American Revolution The American Revolution would have profound effects upon the social and economic stability of the colonies. With a temporary lapse in tobacco exports to Europe, even more small farmers found themselves switching over to crops other than tobacco. In South Carolina, there was a shift toward rice plantations; while in other areas other sorts of much needed vegetation was grown for sustenance of the nation. Another issue that arose with the blockade of tobacco from the American colonies was a shift toward British use of Turkish and Egyptian tobacco. As part of the