There must have been a point in history when the following happened...................

Mr Caveman was eyeing up Mrs Caveman as she bent over to stir the cooking pot. Instinct kicked in and Mr Caveman thought to himself that it was his duty to procreate and further the human race.

“Touch me again and I'll swing for you with this mammoth bone..........I've got a headache!” said Mrs Caveman sweetly and rationally.

A little hurt and with feelings of rejection, Mr Caveman wandered off into the forest. Feeling thirsty, he picked up a coconut like fruit and drank the contents. One can only assume that the liquid inside had fermented, because what follows defies logic and any form of rational behaviour.

Mr Caveman, all on his own, without any coercion or persuasion, proceeded to roll some dried brown leaves into a fat tube, set fire to one end and sucked the resulting smoke into his lungs. It must be the modern day equivalent of having 10 pints of beer and waking up in bed with the neighbours dog! You couldn't make it up could you! What person in possession of all their faculties would do such a stupid and harebrained thing! What was really unlucky for Mr Caveman was that the particular leaves that he rolled up happened to contain nicotine. We now know of course that nicotine is one of the most toxic substances on the planet and probably the most addictive.

The following morning, with a head like a bear and stinking of ash, Mr Caveman probably wished he had not been born!

Fast forward several tens of thousands of years to a couple of toffs in top hats and tails talking to a bank.

“We've got a great business idea and want to borrow loads of money”

“Well gentlemen, that's what the bank is here to do, pray tell me your idea?”

“We are going to roll up loads of leaves into little tubes and sell them”

“Pardon?”

“We are going to roll up loads of leaves into little tubes and sell them”

“And pray tell gentlemen............what do people do with these little tubes of leaves?”

“They stick them in their mouths and set fire to them”

“Gentlemen.........you are clearly deluded and the door is over there!”

What a shame! Reality was that someone somewhere in a bank realised the potential of creating a vast market of legalised addicts for a product that kills us on average 15 years early.

And Mr Caveman..............well he didn't care...........He only had a life expectancy of 27 anyway!