These items in Narberth Museum’s collection reveal the far-reaching nature of the tobacco industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. Smoking was part of the everyday life for many people in Britain but the industry itself was historically linked to the British Empire’s transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans. The story of an enjoyable smoke had its roots in the American colonies, mainly Virginia, Maryland and North Virginia, with soaring American tobacco exports creating a constant demand for more enslaved labour. Life on an American tobacco plantation was one of relentless back breaking work, brutal punishments, malnutrition, disease and often an early death. The tobacco industry reveals the breadth of the Empire and how its development of business and industry was reliant on the trade of enslaved people. The advertising also showed a pride in the Empire, with the Churchman’s tin explicitly stating that the contents were “manufactured entirely from Empire Grown Tobaccos” and feature a heavily idealised image of a white plantation owner enjoying a pipe whilst in the background black workers are picking tobacco. Objects related to tobacco are one of many ways to show how everyday and familiar objects have a link to the trade of enslaved peoples.