In case you missed it, research published in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry showed that the ancient Mayans had a deep cultural affection for tobacco that dates back at least 1,300 years. Researchers apparently identified traces of nicotine inside a Mayan flask, proving that the Mayans and other ancient Mesoamerican cultures stored tobacco either they smoked in pipes or in cigar-like bundles. The flask, which researchers dated back to around the year 700, is marked with Mayan hieroglyphs that, when translated, mean “”the house of its/his/her tobacco.” According to archaelogist Jennifer Loughmiller-Newman, the Mayans also used powdered tobacco as a snake and parasite repellent, and as an additive to snuff and alcoholic drinks. “This was very strong tobacco, much stronger than it is today," she told MSNBC "Nicotiana rustica was nearly hallucinogenic.”