This paper aims to give a general view, not only over the historical past, but also an outlook of the Portuguese current reality. During the discoveries period, the Europeans found out that tobacco was already widely used by the American Indians. The Portuguese navigators brought the tobacco seeds from Brazil over to Portugal. However its culture didn't play an outstanding role in our economic scenary. Not until 1884 was it developed in the Douro region due to a phylloxera and oidium blight that devastated our vineyards. When these plagues were overcome the tobacco culture lost its interest again. Having had colonies in Africa till 1975, Portugal always faced the controversy about the alternative of growing tobacco either in Africa or in the mainland. Due to the fiscal policy, the growing of tobacco was banned in the mainland since 1927 until 1975. In 1975, with the independence of the African countries, the culture of tobacco in our country became legal and was dev eloped in different parts of Portugal, mainly in the center. The close cooperation between the tobacco growers, State departments and Tabaqueira led to a gradual enhancement of quality. Nowadays Burley-P and Virginia-P are not only used in Portuguese brands, but they are also to some extent exported. In this paper we also outline the evolution of the tobacco culture in Portugal during the last 15 years.