In their book, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? the Tanners quote the following from the Wayne Sentinel (a newspaper printed in the neighbourhood where Joseph Smith grew up) showing that there were some people who (correctly) taught the dangers of tobacco before the February 1833 revelation to Joseph Smith known as the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89):
It is really surprising that a single individual could be found, who, after experiencing the distressing sensations almost invariably produced by the first use of tobacco, would be willing to risk their recurrence a second time: . . . tobacco is, in fact, an absolute poison . . .
We have ourselves known individuals, in whom very severe and dangerous affections of the stomach—tremors of the limbs, and great emaciation, were referable to excessive smoking and chewing, and which were removed only after these habits were entirely relinquished.” (Wayne and Sentinel, November 6, 1829 as cited by Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? [5th ed.; Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1987, 2008], 413)
While the Tanners do overstate their case on the Word of Wisdom (and practically everything else they discuss in their writings), such should caution some errant Latter-day Saints who claim that no one before Joseph Smith warned about the dangers of tobacco.
With respect to the Tanners on the Word of Wisdom, Mike Ash has an excellent article refuting the Tanners on this issue (chapter 26, “The Word of Wisdom,” pp. 405-13 of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?), Up In Smoke: A Response to the Tanners’ Criticism of the Word of Wisdom
The following addresses early LDS medical views of the Word of Wisdom in general and tobacco specifically:
EARLY LDS MEDICAL VIEWS AND THE WORD OF WISDOM
It general it appears that, to the early Saints, Word of Wisdom observance was recommended with the perception that observance meant moderation103 guided by prevailing medical beliefs.104 The Latter-day Saints of the 1830’s, like the Latter-day Saints in every decade since, have attempted to interpret the Word of Wisdom according to insights of conventional medical knowledge. In Joseph’s day there were a variety of differing medical systems, each with its own popularity and none with the allegiance of the majority. Herbal medicine was very popular among the Saints, whereas homeopathic medicine (which amounted to little more than dispensing sugar pills and colored water) was just gaining a foothold.105 The Saints, like their contemporaries, practiced many of these systems to various degrees. The Word of Wisdom was not received in a cultural or medical vacuum.106
Earlier it was noted that according to the opinions of the reform movement and the nineteenth-century medical community, many items or spices that are not mentioned in the Word of Wisdom were also considered to be harmful. Reading through the statements of early Latter-day Saints we see that some members interpreted the revelation to include these more radical items, although they were never made an official part of the Word of Wisdom. Some of the more radical interpretations continued well into the twentieth century. David O. McKay, for instance, in 1926 advised the youth to “refrain from the use of tobacco” as well as “too much meat and from the use of strong spices, cocoa, tea and coffee.”107
Among the items which Grahamism recommended avoiding were white bread and flour, and refined sugar. Many early Saints (and no doubt some now) saw this as good advice in context of the Word of Wisdom’s recommended use of grain. It is therefore interesting to read that Rulon S. Howell, the Brazilian Mission president between 1949 and 1953, encouraged the members in Brazil to use unrefined sugar and avoid white flour. Missionaries who were sent to teach the Brazilian women in Relief Society also discouraged the use of white flour and refined sugar.108
David A. Smith, speaking in the April 1930 Conference encouraged members to substitute white flour for wheat.109 He also believed–and as previously noted this was one of the beliefs of early physicians–that pepper, spices, and mustard should be avoided.110
In subsequent years, however, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ began to teach that while it was possible there were health benefits to avoiding such items, consuming them was not in violation of the Word of Wisdom. Mark E. Peterson, for example, said in April 1953 Conference:
I do not believe we should try to establish our personal fads as Church doctrine. I do not believe my eternal salvation will be affected in any way if I eat white bread or white sugar. I do not believe the doctrines of the Church are in any way involved in whether my whole wheat is stone ground or steel-cut.111
Likewise, Joseph Fielding Smith, in his Answers to Gospel Questions, wrote that the “Lord has not condemned the use of white flour, nor white granulated sugar.”112 The fact that he would note this suggests that some Saints still believed that these items were in violation of the Word of Wisdom.
Thus we see that the Saints, in all ages, have been influenced in the interpretation of the Word of Wisdom by the findings of the medical community. Medical sentiments of the 1830’s suggested that each of the four proscribed Word of Wisdom stimulants (alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea) offered some redeeming therapeutic value. That is not to say that the belief in medicinal value was the only reason the Saints consumed these stimulants. Sometimes they were consumed for the relief of stress, mental anguish, or simply to liven the spirits. For many of the early Saints these circumstances presented justifiable grounds for non-observance or fell within the tolerances of moderation.113
. . .
TOBACCO
The early LDS approach to tobacco was similar to that of their attitude to alcohol: it was avoided, but it was also believed–based on contemporary medical advice–to offer medicinal aid for things such as toothaches (as used by Brigham Young123), and relief of fatigue, stress, and headaches. James Talmage was counseled by the First Presidency “‘to try the effect of moderate smoking'” for his nervous disorder. Talmage wrote in his journal that “‘a good cigar produced a marvelous quieting of my over-wrought nerves.'”124 While Joseph Smith apparently had no objection to the use of tobacco for medicinal purposes,125 he apparently almost never used it himself. The one most notable exception was when he tried the faith of the Saints by riding through Nauvoo smoking a cigar just after having preached a discourse on the Word of Wisdom.126 Brigham Young counseled moderation in the use of tobacco and in a sermon in 1860 chastised the brethren for their tobacco chewing because it was uncouth, filthy, and offensive, not because it violated the Word of Wisdom.127
Notes for the Above:
103 Peterson, “An Historical Analysis,” 27.
104 Bush , “The Word of Wisdom in Nineteenth-Century Perspective,” 57.
105 Ibid., 48.
106 Thomas G. Alexander, “The Word of Wisdom: From Principle to Requirement,” Dialogue 14:3 (Fall 1981): 87.
107 David O. McKay, Conference Report (October 1926), 114.
108 Mark L. Grover, “Relief Society and Church Welfare: The Brazilian Experience,” Dialogue 27:4 (Winter 1994): 35.
109 Elder David A. Smith, Conference Report (April 1930), 86.
110 Ibid., 85.
111 Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report (April 1953), 84
112 Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol. 1 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1957), 201.
113 Peterson, “An Historical Analysis,” 24.
. . .
123 Bush , The Word of Wisdom in Nineteenth-Century Perspective, 56-57.
124 Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker. A Book of Mormons. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1982), 344-345.
125 Peterson, “An Historical Analysis,” 38-39.
126 Diary Excerpts of Abraham Cannon, Vol. 19, October 1, 1895, in New Mormon Studies CD-ROM: A Comprehensive Resource Library (Smith Research Associates, 1998).
127 Brigham Young, “Confession of Faults,” Journal of Discourses, reported by G.D. Watt 10 March 1860, Vol. 8 (London: Latter-Day Saint’s Book Depot, 1861), 361.