How did Latakia into my pipe?

[TheMacDonald]

Having expounded heavily on the merits of latakia tobacco…I realized I have no idea when it came into fashion as a smoking material. I know that is a spiced treatment of tobacco and not a particular plant, and not, contrary to some vicious rumors involved in anyway with camel dung, but how did this variety come to be so ubiquitous with English, Scottish and Balkan blends? I assume that tobacco use spread from the Virginian colony, to England and to Europe. The fact that there are distinct “oriental” varieties through out the Mediterranean areas, and into the Middle East, obviously does not support that train of thought. So I guess that makes my question two fold; when did tobacco arrive in the Middle East and how did it get to or back to English blenders?