Young Blonde Pigtail Girl In Front Of The Mirror

The term pigtail appears in English in the American colonies in the 1600s to describe a twist of chewing tobacco. One of the steps in processing the tobacco was to twist a handful of leaves together to form a compact bunch that would then be cured (dried, either with or without smoking). The term "pigtail" was applied to the bunch based on its resemblance to a twisted pig's tail.