A hippie friend of mine was telling me that Tobacco was a sacred plant to American Natives, and that they would only use it in ceremonies, a few times a month. He went on to say that people now have an abusive relation with tobacco, and have strayed away from it's intended use.
I find that hard to believe, as a tobacco user. I can't imagine the natives didn't go about their day using it be it chewing or smoking, because the moment the Europeans arrived they sure as hell made a habit out of it.
Tobacco was used in a variety of contexts by Native Americans. It was usually smoked from a pipe, in a mixture with other herbs and adjuncts. It is associated with religious ceremony, but I can find no reference on how often the ceremony would take place, nor for the use of smoking tobacco outside ceremony, and some indication that tobacco was not used in such a manner:
Smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco have no connection to Aboriginal spirituality.
Traditional tobacco is intended to be used in small amounts for prayers and ceremonies.
It was also given as an offering by placing it at the base of plants before harvest, or cast into the water before fishing, for example. Tobacco was also used medicinally (as were a great many plants) to treat certain ailments, including as a compress instead of smoking or ingestion.
Here are some references that give a lot of information. The quotes are from the http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov website.
https://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-166.html
http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov/traditionaltobacco.html
http://www.dancingtoeaglespiritsociety.org/medicines.php
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1079499/
[Edit: added more references]