Tobacco control policy is a long step from the neat theoretical path of identifying a problem, selecting the most effective strategy to tackle it, and then just implementing it. This chapter describes the many steps that were taken by the Dutch government to shape tobacco control policy. The description covers more than half a century and stays close to the timeline of events. The reader will learn how the government chose to combat smoking from the early years when it first became clear that smoking is not an innocent pleasure. At first the government was hesitant to react, but in the 1970s it became more active, culminating in a Tobacco Memorandum with far-reaching policy proposals, many of which were killed or toned down over subsequent years. The fight over tobacco policy then concentrated on two major national pieces of legislation: the 1988 Tobacco Act and its 2002 revision. These were not definitive laws but “framework” laws—meaning that they offered the basis for more specific decisions to be taken by the Council of Ministers (so-called orders-in-council) or by a minister (Ministerial Regulations) at a later stage. This opened up long periods of bargaining between interest groups, politicians, and the government about interpretations during the implementation phase.