Doesn't surprise me.
Tobacco was a "medicine" plant to Indians for a couple thousand years before white people discovered it. Early on, European physicians were recommending it medicinally to "purge superfluous humours", but then King James - the same one that authorized his very own Bible - came out with his "noxious weed" lunacy, and everyone suddenly re-thought it. I mean, who want to piss off a king? So, from then on, it started getting a bad rap.
Now, in the modern day and age, commercial tobacco has a lot of problems. First, it's a different, weaker species. Second, they put all kinds of chemical crap in smoking tobacco now, from flavorings to burning agents to keep it lit, and a bunch of other crap. That doesn't eliminate the "good" medicinal qualities, but it does add a crap ton of bad qualities to overshadow them.
Another problem in the modern world is over-use, compounding the bad effects from the chemicals by flooding your body with them. Smoking a couple packs a day of cigarettes is overusing it, and on top of that you're not just getting overdosed on the bad chemicals mixed in to the commercial tobacco, you're also breathing whatever chemicals are in the paper wrapper. On the other hand, home-grown tobacco, without the chemical additives, and smoked from a pipe or something like that, has a whole different character.
I grow the "strong" tobacco, also called "sacred tobacco", "native tobacco,and in some cases "Aztec tobacco", which some tribes call "little tobacco" because the plant is smaller. A pipe of that every so often has a different effect, and even a different taste. I've noticed that after a pipe of it, my lungs get cleared out and I can breathe easier. Same thing happens if I eat hot peppers, but we're talking tobacco here. The plant is smaller, and I don't grow all that much of it, so over-use is not a problem if I plan on still having any left by the time next harvest rolls around. Just a pipe full every so often will do ya. A SMALL pipe. A regular pipe full is enough to make you woozy and give you a feeling of leaving your body. I reckon that's why Indian medicine men were so fond of it!
But this does not surprise me, at all. It's just a discovery of another - previously unknown - medicinal quality of tobacco!
.
Tobacco was a "medicine" plant to Indians for a couple thousand years before white people discovered it. Early on, European physicians were recommending it medicinally to "purge superfluous humours", but then King James - the same one that authorized his very own Bible - came out with his "noxious weed" lunacy, and everyone suddenly re-thought it. I mean, who want to piss off a king? So, from then on, it started getting a bad rap.
Now, in the modern day and age, commercial tobacco has a lot of problems. First, it's a different, weaker species. Second, they put all kinds of chemical crap in smoking tobacco now, from flavorings to burning agents to keep it lit, and a bunch of other crap. That doesn't eliminate the "good" medicinal qualities, but it does add a crap ton of bad qualities to overshadow them.
Another problem in the modern world is over-use, compounding the bad effects from the chemicals by flooding your body with them. Smoking a couple packs a day of cigarettes is overusing it, and on top of that you're not just getting overdosed on the bad chemicals mixed in to the commercial tobacco, you're also breathing whatever chemicals are in the paper wrapper. On the other hand, home-grown tobacco, without the chemical additives, and smoked from a pipe or something like that, has a whole different character.
I grow the "strong" tobacco, also called "sacred tobacco", "native tobacco,and in some cases "Aztec tobacco", which some tribes call "little tobacco" because the plant is smaller. A pipe of that every so often has a different effect, and even a different taste. I've noticed that after a pipe of it, my lungs get cleared out and I can breathe easier. Same thing happens if I eat hot peppers, but we're talking tobacco here. The plant is smaller, and I don't grow all that much of it, so over-use is not a problem if I plan on still having any left by the time next harvest rolls around. Just a pipe full every so often will do ya. A SMALL pipe. A regular pipe full is enough to make you woozy and give you a feeling of leaving your body. I reckon that's why Indian medicine men were so fond of it!
But this does not surprise me, at all. It's just a discovery of another - previously unknown - medicinal quality of tobacco!
.