- Origin
- The Americas
Central America and the Caribbean · Herb · № 819
Nicotiana rustica
Herb · Central America and the Caribbean
Tobacco
Nicotiana rustica
A ceremonial plant of many Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Tobacco is addictive and harmful to health.
Safety notes
Nicotine is addictive and toxic, and smoking causes cancer and cardiovascular disease. Nicotiana rustica contains more nicotine than ordinary tobacco.
Cautions by tradition (6)
- Healing traditions of the Americas: Addictive and harmful to health.
- Kallawaya healing in Bolivia: Highly toxic; nicotine is also absorbed through the skin and can cause nausea, dizziness and heart rhythm disorders. Not for children or in pregnancy.
- Curanderismo of northern Peru: Nicotine is absorbed quickly through the nasal lining: nausea, vomiting, dizziness and heart rhythm disturbances occur, and an overdose can be dangerous. Not in pregnancy, with heart disease or for children. Tobacco is addictive. This information describes traditional use and is no encouragement or advice; use is at your own risk and the makers of this site are not responsible for the consequences.
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine: Not for smoking: tobacco is poisonous and addictive.
- Medicine of the Tukano peoples (Vaupés): Nicotine is addictive and poisonous in large amounts. Not in pregnancy or with heart disease.
- Cherokee (Tsalagi) medicine: Nicotine is poisonous and passes through the skin; do not take it.
Preparation
In ceremonies as an offering, prayer or cleansing; not intended for recreational use.
Use in traditions
For many Indigenous peoples of North, Central and South America tobacco is sacred. Among the Anishinaabe and the peoples of the Prairies it is one of the four sacred medicines; the Maya also used tobacco as a remedy.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Healing traditions of the Americas
Attributed effects
Sacred to many indigenous peoples: as an offering, prayer and purification; Maya healers also used tobacco externally on bites and wounds.
Preparation and amount
In ceremonies as an offering or smoke; not intended for recreational use.
Caution: Addictive and harmful to health.
Kallawaya healing in Bolivia
Attributed effects
Externally: sun-warmed leaves on swollen muscles, for spots and for paralysis from cold. In the Andes tobacco was formerly also taken as snuff to 'clear' the head.
Preparation and amount
Warm fresh leaves in the sun and lay them on the skin; formerly also ground as snuff.
Caution: Highly toxic; nicotine is also absorbed through the skin and can cause nausea, dizziness and heart rhythm disorders. Not for children or in pregnancy.
Curanderismo of northern Peru
Attributed effects
To strengthen 'seeing' during the ceremony and to raise the patient's energy. Externally, leaves soaked in alcohol with a little turpentine are laid on a fracture.
Preparation and amount
At the mesa, tobacco is soaked in a mixture of agua florida, cane spirit, lime juice and sugar, among other things. Healer and patient sniff this liquid up through the nose; this is called 'singar' or 'levantar' (to raise).
Caution: Nicotine is absorbed quickly through the nasal lining: nausea, vomiting, dizziness and heart rhythm disturbances occur, and an overdose can be dangerous. Not in pregnancy, with heart disease or for children. Tobacco is addictive. This information describes traditional use and is no encouragement or advice; use is at your own risk and the makers of this site are not responsible for the consequences.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine
Attributed effects
The smoke carries the words to the Sky World; tobacco belongs to every gathering of medicine and to the ceremonies. Chewed on an insect bite.
Preparation and amount
Scatter dried leaves of Indigenous tobacco into the fire or lay them by a plant, with words of thanks and a request.
Caution: Not for smoking: tobacco is poisonous and addictive.
Medicine of the Tukano peoples (Vaupés)
Attributed effects
Tobacco is regarded as the food of the spirits. Anyone who wants to become a healer snuffs a great deal of tobacco for years; the healer blows smoke over the patient and over the river before a baby is first bathed in it, so that the anacondas do not notice the people.
Preparation and amount
Tobacco is snuffed, smoked in a long cigar, or its smoke is blown over a patient.
Caution: Nicotine is addictive and poisonous in large amounts. Not in pregnancy or with heart disease.
Cherokee (Tsalagi) medicine
Attributed effects
Wild tobacco (tsalu) was the most sacred plant: the leaves were offered to the fire to send a message of thanks. As a remedy it went on boils, insect bites and stings, and was chewed for headache.
Preparation and amount
Do not prepare it yourself.
Caution: Nicotine is poisonous and passes through the skin; do not take it.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tincture
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org
- Rainer W. Bussmann & Douglas Sharon, Medicinal Plants of the Andes and the Amazon (2015)
- Joseph W. Bastien, Healers of the Andes: Kallawaya Herbalists and Their Medicinal Plants (1987)
- Louis Girault, Kallawaya. Guérisseurs itinérants des Andes (1984)
- James W. Herrick, Iroquois Medical Botany, ed. Dean R. Snow (1995)
- Richard Evans Schultes & Robert F. Raffauf, Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, Their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia (1992)
- Paul B. Hamel & Mary U. Chiltoskey, Cherokee Plants and Their Uses: A 400 Year History (1975)