Speaking off the top of my head now:

There's 599 chemicals added to commercial cigarettes. Among them, arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde, DDT, etc. When the cigarette burns the chemicals break apart forming over 7000 discovered chemicals emitted from a burning cigarette. 90% of tobacco in the US is genetically modified. Since the 40's, for whatever reason, (population control?, radioactive waste disposal?) they have been fertilizing the tobacco fields in the US with radioactive fertilizers. One study showed that in a years time the average smoker received the equivalent of 250 chest X-rays worth of radiation. That is the number one cause of cancer from smoking cigarettes. Nevermind those over 7,000 probably 99% toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. Using a Geiger counter, Marlboro's were tested alongside American Spirit organic. and they tested the same. They can still call them organic because the phosphate fertilizers used contain natural elements like polonium-210. But for whatever reason they are condensed in the fertilizers used in tobacco fields by big tobacco incorporated. Commercial cigarettes are made up of 25% tobacco, 25% chemical additives, and 50% reconstituted tobacco (stems, tobacco swept off factory floor, etc). Also added to commercial cigarettes and American spirits, is freebased nicotine. Cigarettes now are regulated to come with fireproof paper which is constructed with "carpet glue".

The federal government passed a law in 2004 mandating that cigarettes self extinguish. To accomplish this, cigarette manufacturers now put "ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer" (carpet glue) adhesive into the paper of the cigarettes. The result is that cigarette smokers are now inhaling burning glue. According to a Harvard Study, the self extinguishing cigarettes produce 13.9% more Naphthalene and 11.4% more carbon monoxide than cigarettes made without the glue. Naphthalene is a substance used to make moth balls and in quantity, causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, anemia, jaundice, convulsions and coma."

Organic additive-free tobacco in natural paper has none of those things. Tobacco is a medicine that's why doctors used to prescribe it. Before allopathic / western medicine was corrupted for government and pharmaceutical corporations and reproduced as an addictive poison -- it lowers blood pressure. Tobacco products in the US are poison. Sacrilegious effigies of real tobacco medicine.

Nicotine itself is a mental stimulant and sedative in one. Its been studied and isn't carcinogenic. Tobacco also contains Beta-carbolines alkaloids, of the class called harmalas (harmine, harmaline, harmalol, tetrahydroharmine) etc. They're MAOis or mono-amide oxidase inhibitors which break down serotonin in the body, making them anti-depressant. There's pharmaceutical MAOI anti-depressants but they're more dangerous because the natural ones are RIMAs or reversible MAOIs. They're not as strong and don't last as long. These harmalas in tobacco leaf have also been found to be anti-tumor. And they're NMDA antagonists. NMDA antagonists (antagonists: hold down/block) the glutamate receptor: N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (also known as the NMDA / NMDAR receptor). One effect of this is resensitization of the brain to serotonin and dopamine, which in turn lowers tolerances to other substances. While they also release serotonin and dopamine, thereby increasing re-uptake in the brain and building up serotonin and dopamine levels. Serotonin and dopamine are healthy for physiological and behavioral functions, (sleep patters, appetite, etc.) They also lower tolerances to other drugs because of this healthy metabolism of serotonin and dopamine. NMDA antagonists will be the future anti-depressants. Alkaloids (a molecule containing a Nitrogen atom to help it bypass the blood-brain barrier) that are found in nature, like Huperzine-A. Huperzine-A is an NMDA antagonist but also an Anticholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor. Which is an inhibitor of the enzyme that breaks down choline/acetylcholine in the brain. These are naturally occurring endogenous neurotransmitters which increase cognitive function. They are sold in supplement formulations (extracted from plants). All the perfect qualities of a mood-booster. Since increasing cholinergic neurotransmission in various regions of the brain can also result in increases of various catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine) in the post-synaptic space. Acetylcholine esterase inhibitors, like Donepezil, have been shown to increase REM sleep.

The indians consider tobacco the father and ayahuasca the mother. They're most holy plants. The north-american indians believe that it's a powerplant and strengthens your intentions and prayers. That when burning, helps lift your thoughts/prayers to the heavens
The south-american indians use it as an energy cleanser, when you consume or blow / burn tobacco smoke it cleanses and protects. The technique "soplando" is where the south american shamans blow tobacco smoke at a persons place of illness. use it as a smudge and protection barrier during ceremonies. They blow it into the metaphysical eyes and entry/exit points of the body. The crown chakra, palms of the hands and feet. Where energies/spirits can enter/leave the body. They also smudge themselves by ritualistically blowing a puff to their left, right, and ahead while making a sort of "pff" sound and visualizing/intenting it to clear the space of negative energies. Tobacco is also drank orally (right dosage and tolerance or nicotine is a stronger poison than arsenic; hence: powerplant -- "All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous." ). It is drunk as a purgative medicine to cleanse the body of sickness, negative energies, bad spirits. The indians believe that tobacco is spirit food and that is why they gift it to plants before harvesting some of it's material. That is called "honorable harvest". They believe humans are meant to cultivate tobacco for the spirits and that the scent attracts good spirits while weakening malicious ones.

As the Native Americans apparently said of tobacco, the white men took its body, but not its spirit.

Denatured and diluted, it certainly became a "perfect drug" for profit-seeking puritans, for a short time at least. Is there nothing we can't make a teat out of? And now it's on its way to becoming extinct in our societies.

But also a useful organic pesticide...

Fuerzo mapacho!

I feel that it's spirit is getting stronger through me.

I always thought when I was younger that there has to be something with tobacco that makes so many people use it and for such a long time, and there certifiably is.

However I don't view it as a particularly useful drug even with the health benefits. The buzz lasts for a very short time and it's very mild. For the supposedly short concentration boost you already wasted the time you could have spent concentrating more by smoking.

Even with mapacho, I don't quite get it why it is used alongside ayahuasca and all. For me aya has killed any sort of desire for stuff like that, not because it is unhealthy to smoke anything but because it is stupid and time that could be better spent.

I'm not a tobacco hater by any means but let's be honest here any herb could have the same amount of benefits or higher and it wouldn't be talked about it as much as with this one. There are better options to get a buzz or administer a medicine.

The tobacco and coffee traditions and industries just show how people are willing to bother just to get a mild buzz and limited amounts of health benefits that are practically neglectable. Kind of sad when you look deeper into it IMO.

I've actually been re-acquainting myself with Tobacco after quitting .
(Perhaps an eloquent way of saying relapsing?)
I smoke small amounts of Mapacho combined with Lobelia Inflata in a pipe throughout the day.
The synergy between the two plants is VERY POWERFUL.
( Mapacho = Nicotania Rustica, the most potent variety of tobacco "Sacred Tobacco" )

I find Mapacho & Lobelia useful for the following :
* Increasing alertness
* Praying and grounding
* Cleansing the airways
* Cleansing negative thoughts
* Refreshing and cleansing the spirit, mind, and body

The key is in the dosage.
It is powerfully addictive and damaging when abused.
I was addicted for 5 years. I've smoked and chewed it mostly, but I've also used it in a tea and as a snuff.

Mapacho tea is a better stimulant than coffee and amphetamines. Good clean energy. Excellent for mental focus and alertness. Although, cacao is superior because it is more empathetic and loving but perhaps not as focused.
Mapacho snuff liquid is a good stimulant too, although it is best for cleansing the sinuses and throat.
Tobacco smoke is astringent and helps me expel mucus and dries my airways.

I love to use tobacco & lobelia smoke for "resetting" my mind & spirit.
It is very grounding and cleansing.
I usually think of a negative feeling/thought I want to release and then smoke a small amount.
I then feel an incredible surge of energy throughout my body & spirit.
I feel a strong sense of flight, a weight lifted.
Lights strobe rapidly & brightly behind closed eyes as my head fills with strong crisp vibrational blood.
If the dosage is too high, I will begin to feel nervous and ill.

Like any addictive substance, self-control is absolutely necessary.
I wonder why we addict ourselves to poisons?
What benefits are we reaping?

A thing that you forget is that smoking homegrown tobacco or just anything like changa or cannabis is just as bad.

When using a pipe you might save some of the smoke the glue and paper makes but you miss out on the filter. Tobacco is one of the worst things to smoke but in general all kinds of smoking are bad.
Your lungs are made to absorb air not drugs.

I definitely agree with this.
But perhaps our lungs are equipped to handle small amounts of smoke?
Afterall, we have adapted to sitting around campfires.
Our lungs have the ability to expel particles and tar.
I suspect that it all depends on the quantity and frequency of smoking..
Habitual commercial tobacco users consume ridiculous quantities of tobacco very frequently.
Not to mention the all of the chemicals added to the tobacco.
Perhaps small amounts are not that damaging?
Or am I in denial during my little relapse?

I think it is kind of irresponsible to claim that smoking tobaco has health benefits. Burning any type of plant material produces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, wich are substances that bind to DNA and cause mutations.
It also produces microdust particles.

Sitting around a campfire each day, if you sit close enough, will in all likelyhood reduce your lifespan.
In africa and asia, many people who use fire to cook their food. It has scientifically been shown to be an important factor in all kinds of disease and it shortens the lifespan of those people as well. You will inhale more PAH's and microdust particles that way, than if you live in a large city next to a busy junction.

I also would add that Nicotiana Rustica is far less addictive to me than commercial tobacco. I used to be a regular smoker in the past. Now I smoke perhaps four to five times in a week and fell it more rewarding (N. Rustica clearly have an antidepressant effect, clears the mind and enhances the effects of others psychoactive plants).
I also understood the first texts written on tobacco, describing clearly psychoactive effects of the plant: those strains of tobacco are indeed really special. The tobacco industry has created a very weak and addictive tobacco nowadays...
Growing your own tobacco allow for developing a spiritual relationship with the plants, which continue through the drying and curing process, until you smoke it. I only add this kind of relation with weed and mushrooms in the past but now my garden will welcome tobacco plants every year to come!
And, as I said in another thread, non smokers can perfectly use it as Rapé, if inhaling smoke disturb them. This ROA is, to me, even more powerfull than smoke (you however need to accept to get brownish residue in your tissue when you blow your nose...). I used it while hiking in the autumnal forest last week, it enhanced my colors perception in an impressive way!

One could extract tobacco into propylene glycol directly and vape it. I've done this with fine cigars (makes'em last, too).

I find nasal tobacco to be the most powerful ROA.
Oral use is too sickening.
Smoked is too short lived.

Does anybody else reap any kind of spiritual benefits from Tobacco?
I find Tobacco, Datura, and Amanitas to have alot of negative reputation.
I wonder if there are benefits to be reaped from working with these herbs?

May you please elaborate on this statement? How do you prepare nasal tobacco? DO you actually eat it, or do you chew-it-up and spit the leaves out (AKA sublingual/buccal); I would like to know more about your various ROAs and the pros and cons of each one


IME, tobacco has been much more of a headache than a heaven (literally)... The only smoked tobacco preparation which didn't make me erupt into bouts projectile vomiting were fine Cuban Cigars; all other smokable forms of tobacco have resulted in lightheadedness, headache, dysphoria, and projectile vomiting.

Hookah is fine and dandy, but is wayyyy too easy to overdue; at first it's mildly mellowing, so I keep on puffing along until

E-cigs tend to be slightly less nauseating than other smoakable preparations of tobacco (sans good Cuban Cigars...); i've tried buccal/sublingual nicotine (2mg & 4mg at a time in different trials), only to find out that, even without swallowing, the nausea/vomiting gets only worse when used orally along with the headache and overall queasiness.

I haven't yet had a 'spiritual' or 'entheogenic' experience IME with tobacco, but hopefully that'll change once I get to harvest my crop of N. Rustica...

It sounds like you're very sensitive to tobacco.
I've been using it habitually since I was 11 years old.
I only get nauseous and dysphoric if I really over-do it (common with buccal/oral/cigars)

I've used finely ground tobacco as nasal snuff with good results.
Clean energizing buzz.
Singado is a preparation of Rustica leaves soaked in water.
Just submerge an amount of Rustica leaves completely in a suitable amount of water.
Just enough to submerge the leaves. Let it soak overnight.
Then you may use a straw to lightly sniff the liquid.
Warning : IT BURNS LIKE HELL
But if you can get past the burn, your sinuses will clear and you'll be left with a euphoric energetic buzz.
The buzz lasts about an hour or so.

Smoking tobacco is tricky.
I am actually smoking some Rustica right now.
I take a portion of a Rustica leaf, dry it with my lighter, and then crumble it into a pipe. (so it burns smoothly)
I steadily inhale into my navel for a lungfull.
1 good lungful is definitely enough to cause a HEAVY tobacco buzz.
I've actually gotten CEV's and aural hallucinations from large hits of Rustica.
It's an incredible mental activator. My whole body & mind begin buzzing with crisp clean electricity after a good hit of Rustica.

Chewed tobacco is preferable for sustained mental focus.
I just take a pinch of Rustica and chew on it.
Btw, calcium hydroxide (lime) increases the absorption by ALOT. It makes it many times more potent.

Tobacco tea is DANGEROUS and I don't recommend it.
If you want to try it, take a teaspoon of tobacco leaves and dilute in a cup of water.
Brew it like tea in a microwave.
Take small sips every 10 minutes to assess your tolerance.
Take it VERY SLOW and cautious.
If you do it right, you can build yourself up to a nice stimulating headspace.
In my experience, tobacco tea is a better mental stimulant than coffee and even amphetamines.
Clear focus. All that Acetylcholine

It's not acetylcholine. Which is why consuming an abundance of tobacco has unpleasant side effects. However, nachr affinity of nicotine does appear to have long term heath benefits. I'll stick to vaping my nic, though.

Tobacco ingestion causes an increased release of catacholamines and stress hormones right?

Don't forget about the beta carbolines, acetaldehyde, nicotinamides, as well as the rest of those other 100-1000-and-something naturally-occurring compounds in dried/cured tobacco leaf.

Psychopharmacologically, that is a cool dichotomy. Chronic/long-time smokers feel relaxed from cigarettes whereas noobs tend to get PNS overload (similar situation with increased cortisol and all); I think that, as people become tolerant to &/or dependent on tobacco, they either a) learn to associate that feeling with relief, b)build up a tolerance necessary to avert the chance of such an overdose (i.e. PNS overdrive, nausea/vomiting, paleness of skin, lightheadedness, etc.), and/or c) have their nicotinic/cholinergic brain structures change over time such that the brain would be dependent on nicotine for stability, and tobacco withdrawal effect on acetylcholine system would negatively reinforce smoalking, such that they may experience what tobacco-naive users may go-through when they first take in too much (stress hormones, catecholaminergic shock, PNS overdrive).

28 Proven Health Benefits of Nicotine

https://selfhacked.com/2...otine-4-potential-risks/

May I chime in, I would say I too find the intranasal ( singado, or ambil with ashes or dosu depending the region are the liquid snuffs ), the höpi ( rapé, finely sifted mapacho usually with ashes but it can be made with other plants too ), and it is my favorite ROA for tobacco in general and mapacho in particular.

Am just gonna start mixing and assembling my own a bit. And play with strenght, aroma, and effects.
I sometimes use it everyday for a week or two, and I tend to stop naturally, and keep some for later. Like, I feel less addiction potential to snuffed than smoking industrials one, but I know some poeple seems to really do alot everyday and get used to this dopamine surge I'd imagine...
But all in all, it feels way healthier and a good way to use nicotiana rustica medicinally ( I Use it at least to clear sinuses and wash eyes - but cry inducing ).

Now the singado, I would add base to that to facilitate absorbtion. But is the "traditional" recipe not calling for ashes or lime / base at all ? I never heard a mention for it for this one. I did snuff with some wayanas from french guyana and to them, as for many tribes form brazil, perù, it is a very important part of their ritual ( not always daily, depending upon who's using it).

Orexin, also called hypocretin, is a neurotransmitter that regulates arousal, wakefulness, and appetite.