LIKE OTHER PLANTS, TOBACCO IS PART OF THE FASCINATING WORLD OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE. ITS BENEFITS TO HEALTH STAND FAR BEYOND THE ABILITY TO CAPTURE ITS SCENT, STRENGTH AND ESSENCES

When it comes to tobacco, it’s common to touch on such interesting aspects as its production, sale and the variety of products offered in that market, one that has for ages lured so many followers and buffs around the globe.
The psychosocial connotation it has reached is so big –it has stood for different eras and lifestyles- that the plant has been mystified by all the arts and mass media. However, it also plays a somewhat unknown but equally important role in the realm of alternative medicine. This is a plant whose aroma, taste and the therapeutic qualities of its components can be used lengthily.
Chances are tobacco was probably first used as medicine, though it also used to be offered as a welcoming token of friendship. Since the dawn of mankind, tobacco has been consumed in a variety of ways: smoked, inhaled through the nostrils, chewed, eaten, drunk, smeared on the body, in the form of eye drops and in enemas. Wizards and medicine men utilized the smoke to both cure and bless. The plant was equally linked to certain initiation rituals, symbolizing people’s passage from adolescence to adulthood –something that’s still very much in use in the western culture.
Tobacco hails from the Americas, even though it’s currently grown in other regions on the face of the earth. Nicotine is its main component, present in the plant’s leaves. With a volatile nature, this substance, which gives tobacco its characteristic scent, is rapidly absorbed by the bloodstream, reaching the brain in approximately ten seconds. At this point, brain receptors start giving out a substance called dopamine that eventually triggers the inner circuits that control the feelings of pleasure –also known as ways of gratification. That reaction is believed to be the driving force behind the pleasant sensations generated by tobacco and, in the same breath, one of the fundamental therapeutic effects produced by the plant.
The list of medical indications can be actually long, therefore most experts recommend organic tobacco and leaves enduring the drying process, the best way to shun a number of chemicals that could really hamper the anticipated healing effects.

MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS FOR THE USE OF TOBACCO

- The leaf’s acidity is ideal for disinfecting purposes. Even though its use is not recommended on open wounds, tobacco plasters do protect skin from infections and help soothe bruises, contusions and skin swellings.
- In shampoos, tobacco could be a major ingredient to help stave off lice and nits. Ground tobacco, dissolved in a paste, is helpful in fighting back acne.
- Tobacco leaves, thanks to their anti-inflammatory qualities, are usually effective tool to combat hemorrhoids. They must be used in hot water hip baths or applied in moist compresses on the affected area for three to four hours a day.
- Chewing tobacco is a powerful muscle relaxer that brings benefits to the Central Nervous System, thanks to its soothing action. Therefore, it can be used in moments of extreme stress or tension, or to heal stress-triggered backaches. Wild tobacco contains plentiful quantities of lobeline that exerts directly on the nervous system and generates a feeling of wellbeing.
- In relatively high doses, chewing tobacco induces vomiting, a reason why it can be used as a laxative to treat stomach infections or food poisoning.
The tobacco plant is a mighty insecticide. Burning tobacco or its water-dampened leaves could be a good remedy against dengue-carrying Aedes Aegypti mosquitos.
It stimulates saliva secretion and has a slight diuretic effect.
- When soothing neuralgias, juice squeezed out of its leaves can be externally applied as an ointment, rubbing along the affected nerve.
- As an anti-parasite, it can be used to treat intestinal pinworms or threadworms by applying tobacco enemas.
- Water-dampened leaves placed on the temples and the forehead can be used to treat acute headaches.
- A concentrated tobacco paste can be applied on the gums to sooth gingivitis (swollen gums).