felixhigh said:

You can die if you take tobacco tea.


FH

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I know it can be very dangerous and potentially deadly to use the leaves from nicotiana rustica, but making tea on a small amount of cured leaves isn't nearly as dangerous as smoking uncured leaves, or even smoking a lot of cured ones. It definitely comes with a "use with extreme caution" label on it, but respectful and careful use shouldn't result in anything but nausea and general physical discomfort worst case scenario.

At least that's what a few google searches told me. However, I could off course be wrong, so if you have sources saying otherwise, or other experiences, then please share them, as tea certainly isn't worth dying for.

In any case, I will be extremely careful with that plant, I've indigested very high doses of nicotine before, and it's not something I want to repeat.

Cactusdan said:

Actually, Salvia is VERY active as a hot tea.

Not sure why this is, but I and numerous others have tried it with much success.

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Quote:

Is it true that tobacco tea has potent anticancer properties?
One of my friends works in the medical field, and he said that a little known fact about tobacco is that if you make tea out of the cured leaves it's one of the most potent anti-cancer foods there is. Apparently it has even more cancer fighting antioxidants than pomegranate juice, plus it's rich in B vitamins. Has anyone else heard this?

In medieval times, most herbs would be used only for a few conditions in which it was deemed effective—not for a vast range of disorders from head lice to hemorrhoids, from hysteria to tetanus, as happened with tobacco. Secondly, writings on this subject commonly imply that nicotine is the only active medicinal constituent, yet the various species of Nicotiana contain many other alkaloids. Thirdly, the leaves and juice were much used for skin disorders, possibly including basal cell cancer. Might tobacco leaves contain an anticancer agent, as proved to be the case with periwinkle (vinca alkaloids)?
So, although not fully tested, they might have a specialised medicinal use as a reverse to the cancer damage made by smoking it.
Have no idea however, how many antioxidants is in the actual tobacco plant.

PS. Emerging evidence suggests that regular nicotine treatment may be helpful in improving symptoms of OCD, although the pharmacodynamical mechanism by which this improvement is achieved is not yet known, and more detailed studies are needed to fully confirm this hypothesis. Anecdotal reports suggest OCD can worsen when cigarettes are smoked as a way of obtaining nicotin.
Imagine a tobacco-based coffee-like drink. The product would have the following requirements and advantages: Tea-containing tobacco - Patent 4694842The product consists essentially of tobacco leaves, tea leaves and.....


Fulfills the physical pleasures of tobacco. Namely taste, smell and nicotine. Allows satisfying rituals associated with coffee drinking to accompany consumption of tobacco. Allows users of the substitute tobacco product to blend in unnoticeably and unoffensively with non-smokers.
Source(s):
www.freepatentsonline.com/4694842.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080728191726AA7vx9A

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Quote:

Many kinds of Sage have been used as substitutes for tea, the Chinese having been said to prefer Sage Tea to their own native product, at one time bartering for it with the Dutch and giving thrice the quantity of their choicest tea in exchange.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/sages-05.html

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sower said:

I've indigested very high doses of nicotine before, and it's not something I want to repeat.

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Quote:

In case you are wondering, one smoked cigarette butt potentially has enough nicotine in it to kill a child of the eating random things stage. An average human adult would probably die from eating two to three whole cigarettes, as the amount of nicotine in an unsmoked cigarette is about 300 times as much as you get from smoking it. A cigarette butt will also make an adult human (non-smoker) quite sick, so do not be tempted to eat one under any circumstance.
http://everything2.com/title/nicotine+poisoning

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Quote:

0.3 g tobacco leaves, 
0.1 g green tea leaves,
0.1 g dry chrysanthemum flower
and 0.2 g Cnidii Rhizoma.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4694842.html

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Turky said:

I just harvesting some mint, lemon balm, and lavender to make my tea for the winter. I actually have them drying out right now so I can put it all into jars and use it later. I love mixing them all together. Stevia rebaudiana is very good for a natural sweetener by the way. =D Enjoy making your own tea, it is amazingly better than buying it. Drinking something you grew is the best.

Passion Flower is also something you might want to grow. I find that it relaxes me more than many other plants. You can also check online for some, I bought 4 oz for 7 dollars the other day. =D

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durian_2008 said:

sower said:

I've indigested very high doses of nicotine before, and it's not something I want to repeat.

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If you're still following this thread, could you be more specific?

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Well, long story short (or shorter, at least), I chewed 3 pieces of 4mg gum and took a cigarette at the same time.. A very stupid and childish thing to do. Mind you, this was many many years ago, and I've gained at least some sense since then. The result was one of the most uncomfortable experiences I can remember. Extreme nausea, I was sweating like a pig, got intensely dizzy and my heart was racing. It felt like I was about to pass out for the next hour or so, and I threw up several times. I don't know how much nicotine I actually got into my system, but it was most definitely way too much. Scary part was that I felt absolutely fine until I was mid-way trough my cigarette, then BOOM! shit hit the fan.

I have no intentions of repeating that, so I will treat my Rustica with a bucket load of respect, and be very careful with it.

durian_2008 said:

When I research tobacco as a tea, it's a miracle cure, good for everything.

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This is something I've read about too, and it's the reason I intend to try it. Carefully. I expect 0.2-0.3g of cured leaves in tea won't cause any nastiness.

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I've been meaning to grow Passion flower as well, although my primary motive was that it's an awesome looking flower. I didn't know it made a good tea as well. Will definitely grow one now.

Chocolate mint sounds interesting too, will have to see if I can get a hold of that.

themallacht said:

I keep hearing about Passion Flower more and more now... Definitely thinking of adding it to my own ethnobotanical garden sometime soon.... GREAT Aldous Huxley quote by the way...

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Do it man, It's amazing. I just made some mint, lemon balm, lavender, and mullein tea and it's the best! Aldous Huxley is the shit, that's my favorite quote. =D I like you for noticing.