Replies

For years i have had a chronic lung condition. This condition comes from years of asbestos and sheetrock work. The results of this condition are that i cannot get the fluid out of my lungs. However, i found that if i smoke a cigar in the evening then it allows me to have looser fluid in the lung and can then get it out. So im guessing im not the only one that knows this.

In the old days native medicine relied heavily on tobacco. I know the importance of it on bee, wasp stings, and other insect bites. It is also curative for mouth ulcers, and drinking a little tobacco juice cures some stomach ulcers. It is somewhat antiseptic and the sugars in it aid to healing of wounds. In the old days they use to pack a wound with tobacco which will cleanse the wound.

If there were infections then the tobacco poultice was used to draw out the infection, and worked very effectively. This comes from tobacco that is not tainted by a bunch of chemical additives. To make a poultice to use on a sting or burn you take the leaf tobacco and chew it till it feels foamy in your mouth. Then apply it to the place of need and bandage it in place. It will kill the poison of poison ivy, oak, and sumac. It is a great poultice for almost any external problem.

Tobacco also helps with gum disease, again, the leaf not the chopped up chemical added cigarette kind. Though abuse of tobacco can cause problems it is a great healing plant. The ancients used it as the commodity of exchange here in the americas before there was a single non-native person living here. It was smoked as a sign of fellowship, it was placed in a fire while praying, and it was given as reward for someone who did something for you.

When the sundance is done the piercings are packed with tobacco. To us natives the tobacco is a sacred plant, specially given by the Creator to heal and to use in ceremony. So im sure that if someone would check out the healing potential of the plant they would find all kinds of things it does to help the body, and to sooth the mind.

This same was true with white willow bark that was smoked in pipes during ceremonies and drank in water to bring healing. This white willow bark was the ancestor of our present aspirin. So there are many of these plants that were part of the native medicine bag that still are used, and some misused by modern man.