MEDICINAL USES

OF TOBACCO

Tobacco

Botanical name: Nicotiana tabacum

Nicotiana rustica

Family: Solanaceae

Synonyms-Tabacca, Tabaci Folia

Part Used-Leaves, cured and dried.

Habitat-Virginia, America; and cultivated

with other species in China, Turkey, Greece,

Holland, France, Germany and most sub-

tropical countries.

Description

The genus derived its name from Joan Nicot, a Portuguese who introduced the Tobaccoplant into France.

The specific name being derived from the Haitian word for the pipe in which the herb issmoked.

Tobacco is an annual, with a long fibrous root, stem erect, round, hairy; it branches nearthe top and is from 3 to 6 feet high.

Leaves large, numerous, alternate, sessile, somewhat decurrent, ovate, lanceolate, pointed,entire, and hairy, pale-green colour, brittle, narcotic odour, with a nauseous, bitter acridtaste.

Nicotine is a volatile oil, inflammable, powerfull alkaline present in tobacco with an acridsmell and a burning taste.

.

By distillation with water it yields a concrete volatile oil termed

nicotianin or Tobacco camphor, which is tasteless, crystalline, and

smells of Tobacco.

other constituents are albumen, resin, gum, and inorganic matters

Constituents

• The most important constituent is the alkaloid Nicotine,

nicotianin, nicotinine, nicoteine, nicoteline.

• After leaves are smoked the nicotine decomposes into pyridine,

furfurol, collidine, hydrocyanic acid, carbon-monoxide, etc.

• The poisonous effects of Tobacco smoke are due to these

substances of decomposed nicotine.

Is the only use of tobacco is for making cigarettes?

MEDICINAL USES

Medicinally it is used as a sedative, diuretic, expectorant, discutient, and internally only as

an emetic, when all other emetics fail.

The smoke injected into the rectum is beneficial against strangulated hernia, for obstinate

constipation, and also in tetanus.

A cataplasm of the leaves may be used as an ointment for cutaneous diseases.

The leaves in combination with the leaves of belladonna or stramonium make an excellent

application for obstinate ulcers, painful tremors and spasmodic affections.

The tobacco leaf juice cures facial neuralgia if rubbed along the tracks of the affected

nerve.

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Externally nicotine is an antiseptic.

Tobacco in the form of an enema of the leaves was used to relax muscular spasms, to

facilitate the reduction of dislocations.

Tobacco leaves should be considered an ideal plant for homeopathic practices, self-reliant

living as well as a great bartering item for a long term emergency.

A pipe smoked after breakfast assists the action of the bowels.

An infusion of Tobacco is generally used in horticulture as an insecticide.

Skin Rashes, Eczema and rheumatism - tobacco leaves put on skin inflammations to help soothe and relieve pain.

Toothaches – tobacco leaves could also be placed in the mouth to alleviate pain from toothaches.

Rattlesnake and Insect Bites - nicotine in the tobacco would help relieve pain as well as help draw out the poison and heal the snake wound. After the poison had been sucked out, chewed leaves could be applied to cuts or bound on the bite with a bandage.

Colds - tobacco mixed with leaves from the Desert Sage plant, or the root of Indian Balsam (or cough root), Leptotaenia Multifida cures cold and would also help with asthma and tuberculosis. Smoked leaves clear out nasal passages.

Toothpaste - powdered tobacco is rubbed on the teeth for cleaning.

Tobacco is an excellent source of

phytochemicals viz., solanesol, nicotine,

proteins, tobacco seed oil and organic acids

(malic and citric) which have pharmaceutical,

agricultural and industrial uses.

It has been established that tobacco seed oil is

free from toxic substances.

Refined tobacco seed oil is widely used as

edible oil in countries like Bulgaria, Turkey,

Tunisia and Greece, where tobacco is grown.

EVIL PLANT MAY BENEFIT RARE DISORDERS

In 1926, it was reported that, when patients with certain types of parkinsonism were

treated with subcutaneous injections of nicotine extracted from Nicitiana Rustica,

many of them showed immediate improvement.

A controlled study was done and in several cases, the risk of Parkinson's disease was

lower in smokers than in non-smokers.

intravenous administration of nicotine to non-smoking Alzheimer's patients produces

significant improvements in long-term recall and attention span.

low doses of nicotine can have dramatic effects in controlling the symptoms of

Tourette's syndrome, a rare neurologic disorder.

Tobacco is a great insect repellent for the

kitchen garden

Aphid Control:mixture of 1 cup. powdered garlic,1 cup compost and 1 cup tobacco (organic preferably) is mixed with the soil and applied around the base of infested plants.

Peach Tree Borers – Sprinkling tobacco dust around peach trees will deter the dreaded peach tree borer from infesting tree.

Leaf Roller: mixture of tobacco dust, pyrethrum powder (dried pyrethrum flowers crumbled into a powder) is made into a solution to spray on the leaf roller.

Garden Centipede :Drenching the soil with a mixture of water, garlic and tobacco is effective against centipede.