Do we have any smokers? Sure we do.
I, too, was once a smoker of that dreaded tobacco curse. I have been smoke-free now for about 30 years.
But, let me tell you about something that I have found out that I wish I could tell my Mama. “See, you were wrong; it’s okay, even good for you!”
I am talking about rabbit tobacco. How many of you remember this little weed? It grows on hillsides and banks. My grandmother’s pasture was full of it when I was growing up. She was the one who told me about smoking it.
I cannot even attempt to spell its herbal name, but it is also called cudweed. My Grandmother just called it rabbit tobacco.
It grows flat to the ground in the spring of the year and has silvery leaves. As it matures, it grows to about two feet tall and begins to dry. Then we would call it “rabbit tobacco.”
My cousins and I would search the cracks and crannies of the red clay hills around my grandparents’ house in the fall and early winter and gather all we could get into our brown paper sacks. This was a concealed gathering because if our parents had known our plans for the weed, they would have not been as intended. We never smoked while we were there for fear of their smelling it inside the car on our way home. We hid it really well in a really good hiding place and let it stay dry. Then we would crush it into smaller bits, much like the tobacco in the Prince Albert can. We would take a piece of a brown paper sack, cut it to the length of a cigarette and roll the crushed up weed inside and seal. I could seal it well as I had watched my Big Daddy roll his cigarettes many times.
Of course, my mother had told me she had better not catch me smoking any of it. Okay, she would not catch me….
I was out behind our house with a friend and we were rolling up some of this disallowed weed into things that looked more like short cigars than neatly rolled cigarettes.
By the way, this was a tobacco so strong that it would make us dizzy to inhale.
The wind had picked up and we were having trouble keeping our match lit.
About the time I brought my fire to the end of the paper, the wind gave a big puff and the fire singed off my eyebrows and eyelashes! Oh, my, goodness!
Now, what would I tell mama? There was no hiding my mischief. I had no hair on my face!
I was about 13 years old, so facial hair was important to my overall looks.
I remember I decided not to tell her about this and maybe, just maybe ,she would not notice.
That night at the supper table, she looked straight in my face. No words were spoken, but she could not stop her amusement. She just pointed at me and everybody at the table had a great belly laugh at my hairless expense.
I have now read that rabbit tobacco is good to smoke for a sinus cold or asthma. It is highly recommended. Not me, I will just take Muscinex; there is no flame.
Uses for rabbit tobacco as described by Herbalist, but not necessarily the views of this author.
Smoking rabbit tobacco is good for colds and flu season. Herbalist declares it is okay to inhale (no nicotine and not addictive) for colds, flu, asthma, sore mouth, throat or congestion. It can be placed in a container, lighted and the smoke inhaled into the lungs or fashioned into a cigarette. This can also be made into an herbal tea. Made the rabbit tobacco tea and mix it with your favorite blend of purchased tea. It is said to be beneficial to stomach problems.
