anyone got a spare snout?

[bambodoggy]

Guys......I'm a smoker. Yer yer.....a bit old fashioned now I know but I am and that's that!

So....smoking and bushcraft..... Well it is mentioned by most of the old American masters....Nessmuk etc so why not by me too?

Before I launch into the reason for this post I' d like to point out that it's not big and clever to smoke, it's bad for your health and a nuisance to others around you....it makes you stink so any animals close know you're there way before they might have known. It brings down your sense of smell and taste (not always a bad thing in bushcraft cooking). It helps dehydration etc etc etc. I wish I had never started smoking but now I do I enjoy it and have no wish to stop.
I don't recommend anybody takes it up and certainly not our younger members.
I ALWAYS take a butt bag/box to take the fibreglass laced butts home with me or I smoke roll ups so I know they will all rot away properly.....and when in Arizona last June I didn't smoke out on the trail as there was a burn ban in force....
What I'm saying is that as far as I can, I am a considerate smoker and not just to other humans but the enviroment too (before you reply to say how bad for the enviroment making fags is....I'm a consumer, you need to speak to the manufacturers for that).

I do NOT want this to become a thread on the rights and wrongs of smoking so please only put in a reply if you can help me....I get a smoking is bad reminder every time I look at my fag packet thanks!

So.... some of us make our own Mead, Cider, Beer and wine in the bush or to take into the bush right? Well I wondered if there was anything out in the bush that we could smoke if/when we run out of fags? Not something that tastes like herbal fags you get from health food shops and new age stores but something I can pick along the trail (we don't have much tobacco growing in the UK) and then dry on a rock by the fire and roll up to have a puff on and that tastes similar to tobacco. I'd better also point out here that I am NOT looking for drug type smokes so please don't reply saying hemp is nice etc.....I want a nice smoke by the fire after a meal not a night in the cells for illegal drug use!!!!

I often day dream (when I can't sleep or if on a long journey) about how I would survive/live if I was say on a tropical island or in the Pine forest of scotland etc and one of the things that come up for me again and again is how I'd miss having a ciggy now and then.... I have a packet of fags in the back of my possibles pouch but I'd really like to know if there's anything that grows over here that I could use to smoke in an emergency (obviously that's an emergency for a smoker and not a real boneifide emergency).

Thanks all....hope some of you can suggest some things to help a hopelessly fag addicted bushcrafter

 

[Tantalus]

tobacco can be grown in the uk

and it is legal long as you don't sell it to anyone

bit like home brewed beer i guess

as for wild plants the only one i know is coltsfoot leaves

coltsfoot is supposed to be good (tradionally) for chest problems and several old home remdies suggest it

never tried smoking it meself but i collect coltsfoot flowers in the spring for making tea which helps a chesty cough

Tant

 

[bambodoggy]

Thanks Tant....just the sort of reply I was hoping for :super:

I know you can grow it over here but I don't want to....I just want something I can pick, dry and smoke ):

I might give the Coltsfoot leaves a go.....don't suppose you have a piccy of one do you?

 

[Gary]

As Tant points out colts foot - this was grown during the war and used to replace (top up) baccy. Also Yarrow has been used in the past.

If you look into native american lore kiniknick (sp?) was made from shredded inner bark mixed with varous berries and herbs - so I guess your only limited by your imagination.

One further point however is nicotin and tar - most natural or substitute tobaccos dont contain this or contain very little, and just as rollies are more health than tailor mades (because they contain less chemicals) a 'modern' smoker may not be happy with these products similarly as many B&H smokers cant get a 'kick' out of hand rolls.

And yes as an ex-smoker I have tried them all!

 

[den]

I have read the contents on a few packets of herbal fags before just out of interest and I have seen coltsfoot in quite a few. No nicotine though.
Never picked it myself but know people who swear by it for coughs.

 

[den]

I'm sure some plants in the UK contain nicotine. I'm not to sure how smoke able it is and it might also contain some other nasty things I would say but out of fear of moderation I’ll keep :zip:

 

[tomtom]

here :wave:

i havent re-read the thread but i do remember some mention of mixes/home grow!

 

[maddave]

I have read the contents on a few packets of herbal fags before just out of interest and I have seen coltsfoot in quite a few. No nicotine though.
Never picked it myself but know people who swear by it for coughs.

Just a bit of trivia for ya. The Latin name for Coltsfot is Tussilago Farfara (sp) Which comes from "Tussis" which was the Roman word for cough. It's been used as a cough remedy for many hundreds of years.. I'll get me coat !! :shock:

 

[den]

): didn't know that.

 

[Adi]

You could try growing Nicotiana in your garden although I don’t think you will find much of it in the wild. Nicotiana Tabacum is the species that rolling tobacco developed from.

 

[KIMBOKO]

In Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart he mentions two Tobacco substitutes KINNIKINNIK (LONGEST PALINDROME I know) that I can remember......... one is the inner bark of Red Osier Dogwood often found in garden and as escapes supposed to be very good and the other substitute was the Bearberry which I believe grows in Scotland. If no one else comes up with the information or you want me to be more precise please PM me and i will look it up.
I have also grown smoking tobbaco at home, cured it and smoked it, it was an interesting project with good results.

 

[Tantalus]

nice pics of flower and leaves here

http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/crops/facts/ontweeds/coltsfoot.htm

flowers appear very early in spring and are often mistaken for dandelions till you look closer

they like riverbanks and wet places

leaves are about the size of your hand when full grown , just mark where the flowers were and go back looknig for the leaves later

you just reminded me too

one of the old farmers used to mix his tobacco with sugar beet pulp ( which was given as sheep feed before lambing) to make his tobacco go a little bit further

Tant

 

[gb]

Dried hawthorn leaves are a very tasty smoke through a pipe, much better tasting than ordinary tobacco. I think it was another substitute for tabacco during the war.
One tip, when you dry it dont't dry it too much, just before it turns brown when there is still some green left in it i have found best.

cheers gb

 

[Trent]

I have heard of sweet chestnut leaves bring used as a tobacco substitute. This stuck in my mind because my middle school was next to large chestnut woods and some of the children would roll freshly fallen autumn leaves to make ‘cigars’. (Not me, of course!)

 

[Realgar]

Woodruffe leaves, woodbine ( not the cigs, the wild clematis ) leaves & apparently the bark too, the inner bark of willows ( even oak bark apparently ), honeysuckle flowers, field poppy leaves, wild lettuce leaves will all smoke fine. I'm not aware of any natives to the UK that contain nicotine though our plants do have their fair share of alkaloids.

Before the appearance of tobacco was anything actualy smoked over here?

Realgar

 

[den]

Woodruffe leaves, woodbine ( not the cigs, the wild clematis ) leaves & apparently the bark too,
Realgar

Just read your post Realgar Whilst I was making Clematis cordage so I whipped up a rollie from the dust off the news paper I was working over. Not bad.
Burn goods not harsh. Smells a bit like Incense.

Oh no the Mrs is on me with what’s that smell.
Mixed with tobacco was even better.
Don’t know if this head ache coming on has anything to do with it.