Did I just lose a sale?

[FmGrowit]

The following is a recent exchange of emails...

"I love your website and was hoping you could help me.

I would like to buy 1-2 pounds of raw, uncured tobacco leaves.

Any variety would be fine.

I was hoping you could make a few calls to find a grower who would be willing to part with a few leaves.

I would be happy to send them a money order and prepaid shipping envelope.

Thanks for your help."

"Green tobacco is highly perishable. Raw tobacco would have to be shipped in ice and over-night. Perhaps if you were to give me a few more details as to its end use, I might be able to recommend an easier solution. Getting the uncured tobacco is no problem. Shipping is another story."


"Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

I am trying it in a salad, the same way thousands of people in South America do.


Green leaves are easier to eat.



What would happen if you sent me a few leaves in water with lemon juice, say in a tupperware container?


Any reason that wouldn't work?"

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but tobacco leaves are highly toxic. A single drop of pure nicotine is enough to kill an adult human. If ingested, the body will expel the tobacco. If the nicotine is absorbed through the skin, there is no way for the body to eliminate it...the results could be fatal.



I'd very strongly recommend not consuming green tobacco. I'm also sorry I will not be able to assist you in this matter.



Thank you,"


I seem to be getting a lot of inquiries about eating tobacco. Is there some new information being made available on ingesting tobacco that I'm not aware of?

 

[Mrs BeeKeeper]

I betcha people only read the first thing that pops up in google:

Here's the first result from google search:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100819164726AApsNsz

What would happen if I ate raw tobacco leaves?

Let's say I decided to eat a tobacco leaf salad. What, if anything, would be the result? Thanks.

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Raw tobacco leaves taste like lettuce and they don't give any nicotine as long as you don't process them at least by adding soda or lime. In old times, some Indians chewed fresh tobacco leaves mixed with lime. I read that once on some tobacco-website. It is told that Columbus noted it in his logbook on one of his voyages to the West Indies. You can find out it in many online stores likehttp://www.tobaccogeneral.com and look..... nothing happened to me, I'm still alive. It's certainly a myth that fresh tobacco is poisonous.

I'm not a Darwinist, but looks like some people will be getting a Darwin award.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

T
I seem to be getting a lot of inquiries about eating tobacco. Is there some new information being made available on ingesting tobacco that I'm not aware of?

[/COLOR]

Like I said in an earlier post there was a book that came out in the U.K. with several recipes using green tobacco leaves. The U.S. publisher took them out. Maybe the book is catching on?
What a lot of people fail to realize is that just because some ancient culture did something does not mean it was a good thing to do.

 

[leverhead]

Thinning the heard might be a good thing.

 

[deluxestogie]

Fortunately, when Nicotiana tabacum is consumed, its nicotine content causes nausea and vomiting, usually before a lethal dose is absorbed. The nicotine also gives the green leaves a bitter, unpleasant taste.

Less fortunately, some other species of Nicotiana have low nicotine, but higher levels of other alkaloids, such as anabasine, which may not induce immediate vomiting. There are documented case studies of deaths from consuming those more palatable, less nauseating species. In one such case, a French tourist visiting her daughter in Jerusalem was killed when this grandmother gathered the leaf of a wild tobacco species growing around her daughter's home, and nearly killed her 18 year old grandson as well, when they shared cooked greens of the tasty and attractive leaf, which was mistaken for wild spinach.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20652661

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

2 lbs. of green leaf would make an awful lot of salad. Just saying.

 

[marksctm]

It's not like lettuce is getting to expensive.

I've had my socks rocked a few times priming leaf!

 

[Michibacy]

I don't really have grounds to state this as fact, but I think a lot of people that are part of the marijuana crowd wonder if tobacco can be consumed in the same manner. People trying to get a vaporizer for tobacco leaf, trying to eat it etc. Like Ms.Beekeeper said, I feel the Darwinian Force strong with these people...

By the way, the link Mrs.Beekeeper I followed, and reported to the appropriate people claiming possible endangerment to people attempting to consume fresh tobacco.

 

[FmGrowit]

2 lbs. of green leaf would make an awful lot of salad. Just saying.

Yes, quite an an awful lot.

Here's the reply to my declining to service the request...



Subject, Knowledge is power"

"Thank you for your honesty.


What you will generally find is that the longer somebody believes something, the more convinced they are that it is true.

The only "toxic" tobacco leaves I know of are the genetically-modified leaves developed by RJR Reynolds that contain twice the normal amount of nicotine.


The company was tying to make their cigarettes more addictive so it would be harder for people to quit smoking.

"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

You should be fine in small amounts. Lot's of B vitamins. Just eat it with some lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

"Helps bring it within your digestible range."
-- loosely quoted from a book on tobacco

"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

You have to know the dose, otherwise you could get nicotine poisoning. 1 gram of tobacco contains 10 to 30 milligrams of nicotine.

The estimated lethal dose for an individual with no tolerance is 40 to 60 milligrams, however only 20-40% of nicotine is available when ingested.


One cigarette contains .8 grams of tobacco, or slightly less than 1 gram.


That means a person would have to consume the equivalent of 8 to 10 cigarettes at one sitting to have any chance of "overdosing" on nicotine.


The stomach would reject its contents and initiate vomiting long before a person was poisoned. This is why we never hear stories in the news about people who died from eating tobacco.

It just doesn't happen.




"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

Praziquantel, a popular antihelmintic, is a synthetic version of the nicotine in tobacco. It paralyzes intestinal worms so the body can expel them.


"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

Tobacco is eaten in south America in a somewhat common fashion. If it is fresh green tobacco, it is a lot like a salad, although it is more bitter and tastes a bit like peppers.

When it is uncured and green, it contains only trace levels of carcinogenic nitrosamines. The amounts are comparable to nicotine-replacement products.

"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

I'm eating about a half a cigarettes' worth of tobacco 3 to 5 times a day. I had already dropped my tobacco smoking back to 5 cigarettes a day when I began having trouble not smoking after meals or when angry or stressed out.

I began eating one capsule of tobacco when angry. One capsule holds half a cigarettes' worth of tobacco. I'm not smoking anymore when I get up in the morning or after meals.

I resorted to eating tobacco when I discovered how expensive the patches and gum are that deliver nicotine to the bloodstream.

I only consume half a cigarette 3 to 5 times a day. The doses are well spaced out to avoid stomach upset, and I don't plan on doing it forever.


Consuming tobacco orally is simply a more economical method of satisfying a craving than wearing a smoker's patch.

"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

I can honestly say that the eating of cigarette tobacco rarely makes me ill. On the few occasions when it did make me sick, I ate half a cigarette and then chain smoked two cigarettes immediately afterwards. That was too much nicotine for my body to handle, however, I was only ill for ten minutes.

The excess nicotine caused profuse sweating, dizziness, nausea, and basic feelings of dread over what I had done.

This passed, and I am still on the cigarette-eating diet.

This is the first time I have ever admitted to eating tobacco.

"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

I've been trying to quit smoking for a long time and have tried dozens of methods.

While meditating this morning, I asked the question: "What's the best way for me to stop smoking?"

Suddenly, I had an image of a cigarette being broken in half and eaten.

So I thought, "What's to lose?"

I ate half a pack of rolling tobacco. It tasted foul, but I persisted and downed the lot with a glass of water.

After a few minutes I started to feel queasy, then after half an hour I ran to the bathroom and vomited.

Will this help me quit? I don't know, but at the moment, the idea of smoking disgusts me.

"What would happen if I ate pure tobacco?"

According to tobaccoharmreduction.org, nearly all of the harm comes from smoking, not from the tobacco itself.

When fermented tobacco is fire-cured or flue-cured, nitrosamines form.

The smouldering wood used in curing tobaccos of the past caused combustion-related carcinogens called PAHs to be implanted into the tobacco.

In modern-day smokeless tobacco there is no statistically significant increase in risk for cancer.

Personally I would not eat any processed tobacco from cigarettes because of the additives. In addition, cigarette tobacco is fire-cured, which is not as a safe to ingest as air-cured tobacco.

I sent you this information out of love and to show you what happens when people make fear-based decisions.


Fear paralyzes us and prevents us from taking action.


Nothing good ever comes from fear.


Drug companies synthesize nicotine and sell it as a deworming agent.


The natural form of anything is always superior to the synthetic form. The natural form contains hundreds of trace elements the synthetic form doesn't.


Drug companies are in a rush to make a chemical they can patent. They don't care if it isn't as effective as the original.


As you can see, sometimes people who eat tobacco leaves get dizzy, sweat profusely, and even throw up, but they never die.


Imagine someone who sells hot peppers saying, "We can't sell you habaneros if you're going to eat them. You might burn your mouth."


People are adults, and they should be treated as such. It's not your job to make sure people don't hurt themselves.


If you're that worried about people committing "suicide by tobacco", then send me a release, and I will gladly sign it.

Good luck, my friend.

 

[Mrs BeeKeeper]

Ugh, that makes my blood boil for you!!!

 

[BigBonner]

Its a tobacco worm that has evolved .

I have heard of in old days of worming children with tobacco .

I say we get Knucks to eat some leaves and see what happens . He will do anything .

That also make me wonder if there is a new drug for a new stoned high with green tobacco leaves .

 

[skychaser]

wow. That's so full of half truths and myths and just plain BS that how can you even reply to it. lol
Send them a few pounds of Rustica and then nominate them for a Darwin award. The worlds gene pool needs a good dose of chlorine.

 

[FmGrowit]

I sent him Bob's link and haven't heard back.

A simple waiver might very well be enough to satisfy a law suite, there is something to be said for corporate responsibility...something the traditional industry is seriously lacking.

Technically, since leaf tobacco isn't a tobacco product, there are no restrictions on who I sell it to either. Making leaf tobacco available to minors (for example) would only be shooting myself in the foot. That's one "loophole" that would and should be shut down or the way I prefer to look at it...one restriction that should be implemented.

 

[FmGrowit]

I sent him Bob's link and haven't heard back.

I spoke too soon...

Subject; Well Done Sir

The woman was 73 years old and didn't know it was tobacco. She thought it was spinach.

I am not 73 years old, and I know it's tobacco.

The other individual was 18 years old and was released from the hospital with no ill effects.


Unless you're claiming you sell spinach, you've got nothing to worry about.


If eating tobacco in small amounts is as dangerous as you think it is, people would be dropping dead after having one cigarette or one can of dip.


Our digestive juices dilute the toxins and slow the absorption of anything we eat.


Eating something is the safest way to consume anything.



"Common sense is anything but common."

-- Robin Sharma



I think I'll just not respond

 

[Mrs BeeKeeper]

I think I'll just not respond

Best way to infuriate the ignorant is to ignore their ignorance.

If you do reply: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. - Enjoy your ranting "friend"."

 

[LeftyRighty]

offer to send him some seed - let him grow his own produce.

You've done the right thing. since he's requesting leaf for other than it's normal intended use (his stated purpose), you are right in refusing to sell to him.

 

[deluxestogie]

Don,
That flood of nonsense replies from your prospective customer strongly reminds me of an on-line exchange I had with a "holistic" marketeer, located in New England, if I recall. The quotes of "shamen" and the irresistible need to educate you (the ignorant party to the discussion) are a giveaway. His faulty logic is revealed by his failure to even notice that the ncbi article I cited spoke of N. glauca.

I own an 1858 U.S. Formulary (the equivalent of today's Physicians Desk Reference), which is essentially a 4" thick, leather-bound volume of folk medicine. In its section on tobacco, it lists, even then, a number of case studies of fatal tobacco poisonings. One of these, quite depressing to read, is of a lad whose scalp ringworm (a fungal infection) was treated with a green tobacco poultice.

The Web, on sites like ask.com, is a democracy--like the "voting" that occurs on those bogus Survivor "reality" entertainment productions. Google is a feast of confirmation bias for those looking to support whatever crazy notion has smitten them with enthusiasm. They search for "can I eat tobacco," instead of "tobacco ingestion fatal."

A quick excursion through a chapter on the subject of nicotine in any legitimate pharmacology textbook would scare the bejeesus out of even the most dedicated tobacco advocate. Plan B: just look at the number of dead insect carcasses on your tobacco plants.

Bob

 

[marksctm]

It's a shame it's become such a, suing anybody tor anything society.

Soon the'll be a disclaimer on bottles of water stating you could drown from the water the bottle contains.

 

[Knucklehead]

It's a shame it's become such a, suing anybody tor anything society.
Soon the'll be a disclaimer on bottles of water stating you could drown from the water the bottle contains.

I quit drinking water as soon as I found out fish have sex in it. THAT should be on the disclaimer. Water should be purified with corn and a distilling apparatus before it is safe for consumption.

 

[holyRYO]

Best way to infuriate the ignorant is to ignore their ignorance.

I know of a forum that they would be better served, would fit right in... the blind leading the blind.

First off, who has the time? Second, believe everything you read on the internet? At least it made for good entertainment.