What kind of herbs can you smoke

If you grow your own or purchase clippings from live plants, you will need to dry them before you can do any blending or smoking. The age-old method of drying your plants by hanging them upside down in a dry, dark area is one sure-fire way to do it, but some herbs do well being dried in the oven or using a dehydrator.

One common mistake, however, is to use herbs that are too dry. When herbs are too dry, they burn too quickly and can create a bad taste and sensation in your mouth. Keep a journal with the different herbs you use, the amounts you use, and the outcome overall whole-body feeling, how it felt in your mouth, how it smelled, how it tasted, etc.

Start by removing any sticks or small twigs from your different herbs. Use an herb grinder , aka sometimes called a blender or shredder, to make the different herbs a more uniform size and therefore a more even smoke.

Place the ground herbs in a jar or tin container and mix them around until the blend is well incorporated. Once all of your herbs are dried, evenly distributed in the blend, and ready to go, you are set to choose your method of smoking and simply enjoy! The Plants Many of these plants have been smoked for thousands of years by medicine men and herbalists. Some popular herbal plants include: White Sage leaves are used as a memory aid and can help you feel relaxed.

From there, I learned that different herbs activate different things for you. These are also medicines. You gotta heal yourself the way your ancestors did. R: Rose Petals for the heart space, and for self-love. Blue Cornflower and Blue Lotus are more mild.

Mullein is good for the lungs. Damiana is an aphrodisiac. E: I use Blue Lotus for vivid or lucid dreaming. It was used by the Egyptians in wine and for smoking. My favorite blend is cooking grade French Lavender paired with Skullcap to curb stress and calm the mind. Lavender is not harsh on the lungs, is very fragrant, and it releases essential oils when you smoke it.

Plants are geniuses! AM: What advice do you have for folks just getting started with smokable herbs? R: Start with mild blends, and use very little of the stronger herbs like rose, sage, peppermint, etc. E: Excess is what drives us to the brink of pain and suffering, so of course there are still potential risks involved with smoking herbs.

That said, mugwort is a great starting point for beginners. I add a relatively even blend of each herb, which I also sell as tea. After all, herbal cigarettes contain no tobacco and therefore no nicotine, the drug in cigarettes that causes people to become addicted. Many people even smoke herbal cigarettes as an aid to stop smoking regular cigarettes. In fact, herbal cigarettes are as harmful as tobacco cigarettes, because any vegetable matter that's burned produces tar, carbon monoxide, and other toxins.

When you breathe in the smoke of an herbal cigarette, you're breathing those harmful toxins directly into your lungs. Herbal cigarettes are required by the Federal Trade Commission FTC to carry warning labels saying that they're harmful to your health. Herbal cigarettes look like normal cigarettes, but contain a blend of herbs instead of tobacco.

Some of the herbs contained in these cigarettes include:. Clove cigarettes, also known as kreteks, contain a blend of tobacco and cloves, usually 60 to 70 percent tobacco and 30 to 40 percent cloves. Kreteks also contain clove oil and other additives. Research has found that these alternative cigarettes are actually worse that regular tobacco products, delivering more nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar to smokers. Bidis are flavored, unfiltered cigarettes that have recently increased in popularity among teenagers and young adults in the United States.