Smoking mixtures, stop smoking.
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 20:31:27 -0700
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Barbara Levy <bc412.SCN.ORG>
Subject: mugwort
Are smoking mixtures that are meant to relax you safe, or is the act of smoking harmful, no matter what the substance. For instance, I've seen smoking mixtures with various ingredients, including lungwort, mullein, damiana, etc.
From: Howie Brounstein <howieb.TELEPORT.COM>
>Are smoking mixtures that are meant to relax you safe,
People often ask me how smoking herbs can possibly be good for your lungs. I tell them the peanut butter story. Is peanut butter good for you? If you wake up to coffee and a maple bar (it has the sugar I need to get up and go in the morning), a quick coffee and some sugary lunch snack bar, followed by a processed dinner with an extra serving of tensions, then replacing the lunch with a peanut butter sandwich will be healthy. If you're on a strict vegan diet of raw fruit only, a peanut butter sandwich will clog your digestive tract like super-glue. Peanut butter is bad. It all depends where your body is.
It is the same with smoking herbs. If you have never smoked and your lungs are healthy and clean, then smoking anything will not be healthy. On the other hand, if your lungs are filled with crud that won't come out from cigarettes and a mild respiratory cold, smoking some lung herbs will help your body's natural expectoration. Smoking will be good for your lungs. It all depends on where your body is.
From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
: It is the same with smoking herbs. If you have never smoked and your lungs are healthy and clean, then
Plenty of herbs will 'arrive' at the Lung when taken through the digestion. Good examples are balloonflower (Platycodon), mints, loquat, fritillary, and comfrey (I assume; I don't use the herb myself).
These herbs will 'Ventilate' the Lung, and help dirty mucus to be removed--
__but the key point is that this method of administration, and these herbs, are Cooling in property__
--and don't add Heat, which the Lung of a smoker already has plenty of. Part of what must be removed from the Lung for a smoker to feel better------and not crave the Hot, Dispersing nature of tobacco-----is for the Heat, gathering again and again in the upper part of the Lung (from every corner of the tissue of the longterm smoker), be removed regularly (every few hours) so that the Lung Qi does not Stagnate. Cigarette craving ceases when such Cooling, Ventilating, Qi-Circulating therapy is used.
Hot, Dispersing herbs, and Heating method SHOULD NOT be used in the case of rebalancing the body after tobacco habituation.
Such therapy MIGHT be very worthwhile in cases of Cold-type asthma, or other Cold or Neutral Lung imbalances.
From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Rick Jarvis wrote:
: I missed the initial traffic on mugwort, but I am very interested in use of Platycodon for lung treatment. I've never heard of medicinal use of Platycodon; I've been growing it for years just for the flowers. How is it used? Infusion? Tincture? Appreciate any additional info you can provide.
The roots are dug in spring or fall. Usually the outer bark is scrapped off with a non-metallic tool, the roots are sun-dried, and then sliced. The resulting slices can then be decocted.
