Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke: Its Ethnobotany as Hallucinogen, Perfume, Incense, and Medicine

by Marcello Pennacchio, Kayri Havens, David Sollenberger (Contributor)

Plants provide the food, shelter, medicines, and biomass that underlie sustainable life. One of the earliest and often overlooked uses of plants is the production of smoke, dating to the time of early hominid species. Plant-derived smoke has had an enormous socio-economic impact throughout human history, being burned for medicinal and recreational purposes, magico-religious ceremonies, pest control, food preservation, and flavoring, perfumes, and incense.

This illustrated global compendium documents and describes approximately 2,000 global uses for over 1,400 plant species. The Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke is accessibly written and provides a wealth of information on human uses for smoke. Divided into nine main categories of use, the compendium lists plant-derived smoke's medicinal, historical, ceremonial, ritual and recreational uses. Plant use in the production of incense and to preserve and flavor foods and beverages is also included. Each entry includes full binomial names and family, an identification of the person who named the plant, as well as numerous references to other scholarly texts. Of particular interest will be plants such as Tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum), Boswellia spp (frankincense), and Datura stramonium (smoked as a treatment for asthma all over the world), all of which are described in great detail.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Herbs

264 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was filled with useful information, and I recommend this book to anyone interested in this topic. It is an excellent reference book. The author remains impartial to the rights and wrongs in a moral sense of these plants, providing a very factual and interesting read. It is very enlightening for those not so knowledgeable on the topic and provides excellent references for my fellow plant scientists. This book is quite entertaining with its rich provision of surprising details. My final thoughts on this book can be summarised in one sentence: 'Non sum hoc libro legitur.'

[Michael Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

tobacco and cannabis are only the tip of a huge iceberg which is explored here in great detail. I reviewed this for Chemistry & Industry, review should be out soon.

[Sébastien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unusual but interesting topic. Buried in the countless plants and trees explored by the author of this book are a few surprise hunting tips. I doubt the author actually tested these.

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Points the way but gives very little and vague info for each listed plant. However, it covers a wide range of plants, offering more than most books on the topic.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic reference book -