Smoking Ants

The earliest report I can find of people in the Persian Gulf smoking ants is the one below, from 1994. But news stories have continued to report this practice. This one from 2008 explains that it's specifically the red samsun ant that's smoked, and explains, "Smoking the red ant gives a similar sensation to smoking marijuana and sniffing glue because of the high concentration of formic acid found in the ants."

Honolulu Advertiser - Sep 11, 1994

Brachyponera sennaarensis
Image via antweb

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 06, 2018
Category: Drugs | Smoking and Tobacco

Comments

Scorpion venom is also supposed to work. I don't know if you smoke?

Posted by BMN on 01/06/18 at 08:12 AM

Hey, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!

Posted by Brian on 01/06/18 at 10:34 AM

When "Ants in Pants" became a crime...

Posted by PupTentacle on 01/06/18 at 10:59 AM

Not sure of the wisdom in smoking formic acid.

Posted by Muddyvalley on 01/06/18 at 12:47 PM

Can't be worse than bananadine.

Posted by Richard Bos on 01/06/18 at 01:33 PM

How about snorting them up like cocaine? That ought to pep one up immediately.

Posted by KDP on 01/09/18 at 02:04 PM

KDP: you are Ozzy Osborne and ICM£5!

Posted by Richard Bos on 01/09/18 at 05:59 PM

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