Stramonium Cigarettes: Smoking to Relieve Asthma

Long professional article on their history here.

The relevant info at Wikipedia.

Books Selected and endorsed for Pure Weirdness by Your WU Team

Who We Are
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: Paul - Tue Feb 01, 2022
Category: Nature | Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil | Nineteenth Century | Twentieth Century | Diseases

Comments

I smoked Asthmador cigarettes in the 1960s in an attempt to get high. (it sort of worked) They were available over the counter at first but that changed.
Stramonium is a form of datura and closely related to nightshade which contains belladonna.
It was the pre-inhaler way of dispersing meds to the lungs but was only supposed to be used for a few puffs.
We smoked a whole cigarette and there was a noticeable brightening of colors and a general euphoria.

Posted by Stan on 02/02/22 at 06:51 PM

@Stan: datura stramonium is jimsonweed a.k.a. thornapple. Not to be joked with - like most solanaceae, it'll kill you as soon as look at you if you don't get it exactly right.

Posted by Richard Bos on 02/03/22 at 12:47 PM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.