Smoking !

[Bad Viking]

Not that I do smoke but some of our group do !! tut tut !

Smoking is popular and has been for a long time - prior to tobacco reaching Europe, was smoking around ?, and if so what was smoked and how ?

ta

B Viking.

[wurzul]

I'm not sure this qualifies as smoking as we understand it, and I'm going to throw out some unsourced obfuscation, but I believe that smoke played some part in early religious rites, and that the inhalation of combusted herbs was inhaled for maladies of the chest in medieval England. As for tobacco, that much maligned plant, there's no hint of it in Europe prior to John Cabot's discovery of North America.

[Bad Viking]

Now that is interesting - do you know if the inhalation of herbs was practised widely - or even in England ?

[Merlon.]

This topic was last covered in http://livinghistory.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24558

[Medicus Matt]

I'm sure there used to be a thread where we discussed the Scandinavian 'iron pipes' that someone claimed were evidence of pre-tobacco smoking activity.....can't find the damned thing.

[m. demetrius]

Well, if we can believe Season 2 of Rome HBO, hemp was inhaled by Roman ladies. I don't know, but it seems their method was fairly inefficient and wasteful. But maybe it was less expensive then? Hard to know.

However, as we saw it on TV, and Garfield says, "If it's on TV it's gotta be true", it must have happened just like that.

[Medicus Matt]

Now that is interesting - do you know if the inhalation of herbs was practised widely - or even in England ?

For medical purposes yes. Both Pliny and Galen recommend smoking coltsfoot by burning it on 'cyprus charcoal'.

Mind you, Pliny also recommended burning dried cow dung and inhaling the smoke through a reed as a cure for TB.

[Bad Viking]

............. burning dried cow dung and inhaling the smoke through a reed as a cure for TB..........eeeeehhhhhh, may just check that one out !

[Grymm]

Pliny also recommended burning dried cow dung and inhaling the smoke through a reed as a cure for TB.

Pliny the Elder, the Reg Smeeton of the classical world.

[Medicus Matt]

Pliny the Elder, the Reg Smeeton of the classical world.

Except that Pliny probably knew about the popliteal fossa.

[Grymm]

Pliny the Elder, the Reg Smeeton of the classical world.

Except that Pliny probably knew about the popliteal fossa.

Even if he didn't Pliny would've made a name up for it....or mebbe he did?

[Grymm]

Make up the name I mean.