[Sca-cooks] period smoking and tobacco
Stefan li Rous
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Mon Oct 2 20:45:55 PDT 2006
Huette comments:
<<< This has led me to think about other New World items that were
commonly accepted. One of
them was tobacco. There was very early acceptance of tobacco as an
herb to smoke and as
a medicine. Recipes for their use can be found in greater abundance
than for tomatos. There
is evidence that tobacco was used by commoners [i.e. sailors and
doctors] long before the
nobility became addicted.
While I am NOT trying to advocate the use of tobacco in the SCA, for
whatever reasons,
tobacco is overlooked as an item to be used to add as an element for
the SCA "atmosphere".
I, personally, don't smoke and I don't like being around smokers
because all that smoke
makes me cough. I know why people don't advocate smoking as an SCA
activity. But then
when people start trying to advocate using tomatos and tomato
products for SCA banquets,
I cringe and wonder about how far we should go. I wonder how many
more people would
scream to high heaven if I would make a latakia pie than if I would
make a tomato pie.
Sigh... Snerk... Cough... >>>>
What is latakia pie?
Tobacco? Yuck, smelly, cough, cough. There are more pleasant things
to smoke which were period much earlier. So perhaps those looking for
more period items to smoke and perhaps more common than the eating of
the tomato, should check this file:
smoking-msg (15K) 1/10/02 Period smoking of tobacco and
other plants.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PERSONAL/smoking-msg.html
For instance:
<<< From: greg at bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Greg Rose)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Smoking at events
Date: 13 Nov 1994 23:41:16 -0500
Organization: Guest of MIT AI and LCS labs
Hi, Angharad ver' Rhuawn here, feeling silly.
Aleksandr the Traveller says,
> Actually, those of us from early period who come from points east
or have
>travelled as I have should be smoking substances other than tobacco
- hmm,
>wonder of an educational organization can get the same kind of
exemption
>from certain dracconian laws granted religious organizations like
the Native
>American Church?
>
> "But officer, I was just giving a class on the historic growing
of hemp
>and the use of its various components during the Middle Ages. How
can one
>truely teach such a subject without, uh, inhaling ...."
Actually, in the Middle East, virtually every medical text from period
describes treatments that involve smoking herbs wrapped in silk or paper
(the pictures look remarkably like cigarettes). The most common
substance
in them, I believe, will get you in rather more trouble than hemp.
Comes from poppies.
Now, if you want a well documented use for hemp in period, try Plotina's
recipe for hemp soup.
-- Angharad/Terry >>>
Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at: http://www.florilegium.org ****
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