tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post5923438456599096723..comments2023-11-03T19:05:08.512+11:00Comments on Harry Clarke: Pituri – aboriginal chewing tobaccoUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-65218863430723094962007-07-11T15:48:00.000+10:002007-07-11T15:48:00.000+10:00Also I suppose we would have to leave the origins ...Also I suppose we would have to leave the origins of use to the anthropologists or botanists. I have never seen any paper on it.<BR/><BR/>I did find this interesting...<BR/><BR/>"Aboriginal people showed considerable knowledge of nicotine both as a drug and as a constituent of plants; pituri had great political social and economic importance at the time of European conquest; and social controls existed over both drug supply and drug demand."<BR/><BR/>Is it possible trying to resurrect traditional drugs supplies, some of the harm and institutionalisation of tobacco smoking could be reduced in remote aboriginal communities?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-21008740877033277252007-07-11T15:35:00.000+10:002007-07-11T15:35:00.000+10:00Cheers Harry.But nothing there contradicts me. I ...Cheers Harry.<BR/><BR/>But nothing there contradicts me. I was under the impression Duboisia hopwoodii was the original pituri, or pitcheeri or whatever Burke and Wills took.<BR/><BR/>And I remember reading Nicotania gossei was the preferred species of chewing tobacco of the tribe in NT that utilised eight different plants for similar use.<BR/><BR/>I think Pamela Watson was the source.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-55796135316171516212007-07-11T15:00:00.000+10:002007-07-11T15:00:00.000+10:00As an economist HC you might also include the trad...As an economist HC you might also include the trade in pepper (and other spices) in the frantic colonial lunges, east & west. Teh indonesian archiapelago & points east generally where known as the Spice Islands until carbed up by the Eruopeans into the feifdoms.<BR/>On the news this morning i hear that the Commonwealth is revitalising its import ban on kava, introduced in the 80s but lackadaisically enforced.<BR/>Both betel & kava a of the Pepper genus.amphibioushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07995479651276290906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-15639832241581401032007-07-11T11:10:00.000+10:002007-07-11T11:10:00.000+10:00(New thoughts, same issue)This site suggests abori...(New thoughts, same issue)<BR/><BR/>This site suggests aboriginals introduced to tobacco 400 years ago and that Pituri still consumed:<BR/><BR/>http://www.ceitc.org.au/historyhchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799594181016858701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-35144178453381521062007-07-11T09:03:00.000+10:002007-07-11T09:03:00.000+10:00I don't know but presumably quite early.I am more ...I don't know but presumably quite early.<BR/><BR/>I am more interested in the origins of pituri. Conventional tobaccos have been consumed for about 7,000 years but pituri might beat this.hchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799594181016858701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-64201230569528407402007-07-11T01:14:00.000+10:002007-07-11T01:14:00.000+10:00So does anyone have a date when northern Aborigine...So does anyone have a date when northern Aborigines and Cape York aborigines were introduced to smoking? I have seen pictures of aboriginal smoking implements, but remember reading that the inland tribes only used chewing tobacco's.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, I was under the assumption that pituri originally referred to a highly prized and heavily traded chewing tobacco. That trade is now extinct. <BR/><BR/>Although chewing tobacco lives on - one paper I saw mentioned eight different species harvested. And pituri became a general word used by whites to refer to all aboriginal chewing tobaccos.<BR/><BR/>Please correct me if I am wrong.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-47273874375657381712007-07-09T00:24:00.000+10:002007-07-09T00:24:00.000+10:00I don't have any sources but at one stage for some...I don't have any sources but at one stage for some reason I knew a lot about pituri.<BR/><BR/>I think that some of the betel nut health problems come from the ash (lime?)- so that might be a fruitful line of enquiry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-52825166648990235562007-07-08T22:18:00.000+10:002007-07-08T22:18:00.000+10:00I am writing a paper on indigenous smoking ogf con...I am writing a paper on indigenous smoking ogf converntional cigarettes. I'd be interested in you had a source for specific damages from Pituri. I know some of the other chewing tobaccos - from India - are very unhealthy but everything I have seen so far says Pituri is not too bad.hchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799594181016858701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-41939788350478127432007-07-08T21:08:00.000+10:002007-07-08T21:08:00.000+10:00Perhaps the biggest health threat of the occassion...Perhaps the biggest health threat of the occassional joint these days is that it might be a gateway to smoking tobacco.<BR/><BR/>I've been intereted in Pituri ever since I went to Pichi Richi pass and was told it was called that because for year the local aboriginals (and non locals) used to gather there to harvest the pituri and it waa an important economic centre in the pre white days. Pituri was traded.<BR/><BR/>I always understood it was a bit like Betel nut in it's effect and was prepared somewhat like Beteal nut with ash and chewed like betel nut.<BR/><BR/>I'm guessing its not without health hazards - life long Betel Nut chewing certainly has a downside.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-85693346442435786562007-07-07T13:10:00.000+10:002007-07-07T13:10:00.000+10:00Sorry if I was unclear earlier - YES, tobacco was ...Sorry if I was unclear earlier - YES, tobacco was the 'gateway' drug to smoking cannabis & opium in Asia as well as Europe.<BR/>It reached the ME via the Venetian/Turkish trade routes and most of the muslim lands smoked using some form of nagileh or waterpipe, for complex haram/halal reasons. In India, for similar ritual cleanliness reasons, the preferred implement was the chillum for hindus while the local muslims developed the nagileh into the huge hookahs so beloved of the Raj collectors when returning Home.<BR/>The bong originated in bamboo rich Malaya & Indoenesia once the tobacco arrived via their colonial rulers (British & Dutch respectively.<BR/>In China opium was a predilection of those who could afford it, swallowed as pellets washed down by sweet tea. It only became the scourge of China once industrial quantities were introduced by the British (from their huge Indian plantations)and smoked along with the tobacco by the coolies. It was forced onto China because of the drain on the British balance of payments of their addiction to tea. The heavenly Kingdom didn't want any of the trade goods proffered by the industrialised barbarians and ended with the Opium Wars, whence originated that glorious Imperial phrase "send a gunboat" when the authorities tried to stop the landing of a fleet of opium laden british ships.amphibioushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07995479651276290906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-23877117033214724592007-07-07T11:34:00.000+10:002007-07-07T11:34:00.000+10:00Bugger the patches! I want the Govt to subsidise m...Bugger the patches! I want the Govt to subsidise my BEER! It worked for xiku... http://thebatttler.blogspot.com/2006/06/xiku-kicks-habit.htmlononotagainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919597437000071022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-5078587836187772582007-07-06T20:28:00.000+10:002007-07-06T20:28:00.000+10:00I wonder what the world would be like if Sir Walte...I wonder what the world would be like if Sir Walter Raleigh had returned smoking marijuana instead of tobacco?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-13686923616578157722007-07-06T18:26:00.000+10:002007-07-06T18:26:00.000+10:00That's an interesting observation. So it was appa...That's an interesting observation. So it was apparently a gateway drug in Europe but not Asia. And you are suggesting opium was only smoked in China after tobacco got there. <BR/><BR/>One of the things about smoking is that it suggests that your lungs can be used for things other than breathing. Maybe that's part of the gateway idea.hchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799594181016858701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-7011314575064413772007-07-06T18:15:00.000+10:002007-07-06T18:15:00.000+10:00The role of tobacco as a 'gateway' drug has never ...The role of tobacco as a 'gateway' drug has never been broached as far as I can ascertain.<BR/>Prior to its arrival in Europe, and thereafter spreading eastwards, neither cannabis nor opium were smoked. Cannabis was eaten in the ME as 'majoum', a sweet concoction of honey & spices similar to a sloppy fudge and in India it was drunk as 'bhang', a mix of milk, pepper & spices. The muslim influence on the later moghuls led to eating but bahng was/is the preference of the hindu devotees.<BR/>Opium, further east until the middle of the Common Era, was usually swallowed as a pellet washed down by sweet tea, ie China & India, until the arrival of the dreaded tobacco.amphibioushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07995479651276290906noreply@blogger.com