Tobacco, among the four sacred plants, has a conflicted present and long history. Regarded as a sacred plant, indigenous people in South and North America used and still use it in religious ceremonies.

The plant is used because indigenous cultures are entwined with it, and they are present at all stages of life. These may include personal prayer, birthing rituals, death, courtship, and marriage.

What Native Tobacco Is

Native tobacco is a product that Canadians grow and use to manufacture native smokes Canada. In the indigenous communities, they use it for medicinal or ceremonial purposes.

For centuries, indigenous people in Canada have been using it as a medicine with spiritual and cultural importance. Most of them still maintain stories and teach the product’s origin.

In certain cultures, the importance of preparing, growing, and harvesting native tobacco is helped by a very specific group of individuals who use different traditional ways of preparing the product for specific use.

 Commercial vs. Sacred

In general, tobacco plays an important role in most indigenous communities. This makes it important to know the difference between its commercial use and sacred use.

American Indian countries have been using sacred tobacco for many years, especially in various natural products, which differ across tribes and regions. Traditional or sacred tobacco doesn’t have additives and isn’t marketed or manufactured by the industry. Plus, it doesn’t have the same risks to the environment and public health that commercial products have.

On the other hand, commercial tobacco is often produced in masses, sold to make a profit, and has added chemicals. Companies manufacture it to use in hookah, cigarettes, pipe tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and cigars. Nicotine is the key addictive component in commercial products. This is why the FDA regulates the product under the Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act, which gives the administration the authority to control the following:

• Advertising
• Manufacturing
• Distribution

Ceremonial Use

In nearly every aspect of their lives, Native communities had solid reasons to solicit the spirit for kindness acts or give thanks for previous favours. They used to place dry tobacco at the shrub or tree base and throw a pinch inside the water before every day of wild rice gatherings. According to them, this helped them calm the weather and get bountiful harvests.

Before the religious ceremonies, the native people used to offer tobacco to the spirits. This universal technique of notifying their people of ceremonies or inviting them to feasts was a way of delivering a small amount of tobacco by runners sent for the same purpose.

In addition, traditional tobacco was used to seal agreements between people and treaties between different tribes. For such purposes, chiefs used to keep special pipes with very long decorated stems. Although the pipes of this kind were referred to as ‘peace pipes,’ the stem known as calumet was more important. In case of disagreements between people in tribes, the stem or pipe can be held between these two to settle the matter. Smoking tobacco together was also a way to seal agreements or bargains between different of various groups.

In conclusion, it is crucial to acknowledge the role that traditional tobacco plays in native people and their indigenous culture. Today, it also plays an important role in countering a high rate of commercial tobacco and related illnesses linked to its use.