Transcript Tobacco and Betel

Tobacco and betel
David S. Seigler
Department of Plant Biology
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois 61801 USA
[email protected]
http://www.life.illinois.edu/seigler
Outline: Tobacco and Betel
Fumitories
o Tobacco - Nicotiana - South America
Masticatories
o Chewing gum
o Tobacco
o Betel
+ Areca catechu
+ Piper betle
+ Acacia catechu
Tobacco curing processes
o curing processes
o changes
o additives
Reading
• CHAPTER 12 IN THE TEXT, 300-304
and material from lecture
Introduction
• The world's most important fumitories (things
people smoke) are tobacco and marijuana
• The most important masticatories (things
people chew) are tobacco, betel (including
Areca catechu seeds, Piper betle leaves, and
Senegalia (Acacia) catechu bark), coca and
qat.
Tobacco, Solanaceae
• Tobacco, one of the New World
psychoactive plants, has had dramatic
impact on the world.
• Nicotiana tabacum (Solanaceae) and
Nicotiana rustica have become
important in every country of the world.
• At least 1000 years before Columbus,
tobacco was smoked, eaten, chewed, and
snuffed by native peoples throughout the New
World.
• Tobacco has been used medicinally as well.
• Dried leaves were used for money and they
were considered sacred by many Indians.
Columbus brought cigars back to Queen
Isabella.
Tobacco, Nicotiana tobacum, Solanaceae
Tobacco in N.C. about 1947
Stems of tobacco harvested in Kentucky
Flue-curing of tobacco in Kentucky
Cigarette manufacture about 1947
Checking humidity of tobacco in storage
Air curing of tobacco in Venezuela
Curing
tobacco leaves
for cigars in
Brazil
Courtesy Axel Walther
Tobacco products for
sale in Kentucky
• Tobacco was originally cultivated in Europe
as a medicinal plant.
• The wild ancestors of tobacco are no longer
known. Tobacco is a tetraploid.
• Tobacco contains 1-3% nicotine.
• Good cigars are made from whole leaves of
tobacco. The American Indians used tobacco
as a snuff, smoked it in pipes, cigars, and
chewed it.
• Smoking (anything -- including
marijuana) was not known in the Old
World until about the 1600's.
• Tobacco cultivation started in Virginia in
1612. As the crop was a good source of
revenue, cultivation has continued in the
Southeastern up to the present.
• Tobacco cultivation is complicated.
• The seeds (which are small) are started in areas
that have been sterilized and grown to small
seedlings which are then planted in fields after
about 2 months.
• The addition of nitrogen is important in
determining the type product obtained.
• The plants must be hand tended to remove
insects, leaves, and inflorescences.
• In many areas, single leaves are harvested,
although in other areas, the entire upper part
of the plant is cut. The leaf material is then
cured.
• During curing, the moisture content is
lowered from 80 to 20 percent.
• Starches are converted to sugars. Some
proteins are broken down. Slow drying
permits aerobic fermentation to take place in
the leaves.
• The curing can be done by allowing the
tobacco to stand in barns (air curing), by
circulation of air (flue curing) or by smoke (fire
curing).
• Other tobacco, especially Turkish or other
Oriental tobaccos, is sun dried.
• After curing, the tobacco is allowed to
age for 6 months to two years. Further
changes occur in the leaves.
• For cigarettes and cigar fillings, the
tobacco is moistened (humectants, such
as glycerin) are added and the veins
and petioles removed.
• Many flavorings are added to tobacco
products. Among these are honey, sugar, oil
of hops, licorice, coumarin, rum, and menthol.
• Cigarettes were not used widely until the time
of the Crimean War (1854-1856).
• The English soldiers saw the Turks using
them and took them home. Since the mid1800's, cigarettes have been the main way
that tobacco is used.
• Production of cigarettes is also linked
with flue curing of tobacco. This makes
a milder type of tobacco that more
people can tolerate.
• Nicotine is the main alkaloid in tobacco. It is a
stimulant of the central nervous system.
• Nicotine can produce dizziness, nausea, and
hallucinations in excess, and is
physiologically addicting.
• This alkaloid also is a poison; tobacco wastes
are used to manufacture insecticides. The
main active ingredient is nicotine.
Betel
• Betel [includes Areca catechu (Arecaceae)
seeds, Piper betle (Piperaceae) leaves, and
Senegalia (Acacia) catechu (Fabaceae or
Leguminosae) bark along with dozens of
other flavorings and sweeteners] is used daily
by perhaps 1 billion people.
• Betel is most common in Southeast Asia, but
also in Africa and other places where Asian
people have migrated.
Betel palms, Areca
catechu, Arecaceae
W. E. Safford, The useful plants of the island
of Guam, Govt. Print. Off., Washington, D.C. ,
1905
Betel - leaves of
Piper betle, sliced
seeds of Areca
catechu, and
shredded bark of
Senegalia (Acacia)
catechu
• Lime is often added to hydrolyze and activate
the alkaloids in the Areca catechu seeds.
Cloves, tamarind, "sprinkles", mint, and other
substances are added. Called "pan" by
Indians. Copious salivation is produced. With
frequent use, the teeth eventually turn brown
or red.
Qat or kat, Catha edulis, Celastraceae
• The leaves of this plant, Catha edulis,
Celastraceae, have been used for thousands
of years in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia) and were
introduced into the Arabian peninsula. This is
a stimulant permitted by Islam.
• Khat is one of the major cash crops of
Ethiopia and is flown fresh daily to Yemen,
and several other countries. Abuse of the
plant is particularly bad in Yemen. Saudi
Arabia has made khat illegal.
Khat, Catha edulis,
Celastraceae
Bulletin Narcotics
Pituri, Duboisia hopwoodii, Solanaceae
C. A. Gardner and H. W. Bennetts, The Toxic
Plants of Western Australia (1956)
Cannabis or
marijuana,
Cannabis sativa,
Cannabaceae
Cannabis is used as an
oilseed crop, a fiber crop
and also as a plant that
contains psychoactive
substances. According to
USDA sources, it is the
number one cash crop in
the U.S.