Tobacco and betel

David S. Seigler Department of Plant Biology University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois USA

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, 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 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 ( ). The English soldiers saw the Turks using them and took them home. Since the mid- 1800'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.