All Hopped Up On Chrysothamnus Nauseosus!!! (Can you get me any smudge sticks, Rock?)

[Trent Rock]

I have always enjoyed a small bottle of whiskey..good whiskey to sip on.. also I like to bring a small sage bundle to burn.. it is smell is comforting and soothing.

In Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico there is stuff called CHAMISA
AKA Rabbitbrush
http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Yellow Enlarged Photo Pages/chrysothamnus nauseosus.htm

I went to a 4th of July picnic in Alamosa, CO
They had a bunch of booths set up, selling various tourist wares
One guy had these "buds" of dried chamisa
It really caught my eye because it looked like BUDS
It was dried chamisa tied together with thread
Sorta like this===>

For you former hipppies===>It looked like Tie (Thai?) Stick
He called them "smudge sticks"
He was selling them for 10 bucks a pop!!
It looked to be about a 1/4 oz.

(My first thought was==>
"Holy crap!!! I'm rich!!!!"
I told my brother,"Dude...We got like 500 lbs of smudge stick precursors!!! We're rich!!!"
I started singing the Beverly Hillbillies theme song
"1st thing ya know Ol' Trent's a millionaire..."
I went into my best Colin Powell like dance routine...
My property has at least 1,000+ active Rabbitbrush plants!!
I had visions of drying them in bulk
Spending all day tying them into smudge sticks and peddling them on EBAY..LOL)

The guy went into some marketing spiel about how it "opens up the pores"
How the Indians have been smudging for 1,000's of years
Seems like every natural remedy opens up the pores
What is so good about having open pores?
How do I know if my pores are closed?
Will I feel any different?

So, one night my brother and I were in the back of my house having a bonfire
I had a little too much Jimmy Beam, Dr. Pepper and Purple Kush and I got out my Creede, CO. OFFICIAL Mt. Man Rendezvous 2004 handforged tomahawk and started hacking down some chamisa
My brother was ROFLing at the sight of Trent out there at 7,888 feet in 29 degree weather hacking away with my 'hawk
I made a HUGE bonfire with it
I sat around the campfire and started chanting like a Ute Indian
You know===>"Hey ya hey ya..hey ya hey..."
I took a bundle and went to all 4 corners of my house and prayed to the Urine God that the Harley Davidson riders would stop stopping in my front "yard" (It's actually the side of the road) and pissing
I was breathing in heavy
I swear, I felt a LITTLE high
My pulse rate was slightly up
My pupils seemed normal
I didn't get the munchies or cottonmouth
I couldn't pinpoint the exact euphoric phenom
Just a general feeling of well being
I didn't notice my pores were opening up
Maybe they were open full tilt and I didn't notice it...

Alas,
My gold mine of Rabbitbrush still sits there
My ticket to success
My way out of the Santa Barbara corporate rat race
The financial freedom Don Laprie is always talking about
Maybe I'll dry out a few bushes and make a few sticks and do a test run on EBAY......

Anyone else here into smudging?
Where do you get your "stuff"?
Can you make a tea? (I know you can with BIG SAGEBRUSH)
What are the effects supposed to be?
Any unwanted side effects besides sweet smoke smell all over my hooded sweatshirt?
http://books.google.com/books?id=UXaQat5icHUC&pg=PA160&lpg=PA160&dq=Chrysothamnus+nauseosus+indians&source=web&ots=RZ1-52hJnT&sig=1o8WEdIKU7DjqIdXw12xZ3I4QnI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result

P.S.
I found this thread===>
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=543309
Maybe I need to build a chamisa "hot box"? ........

At 1st I thought it was Artemisia Tridentata or BIG SAGEBRUSH
I need to learn to tell the difference
They look very similar to this novice botanist
I think the way to tell is by the yellow flowers?

Now I'm confused
I'll look at it more closely next time

Both have similar habitats, but C. viscidiflorus ranges higher into the mountains.
It is easily distinguished by the white felt covering its twigs. C. viscidiflorus grows to three or four feet with a tighter growth pattern; it has sticky flowers and its leaves are twisted

Maybe it was Chrysothamnus Viscidiflorus?
Maybe I have Big Sagebrush AND Rabbitbrush on my property?
Is Rabbitbrush in the Sagebrush "family"?
I don't know all that genus, phylum, Atrtesmia, Chrysothamnus, stuff
I kinda weak in the biological sciences
I'm more of a social science type guy
But, I'm willing to learn!!

Was I playing with fire by inhaling the rabbitbrush smoke?
I seem to have recovered with no long term effects.....

 

[Bushman5]

hahaha.

I use plain old dried sagebrush, cant say i notice anything of the mental uplifting kind, but it smells nice and clears out the bad house spirits and sure keeps the bugs away at camp

 

[Mentor]

Great thread starter Trent!

I have not partaken of a smudge ceremony, but I know people who have. For them, it's a spiritual thing. It's certainly something I would try if the opportunity arose.

Keep us updated on those pores.

All the best,

- Mike

 

[rroundy]

from what i know from my navajo friends they use it in conjunction with the sweat lodge and the vision quest type ceremonies. i have been invited but havent quite been able to get it all together. would be a neat opportunity. when i drive through the rez it is for sale in the locals shop for very cheap. when you get to the touristy places it can be as much as $10.00 a bundle.

would be interested what DocCanada and some of the others have to say about the aromatic and medicinal properties of the different smudges, for there are many for different purposes.

ryan