Early Uses of Indian Tobacco in California

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“In general, tobacco leaf was used without anything added, but there are records of mixing it with the dried leaves of Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi , and of a Manzanita, probably Arctostaphylos patula . This was said to be for smoking or as snuff, though the latter practice does not seem to have been general with the Indians and probably only came in after longer contact with the whites.” “Tobacco was smoked only by the men, or the women “doctors” who, doing the work of men, must do as the men did. It was rarely chewed, though later reports mention this use of it, as with the taking of snuff, only after longer contact with the whites.” ref: http://www.tobacco.org/History/indiantobcalif.html