Haha. A pile of self-serving crap about the dangers of illegally grown, untaxed tobacco in Australia, but quite entertaining: The Medical Consequences of Smoking “Chop-Chop” Tobacco UNTAXED, of course, being the main and operative word.
That was funny… Thanks for the laugh!!
Well, the cautionary note about fungal contamination deserves some consideration. Commercial tobacco is treated with anti-fungal chemicals for this reason, both in the field, during curing, and after processing. A few years ago I bought a chemical that Cornell & Diehl uses on their pipe tobacco…
@mouse, I thought CnD always said they didn’t add nuffink to their tobacco, unless it was the flavors listed on the side of the pack!
I bought the chemical directly from Craig Tarler a couple of years before he passed on, so… I believe they don’t use PG or casings/toppings on their non-aromatic blends, but that is a different story.
One of the things from the paper that I wholeheartedly agree with is the use of adulterants to increase weight (and thus maximize the profit of the grower/middleman). In unregulated black market industries such as this, such things are rampant. Of course, the black market exists because people want the product (and cheaply) and thus will suffer such things because they are addicted and need a lower-priced alternative. Reminds me of how sawdust was added to pepper in the 1800s (in England, primarily, but also in the US) and how meat had additives to bulk the weight up. The same thing is seen in the use of illicit drugs, to cut the product and thus maximize the profits.