kinnikinnick

[Mike Cleven]

David Lewis wrote:
>
> I would disagree with the word "substitute" in this Audubon description.
> Native people did not only use Tobacco for our various purposes, and herbal
> substances like Kinnikinnick were common enough to warrant a common and
> regular use designation.
> David
> At 09:41 AM 03/19/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>
> >Here's what the Audubon "Western Forests" guide says about it
> >(p. 418):
> >
> >    "Kinnikinnick, an Indian word formany tobacco
> >     substitutes, is most frequently applied to this
> >     species [= the one I just described], which also
> >     had many medicinal uses, including the alleged
> >     control of several sexually transmitted diseases."

Well, there's sort of a commercial-culture bias here, as if only tobacco
was something that was regularly smoked.  Kinnikinnick, sage, and other
driables were never regarded as "substitutes" for tobacco; the same is
true in other cultures - _especially_ before the introduction of tobacco
from the New World from the 1500s onward.

MC