What Is It – Can You Get High – Is It Legal – Health Benefits – Risks – Blending Mugwort – Side Effects – Conclusion
Smoking mugwort has been done for many many centuries. The plant offers a pretty sweet and aromatic smell to whoever uses it. It’s a perennial plant that can quickly spread wherever it grows.
But the main attraction throughout its many years of use is the slight psychoactive use the plant has. It’s known to give you a slightly vivid dream if you use it before you go to sleep.
What Even Is Mugwort?
Mugwort is a very old herb that has been cultivated for thousands of years. It offers medicinal uses, something that people discovered and it then started becoming a staple ingredient in a lot of households.
The mugwort plant is known to very easily start to spread. Nowadays people growing this plant will do it in pots and then cut down the whole plant by the end of the season to stop any chance of it spreading seeds everywhere.
Mugwort used for smoking is often harvested during the autumn or end of the season and then dried to be smoked later on. As with most herbs it’s often that more of the aroma comes through when you are drying it first. It removes any chance of it tasting very bitter.
Can Mugwort Be Psychoactive And Give You A Buzz
Mugwort can definitely give you a buzz. The plant has been used for this purpose for many years. It has been used for both inducing psychoactive experiences but also for medicinal uses.
The leaves of the plant would be dried and then lightly crushed. Rolled in paper and then ignited will give you a calming feeling and often reduce anxiety. But before people would have paper to roll the herb in they would lay it in pots and then ignite it that way. This would fill the room with the fumes and smokes from it. Anyone in there would slowly start feeling light and hallucinate too.
Is It Legal To Smoke Mugwort
Smoking mugwort is very much legal. But there are laws surrounding where you are allowed to smoke. As in most cases, you would smoke mugwort in a herbal cigarette. Places that don’t allow smoking would also include herbal cigarettes.
It’s worth noting as well that the FDA doesn’t regulate the use of mugwort in cigarettes. This leaves sort of a greyspace where you are perhaps a bit unsure about what’s actually in these cigarettes. Sometimes the content and effect you would have hoped is not there in the commercially sold mugwort cigarettes.
The Benefits And Effects Of Smoking Mugwort
Mugwort is known to have quite a lot of benefits to it. It’s often used to reduce anxiety and even headaches. It was traditionally used to induce hallucinations or vivid dreams. The slightly sweet aroma and flavor the plant has is often why people also leaned towards it more.
Some of the more researched benefits that smoking mugwort offers are as following:
- Arthritis Reduction
- Digestive Issues
- Menstrual Relief
- Stress Reducing
Arthritis Reduction
In recent studies it has been discovered that mugwort smoke can help with relieving pain from arthritis. There hasn’t been a lot of research as the field is still rather new, but there seems to be a lot of benefits to it so far.
Throughout history the plant was often used to treat wounds, very successfully as well. It could even help tired legs or ease an upset stomach.The effects that moxibustion has is shown to even help with bad knees, a rather common issue among our elderly population.
Digestive Issues
If you were to introduce mugwort into your diet then you would actually see some pretty incredible benefits to your digestive system. Consuming mugwort is known to stimulate the gastric juice and the gastrointestinal tract and bile duct.
Having mugwort in the diet has been proven to help with a number of other issues too, poor appetite, constipation, acid reflux and even stomach pain. A pretty interesting herb to say the least.
Menstrual Relief
Mugwort has been historically used to help with menstrual cramping for women. It was a pretty effective remedy as well. It even showed better the help of female reproductive systems. Eating mugwort was done to keep a healthy and regular menstrual cycle.
Much of the reason for mugwort having these effects is the presence of Eucalyptol. A property that helps with relaxing the muscles and even has an almost sedative effect on the person.
Stress Reducing & Anxiety Reducing
If you read previously about the effect smoking mugwort has then we mentioned that most people will feel relaxed around it. It has a stress reducing effect on the person. Something that made it a pretty prominent ingredient in herbal blends meant to produce smoke, later inhaled by humans.
There are claims out there that say smoking mugwort cna help with anxiety and even depression. It should be said that there is no research presented yet that proves this claim though.
Is It Dangerous To Smoke Mugwort
Since mugwort has a psychoactive and hallucination inducing effect on people there is definitely a chance some bad can happen when smoking it. It’s therefore recommended that you discuss it with a professional before trying it.
As for other side effects it doesn’t really differ compared to smoking sage or smoking oregano. You will still be inhaling carbon monoxide which can be really toxic for the body if you take on too much. It’s the compound that’s found in all types of smoke and greatly increases the risk for lung cancer. There are however no additive chemicals in smoking mugwort as opposed to regular mainstream cigarettes.
Different Mugwort Smoking Blends
Mugwort is possible to be smoked by itself, but it shines even brighter when used with other ones instead. The mugwort has a psychoactive effect but flavor wise it has a sweeter flavor instead. This leaves room for building upon that and having a more fulfilling herbal cigarette.
Blending with herbs like sage and mugwort will give you a well-rounded cigarette that leaves you with a rich and fulfilling feeling. It’s smooth and slightly sweet and savory.
Are There Any Potential Side Effects To Smoking Mugwort
Apart from perhaps giving you hallucinations there are no different side effects to smoking mugwort compared to other plants and herbs. Whenevre you are igningitng something and inhaling the smoke then you are getting carbon monoxide into your system.
This will greatly increase the risk for lung cancer and even mouth cancer. But another issue you will see down the line if smoking is something you do a lot is respiratory issues. This is common among old smokers. Getting a smoker’s voice is often not something people want.
Conclusion
Smoking mugwort has the possibility of inducing hallucinations. It has an incredibly long history of being used for providing psychoactive effects. It was also used for medicinal purposes. It’s a plant that will be continued to be used for many more years most likely.
Side effects of smoking mugwort are really no different than smoking sage or lavender. Thankfully mugwort does not contain nicotine like regular cigarettes so getting rid of the habit of smoking will be easier. Now you will be getting carbon monoxide in your body that will produce long term issues.
