Hornets and Tobacco

[chopz]

Ok, stirring up a hornet's nest in the dark is no fun at all, but it affords us an opportunity for a unique experiment. I've heard it said tobacco is a good topical treatment for stings. Tonight we find out if it's just an old wives' tale. On my left index finger i have a bandage holding a dampened wad of dunbar to the sting. On my right forearm a wad of boswell's burley. The others will go untreated. Any guesses as to what results I'll get? Let me just add this - the finger hurts like heck so I figure that gets the good stuff.
Incidentally I was smoking a bowl of haddo's delight at the time the swarming started. after it happened i think i puffed my way through the remainder of that bowl in record time.

 

[spartan]

Damn lol
Sorry to hear about your encounter with mother nature. Hornets are afraid of cancer, and they were here first.
Hope the old skool remedy works for you! Be sure to report back.
No alcohol, that's cheating.

 

[puffy]

I really dont if it works.Old timers here in the south say that it does.The last time I got stung was 20 years ago.I had to go to the emergency room and get shots.

 

[mluyckx]

Auch ! Hornets suck .... Sorry to hear that. But do report out on the results. I'm curious.

 

[billinsfl]

Tobacco juice; you have to chew it, then spit the juice onto the injury. Old-timers swore by this for a variety of ills...

 

[uberam3rica]

I can't even remember the last time I got stung. Not long enough, I know that much. It isn't exactly one of my favorite sensations.

 

[guitarguy86]

Never heard of this. Interested to see if it works.

 

[jndyer]

Maybe you are the trick is just to smoke another bowl... Seriously, please let us know the results. If it works I will happily put tobacco to use in this fashion.

 

[mlaug]

Dibs on pipes and tobacco....you know, just in case it doesn't work out. :mrgreen:

 

[chopz]

well i have to say, no appreciable results from the tobacco application. i read online that the alkalinity of the tobacco juice is supposed to neutralize the acidic nature of the stings. but it may be that it was too long from the time i was stung until the time i put the tobacco on - about half an hour. i was on my way out to pick up my son when it happened and couldn't do anything about it until i returned from picking him up first.
i looked at the spot. a tomato plant in a large pot that got blown over in the storm is now sitting in a swarm of them, after i tried to right it. i guess either the nest fell into the garden along with a broken tree branch or something. i feel i got off relatively unscathed. now i got to figure out how to deal with moving that plant and getting rid of them.

 

[tbradsim1]

Did you wet the tobbaco, doesn"t work good unless you wet it the old cajun. Another tip I got from a Dr meat tenderizer on the sting, then tobbaco

 

[bigmike]

The previous posts about the "wet tobaccos" are correct.
Either plug or pouch tobacco chewed until nice and juicy, but not chewed out,

then placed over the sting. (Usually just spit on it)
Being from the hills of SE TN, I've seen it done.....

 

[crpntr1]

+1 Cajun..wet tobacco like chew or skoal (Levi Garrett works best I think) or meat tenderizer .

 

[crpntr1]

Fyi for an asp or scorpion sting, a paste from baking powder and water works well. This will work on bumble bee sting as well.

 

[tbradsim1]

FYI red ant. Bites toothpaste, dries it up no puss pockets, used it a lot on my kids. The old cajun

 

[mlaug]

(Mike is secretly thankful he lives nowhere near the homes of fire ants, asps, or scorpions)

 

[crpntr1]

(Mike is secretly thankful he lives nowhere near the homes of fire ants, asps, or scorpions)

Must be boring there...how bout rattle snakes & alligators?

 

[baronsamedi]

Last time I got stung I got hit 9 times. I chewed bits of Levi Garrett tobacco and placed small wads over the stings. I also took 2 Benedryl and chewed a wad of the tobacco to pass the time. I can honestly say that it helped short term with the pain and swelling, but seeing as I did a combination of things, that could have been a factor as well. I have used a baking soda paste on a wasp sting and that worked OK. My best results were from plain old mud compressed over a yellow jacket sting and soaking a scorpion sting in apple cider vinegar. Both of those methods yielded immediate success on their own. Can you tell I live in Texas?

 

[bigmike]

(Mike is secretly thankful he lives nowhere near the homes of fire ants, asps, or scorpions)

Must be boring there...how bout rattle snakes & alligators?

LOL......
Unfortunately I left the "Hills of TN" and now reside in the SW part of Florida which is loaded with Fire Ants, Scorpions, Mosquitoes, Gators, Rattlesnakes, Cottonmouths, Bees, Wasps, etc, etc, etc..... and have had my share of bites and stings over the last 48 years...........
Happily I'll be heading back to the mountains early next year to get away from these damn things.........

 

[dhintonca]

I have a device that is essentially an intense battery operated light that looks like a square penlight. You hold it against the sting until the pain is unbearable, then remove it. The heat breaks down the venom and it stops hurting!! Another method is to use a hot cloth: http://www.ehow.com/video_4459532_use-heat-insect-bite.html
Sorry to hear about your run-in -- they're nasty creatures!