Virginia Creeper Wood
- Thread starter M perrin
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I'd avoid it like the plague.
"Despite being one of the most attractive plants out there, you should always admire the Virginia creeper from a safe distance and keep your children and pets away from it. According to a wide variety of sources, the Virginia creeper is a very toxic plant to humans."
Why would you even want to try ?
Read up on toxic woods first.
There are so many safe alternatives.
Plus, it's a vine. I'm no botanist, but I know that the wood of vines is generally quite soft, especially when compared to traditional plant-based pipe materials like briar, olive wood, pear wood, etc. Probably totally unsuitable for handling combustion.
Speaking of Virginia Creeper, go on up to White Top above Galax and coast down the Creeper Trail. We take our own bikes, but there are places to rent bikes and child carriers. Now back to your regularly scheduled program…lol!
Fun ride. Our troop used to go for a ride every year. But I wouldn't smoke out of it. I wouldn't touch it, actually.
Both of my daughters were extremely allergic to it, just touching it. It doesn’t look anything like poison ivy, but to many people, it affects them just the same.
We’ve done the VA Creeper trail. Nice coasting trail. We get someone to haul our bikes to the top when we go.
We’ve done the VA Creeper trail. Nice coasting trail. We get someone to haul our bikes to the top when we go.
I fight that crap in my yard every year. It's an intrusive weed. Back to the or question, no I don't think it would make a safe pie.
I mean, that's a bit of an exaggeration. The only toxic part of the plant is the berries and only to humans, birds and other animals eat them.
Leaves, stems - totally harmless.
And on topic no, I wouldn't bother crafting a pipe out of its wood.
Source - Professional Gardener
I wouldn't rule the leaves and stems as totally harmless. I've heard a plethora of people local to me who claim that they are allergic to Virginia Creeper. The complication is that it usually grows right alongside poison ivy, and looks similar to the casual observer who sees "leaves as leaves." My suspicion is people are being inoculated by poison ivy oil and assuming it was the Virginia Creeper right next to it. I have heard the "allergic to Virginia Creeper" enough, however, to give me pause. Other locals espouse it as a topical treatment for poison ivy blisters, so the hell knows? A biologist, I guess.
In any right, I wouldn't be making a pipe out of it.
Maybe make some pipe baskets or cradles instead with smaller creeper vines, like cordage? If you absolutely must use this creeper.
Nope the dermatologist told us, when I took my daughters in with rashes, that he has seen dozens of cases caused by Virginia Creeper. It's not as bad as poison ivy, but for those allergic to it, the effects are worse.
Obviously if the intended smoker isn't allergic to it, it doesn't matter if some other person is allergic to it. There's probably people allergic to white heath, too, for that matter; and corn. Try it. It might actually work. I doubt it, but be honest, imagine a world where the corn cob pipe hasn't been invented and ask yourself if you think a corn cob would make a decent pipe.
Y'all need to take your bike helmets off when you get inside.
Y'all need to take your bike helmets off when you get inside.
And you might want to check toxicity reports before making asinine comments. Corn was known to not be toxic long before it was considered for pipe making and the tree Heather is non toxic.
"The plant, in general, has toxic levels of oxalate crystal that's responsible for its toxicity. The parts containing the most oxalate crystals are the berries and leaves, which is why it can be fatal to eat them."
Ok then, by all means, make a pipe from whatever you want. You asked… we answered, but I’m not about to literally stand between someone making a pipe from toxic stuff. Hell, I’m usually the guy who gets the chant going when someone wakts to jump off a three story building. “Jump jump jump!”
By all means switch from "allergies" to "toxicity" whenever it suits your argument. No gas lighting here. Nope. None at all.
Wow. That escalated quickly.
I just know I wouldn't knowingly smoke from a pipe made out of Virginia Creeper and would be upset if I inadvertently did so under false pretenses.
I just know I wouldn't knowingly smoke from a pipe made out of Virginia Creeper and would be upset if I inadvertently did so under false pretenses.