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| problems are well-documented. Chewing tobacco, which has gained in popularity in recent years, has its own adverse side effects, including cancers of the mouth and throat. |
| The herbs most helpful to smokers who are trying to quit include the relaxing sedative herbs valerian, chamomile, skullcap, oatgrass and passionflower. The most effective way to use these herbs in a stop-smoking program, when nerves tend to frazzle, is as tinctures (alcohol and/or vegetable glycerine extracts) rather than teas or capsules. |
| Some herbalists have designed elaborate schedules of dosages (one is described in my book Herbs to Help You Breathe Freely), but experimentation is often the best approach. Taken in 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. doses every hour or two throughout the day, none of these tinctures will interfere with alertness or the ability to drive or operate machinery. |
| It's a good idea to try these tinctures separately after studying their descriptions. Judge their individual effects and test them again as combinations. You can take them on a regular schedule or squirt a dropperful under your tongue whenever you feel the craving for a cigarette or whenever you need to relax. And even though tinctures are more concentrated and faster acting, you can certainly brew these herbs as teas and drink them throughout the day. In fact, you'll find them in ''stop smoking'' tea blends in the health food store. |
| If you chew tobacco and would like to stop, your health food store may carry a ginseng "chew" designed for just this purpose. Or simply chew on a dried ginseng root. |
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