i wild foraged this rabbit tobacco from a back field on our property where it is particularly prolific.
i watch the plants grow and bloom from mid to late summer. then when they go dormant and die back for the season, i pick the aerial portions (leaf and flower) when they’re nicely dried. this is traditional for rabbit tobacco. it has complex oils that reach their peak after the plant has died for the year. i keep some for tea and tincture the rest in vodka and leave it for a long steep.

i have worked with this remedy myself but have largely learned about it through matthew wood in his second earthwise herbal.

rabbit tobacco is primarily used as a respiratory aid. matthew wood considers it the best remedy for congenital asthma. i think tea works best for this purpose, but tincture followed by a mug of hot water is excellent. you need the heat to catalyze the strong opening actions.

rabbit tobacco has an interesting taste. you can tell it’s a complex remedy with novel properties.
it’s mild and bitter with warm sweetish buttery oil taste and feeling. when it was brewing it had a strange acrid smell that passed once i removed it from the lidded pot.

a few big sips of very hot tea made me feel deeply relaxed in a strange way. it felt like a tension that i didn’t realize i had suddenly left my joints and sinews. my mind felt quiet. my shoulders relaxed down, my breath started deepening. it felt easier to get deep breaths in. it felt like i didn’t have to remind myself to breathe. i felt my pulse soften. after a few more gulps, my skin started to feel clammy. i could feel it acting on my pores in real time. i got some light nausea as it worked through the nerves in my gut. i laid down and took deep belly breaths. the feeling passed easily. i could feel that it deeply acts on the nervous system. i took it at the end of a long day. it did not make me sleepy, but i slept wonderfully and woke up feeling very refreshed.

it is a corrective remedy that has potential to be curative. i would encourage you to make time to relax and work with the medicine as you start taking it. create space and time for it to do its deep work. i like taking remedies like this before bed so it can work while you sleep.

rabbit tobacco is very important for certain native american tribes. it’s a plant steeped in lure. it was said that the rabbit learned to treat its thin skin, sprains and bruises with rabbit tobacco after getting stuck in a thicket. rabbit used the remedy to recover nicely. although rabbit tobacco is primarily known as an excellent respiratory aid, it also has a marked effect on the joints and sinews. old lure also goes on to consider rabbit tobacco a plant to bridge communication between astral planes. it was used to contact The Creator and to open communication between the living and the dead for ancestor work.

matthew wood goes on to say that on a physical level, it corrects how open the pores are and strengthens skin and membranes. on a spiritual level, it corrects and balances our sense of openness to other realms. it’s a great remedy for people who are easily overwhelmed by the energies of others and the otherworldly. sometimes we also see presentations where someone is riddled with tension, struggling with asthma or breathing troubles and seem to be extremely closed or angry or tangled concerning ‘other worldly’ themes.

matthew wood also says it’s excellent for congenital issues due to its ‘ancestral’ nature, which i think is so interesting. my generation talks a lot about ‘breaking generational trauma’ and i think this remedy is an important consideration for this kind of work. i would also consider remedies like black cohosh and maybe even ghost pipe for deep, mucky ancestor work and trauma recovery.

rabbit tobacco is an ingredient in my all purpose cough tincture:
white pine
rabbit tobacco
wild cherry bark
white horehound
+ a smidge of yarrow

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