Smoke Baths. Which woods or other plants?

[Diomedes Industries]

I watched Les take a 'Smoke Bath' the other night on Survivorman. He burned a wood that he claimed killed off the bacteria on your body and kept you smelling decent.

Anyone know what woods work well for this operation?

TF

 

[Marcelo Cantu]

I thought is was Sage that he used.

 

[ejes]

I know Paw Paw leaves and wood have a pesticide property and is good for clearing a debris shelter with, but I don't know what Les was using for sure. I remember in one episode he was in a wet environment (jungle) and was getting trench foot and he burned a fungus or something to give his feet a smoke bath to help cure it, but I don't remember what it was either.

 

[myright]

Tal - I hear if you use poison ivy it'll work great

 

[Odaon]

Didn't he burn juniper? I'm pretty sure, because I think I tried it after watching that and I noticed that I did smell and feel more fresh. I can check, I have almost all of his seasons on DVD.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Yeah - It was Juniper - I was wondering if there were any more woods that would work.

TF

 

[Marcelo Cantu]

Oh yeah it was Juniper. I know Rome as well as many other churches have been using Frankincense for a couple of millenia so there you go. Kept the gatherings less germy.

Also Mulein (mullein?) has been used for it's properties with respiratory conditions

 

[PayetteRucker]

Smoke from pine oil keeps the bugs away, I'll purposely sit in the smoke the first night on a camping trip because the bugs won't touch me when I smell like smoke and there's some girl putting on fruity perfume 100 feet away in her tent.

 

[J_Curd]

+1 pines are what Ive always heard.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Smoke from pine oil keeps the bugs away, I'll purposely sit in the smoke the first night on a camping trip because the bugs won't touch me when I smell like smoke and there's some girl putting on fruity perfume 100 feet away in her tent.

If the girl's tent is 100 feet away from yours, you're doing something wrong.

Doc

 

[Skimo]

maybe he goes to camp sites.

 

[Hawkings]

Smoke from pine oil keeps the bugs away, I'll purposely sit in the smoke the first night on a camping trip because the bugs won't touch me when I smell like smoke and there's some girl putting on fruity perfume 100 feet away in her tent.

Bet she won't touch you either

Crap, DOC-CANADA. beat me to it

 

[Katdaddy]

Tal - I hear if you use poison ivy it'll work great

Yeah! Why doncha give it a try and write a review? And pics.........lots of pics!!!!

 

[TheQuest]

Tal - I hear if you use poison ivy it'll work great

Man...I read that and got these images of Poison Ivy inhalation... *shiver*

 

[Joezilla]

Mullen is a great aromatic. I use it in the beesmoker when I have it.

 

[J. Doyle]

We use willow here....but that could be because that's what we have mostly. 'Gotta dance with who ya brung.'

We don't have a ton of bugs so I can't claim it's a repellant but it smells nice.

 

[PayetteRucker]

Bet she won't touch you either

Crap, DOC-CANADA. beat me to it

Last thing I want on a backpacking trip is to be anywhere near a loud bitchy woman.

 

[longbow50]

Yep, Juniper works great to keep the body smelling reasonably well. Eucalyptus is sometimes placed on the stones in the sweat lodge to help with lungs/congestion and it works fairly well, but only use in small amounts.

 

[Joezilla]

Yucca roots of various species will work as a light soap, mixed with water. No lighter needed, but if you did, you could always use the dry stalk as a hand drill.