I will admit that i know far less about shamanism than you jamie. But from what i´ve heard, and from what you´re saying, this traditional mapacho use seems completely different than actually smoking and it seems it´s more like how for instance the catholic church uses incense. But if you start actually smoking it..inhaling the smoke, it will just be as carcinogenic as any other plant that´s being burned. People can get cancer from eating burnt food because the same substances in smoke, just burnt organic matter, is in that food. Very frequent exposure to soot will just increase the risk of cancer. When eaten, it will more often be colon cancer. When inhaled, it will more often be lungcancer.jamie said:Also, how much do you undertand of amerindian culture in relation to tobacco? There is not a whole lot of evidence as far as I know of native american chain smokers, outside of the present situation and some extreme amazonian use. Most tribes seem to have used it for prayer often smudging with it, mouth smoking it to blow over someone without inhaling(you see this in the amazon as well) and then only really inhaling it durring special pipe ceremonies. I dont think native peoples of north america at least were a bunch of chain smokers.
Context is everything, just like with anything else.
That means that even incense could potentially be carcinogenic when you're exposed to the smoke a LOT. Or when you work in a grill-restaurant, where you inhale BBQ smoke all day, it's the same principle.