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When Opium Was a Cure-All Remedy, and Other Unusual Historic Medical Cures

Khalid Elhassan April 10, 2025 16 min

Remedy - Flagellants thought that flogging themselves would ward off the plague — Flagellants thought that flogging themselves would ward off the plague. Pits Perilous

4. Blowing Smoke Up the Rear

Bellows for a tobacco smoke enema. Science Museum

Today, “you’re just blowing smoke up my ass” is a figure of speech, conveying that the smoke blower is insincere. However, centuries ago, blowing smoke up the ass was meant literally. It described a medical procedure in which a tube or rubber hose was inserted in a patient’s rectum, up which tobacco smoke would be blown. In the 1700s, doctors routinely prescribed tobacco smoke enemas, in the mistaken belief that they had healing properties. Blowing smoke up the ass was thought to be particularly useful remedy to revive drowning victims. The nicotine in the tobacco was thought to make the heart beat faster, thus stimulating respiration, while smoke from the burning tobacco was thought to warm the drowning victim from the inside.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.