Arapiraca Mapacho smudge roll: twisted leaf from north eastern Brazil
Mapacho is the Amazonian name for Nicotiana rustica, a wild tobacco with an alkaloid profile that differs markedly from the tobacco grown for cigarettes. This roll comes from Arapiraca, a town in the state of Alagoas in north eastern Brazil and the country's main producer of Nicotiana rustica. The leaf is processed by hand and then beaten into strands of multiple strings, exactly the way flax rope is made. What comes out is a dense, near black roll that turns dark brown as it dries and carries a deep, earthy tobacco scent.
A roll weighs roughly 500 grams and measures about 20 centimetres. Because everything is made by hand, thickness and weight vary from piece to piece. Nothing is added along the way: this is pressed mapacho leaf and nothing else.
Traditional use
Mapacho holds a fixed place in Brazilian and Amazonian ritual. Its smoke is used to cleanse a space and mark out the boundaries of a ceremony before anything else begins. The leaf also serves as the raw material for rapé, the Amazonian snuff, and beekeepers work with the smoke when handling their hives. If you want to burn a small piece yourself, cut a tuft from the roll, let it smoulder in a fireproof dish and keep the room ventilated. Never leave smouldering material unattended.
Good to know
Nicotiana rustica naturally contains nicotine and is therefore not suitable for children. Store the roll dry and dark and the aroma will hold for months. In the same category at Avalon Magic Plants you will also find Tauari mapacho smudge, palo santo, white sage and Brazilian rapé.
