Do not do that! - DO NOT POISON YOUR GUESTS!!!

Dear Bartenders,

Please do not make tobacco infusions! I am serious - don't do it - don't try it - do not think about it.
Tobacco contains nicotine. What is the big deal, you might ask? Nicotine is highly poisonous. There is not as much nicotine absorption when you are smoking tobacco - this would be rather save.  Chewing tobacco - has a higher absorption - but yet, isn't soluble in water (hence it is still "quite save").

On the other hand, nicotine is soluble in alcohol - that means there is a great absorption - and it becomes very very dangerous.

How dangerous, you might ask? 

Let me ask a counter question:

Would you make a strychnine infusion? Or a cyanide cocktail? Or an arsenic essence?

  • The lethal dose of strychnine (for a male healthy adult) would be ca. 100 mg
  • The lethal dose of cyanide (...) would be ca. 200 mg
  • The lethal dose of arsenic (...) would be more than 70 mg

While the lethal dose of nicotine (for a male healthy adult) would be ca. 60 mg or less!

This is less than the infusion of 5 cigarettes (usually they contain nowadays less nicotine - but other ingredients to "hasten" the absorption via smoking). Cigar tobacco and other tobaccos might have a higher content of nicotine.

And even though an infusion might not directly kill a guest (please also think about guests, with some health issues, which can significantly reduce the lethal dose), the chance, that you make a guest sick, or at least unwell is very high. This is a no-no!

So - one more time:  DO NOT POISON YOUR GUESTS!


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