Is rapé addictive? (scientific evidence, first-hand experiences)

There is a question I’ve continuously been asking myself since the beginning of my experiences with shamanic snuff tobacco: is rapé addictive?

Now that I’m leaving Arambol to spend the summer in North India, it’s a good moment to recapitulate everything I learned about it through my first-hand experience, aside from the scientific evidence I managed to collect and what I’ve been told by people who took rapé for years in many different countries.

I will start with some basic scientific evidence, and move to real-life experiences further on. Click here if you want a wider explanation of the effects of rapé.

But before that, let me announce that other than the writing I have started to sell two unique blends of rapé produced in Goa with traditional methods. You can buy rapé here if you feel: it is made with love and intention, and it is getting more and more popular among the spiritual community.

A little introduction about rapé

I take for granted here that you already know about rapé. If you don’t, you can read my essay about What is Rapé, and about the two applicators used to administer it: the tepi pipe and the kuripe.

Is rapé addictive? Scientific evidence

Let me put it this way: no matter how shamanic you wanna be, no matter how anti-establishment you are, there is an undeniable fact here. The main ingredient of rapé is tobacco. Actually, a particular kind of tobacco called nicotiana rustica, is known to contain about 20 times the amount of nicotine usually found in regular tobacco.

The level of nicotine can vary depending on the rapé blends you are using.

See also: 10 things you should know about Kuripe, the pipe to take rapé on your own

Nicotine is an addictive substance. When smoked or inhaled, it releases dopamine in the brain and produces reinforcement: it teaches the brain to repeat the same action over and over.

But what about the other ingredients of rapé? The indigenous people who make it mix tobacco with various medicinal plants, such as mint, clover, tonka beans, banana peels, and cinnamon.

Nothing wrong with mint, cinnamon, clover, or banana. As for Tonka beans, they are considered toxic, but they are not known to be addictive.

Some rapé recipes also include other ingredients such as anadenanthera and jurema. In some cases even the powerful datura. We are talking about psychedelics here. But are psychedelics addictive? No, they are not.

So, is rapé addictive? Yes, it is addictive because it contains a lot of nicotine. But this is only one side of the story.

Addiction is strictly connected to the way we consume a substance. And from this point of view, it will be wrong to compare smoking cigarettes and taking rapé.

Let’s talk about my personal experience now.

Is it possible to develop an addiction to shamanic snuff tobacco? – First-hand experiences

I have been taking rapé for about two years now and I don’t think I have developed any dependence whatsoever. Taking rapé is not, at least for me, a repetitive act.

I have been smoking cigarettes for years and I remember very well that smoking had stopped being a choice a long time ago. I lit up cigarettes almost unconsciously, driven by my addiction and not my real desire.

With rapé, it’s a whole other story. Taking rapé is a ceremony. I do it with a specific goal in mind. I always focus on an intention and I follow a ceremonial procedure.

For some time, I took rapé around once a week. Sometimes more frequently. Sometimes less.

Rapé never became an addiction for me because it never turned into an unconscious action.

However, other people had a different take on this topic.

Is rapé addictive? Some say it is

Nando Yanomani recently commented on one of my Facebook posts: “The effects I have seen them in the first hand are nasty and the person after some time got very addicted to it”.

Andrej replied: “[When I was taking rapé] I was always super sick… projectile vomiting… I don’t like it at all… Nice clarity afterward, but too high a price for the minor effect…”.

Most of the people I discussed this topic with have told me that they didn’t notice any signs of addiction after taking rapé, even long after having taken it.

Looking for a good rapé pipe? Here is a list of the best Kuripe on Etsy

But clearly, developing an addition to rapé is a possibility to be taken into consideration.

To sum it up: is rapé addictive? Yes, it is because it contains tobacco. On the other hand, the risk of addiction can be greatly reduced by taking the shamanic snuff tobacco not as a habit (like many do with cigarettes and alcohol), but as a ceremony.

What about you? Have you ever taken rapé? Have you experienced any addictive patterns? Please share your experience in the comments below.