# Is it possible to make natural menthol cigarettes by grafting plants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641 "2004-02-28T17:46:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/1 "2004-02-28T17:46:20Z")
in light of the real tomacco plant inspired by The Simpsons, i got to thinking… people say menthol cigarettes are more harmful than non-menthol because of something about how the filter is different. would it be possible to make natural menthol cigarettes by grafting a tobacco and a mint plant? has anyone ever tried to? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/2 "2004-02-28T18:45:24Z")
It _might_ be possible to do this by grafting. Nicotine is produced [mainly in the root](http://www.siu.edu/~ebl/leaflets/tobacco.htm), while, if I’m reading [this](http://www.2000.botanyconference.org/section2/abstracts/47.shtml) correctly, menthol is synthesized in the leaves. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/3 "2004-02-28T21:30:31Z")
Tobacco[SOLANACEAE] and mint[LABIATAE] are not in the same family, so you may have to go to gene-splicing. ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/4 "2004-02-28T22:05:02Z")
> [@quiltguy154](#): > > Tobacco[SOLANACEAE] and mint[LABIATAE] are not in the same family, so you may have to go to gene-splicing. and tobacco and tomato _are_? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/5 "2004-02-28T22:31:54Z")
> [@gypsymoth3](#): > > and tobacco and tomato _are_? Yup, along with potatos, peppers, and deadly mightshade. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/6 "2004-02-28T22:33:06Z")
**n** ightshade ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/7 "2004-02-28T22:34:18Z")
How does grafting actually work, and what is the process? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/8 "2004-02-28T22:42:07Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > How does grafting actually work, and what is the process? Grafting is a horticultural technique primarily intended to grow plants which prefer one type of soil or soil conditions in an area that normally would be inhospitable. In grafting, one selects a plant with a fairly close relationship to the desired crop plant, with a root stock well-suited to the soil conditions. Shoots of the crop plant are then spliced onto the root stock, using a variety of techniques. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/9 "2004-02-28T22:43:31Z")
[Here](http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG0532.html) is a good, in-depth article on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/10 "2004-02-28T22:49:31Z")
That is indeed a good article. I had just read about its use in spreading apple trees in Guns, Germs, and Steel but the technique wasn’t described and though the context sort of implied what the activity was (as did the meaning of the word itself!) I wasn’t clear on the process. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/11 "2004-02-28T22:53:19Z")
Q.E.D’s link describes procedures for trees, but the cleft grafting procedure also works on many non-woody herbs. The most commonly described example on the internet is the grafting of Hops plants onto Marijuana root stock. Several sites provide excellent step by step instructions for performing this graft, but Cecil would probably frown if I supplied a link to the procedure. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/12 "2004-02-28T23:31:05Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Several sites provide excellent step by step instructions for performing this graft, but Cecil would probably frown if I supplied a link to the procedure. Why do you say that? Now, the _opposite_ procedure, I could understand him taking exception with, but it’s not as though _Canabis Sativa L._ root stock will grow hops plants you can get high from. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/13 "2004-02-28T23:44:41Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Why do you say that? Now, the _opposite_ procedure, I could understand him taking exception with, but it’s not as though _Canabis Sativa L._ root stock will grow hops plants you can get high from. That is not _necessarily_ true (although it may be in the case of this particular stock/scion graft) - there are pairs of plants that, when grafted, produce a plant which displays a combination of the characterstics of both stock and scion - they are called Chimaeras or Graft Hybrids (something of a misnomer, as there is no genetic combination going on) - the classic example of this is [Laburnocytisus Adamii](http://www.biologie.uni-ulm.de/systax/dendrologie/labcytadflw.htm), but others also exist. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/14 "2004-02-28T23:51:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > …there are pairs of plants that, when grafted, produce a plant which displays a combination of the characterstics of both stock and scion… Yes, I know. I was referring to the specific graft pair mentioned here. In this case, the active chemicals are produced primarily in the buds, and little or none in the root stock. Otherwise, I think pot growers would have already discovered this method of disguising their crops. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/15 "2004-02-29T00:43:36Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > I think pot growers would have already discovered this method of disguising their crops. I first ran across that particular graft in the early 70’s. Believe me when I say that pot growers _are_ aware of it as a method of disguising their crop. Or, if you prefer, do a bit of googling on the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/16 "2004-02-29T00:54:46Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Yes, I know. I was referring to the specific graft pair mentioned here. In this case, the active chemicals are produced primarily in the buds, and little or none in the root stock. Otherwise, I think pot growers would have already discovered this method of disguising their crops. 😉 This is a really difficult subject to research, due to the amount of inane babble out there, but I found a few people saying that the active chemicals are produced in the roots and that they migrate to the buds, becoming concentrated there - they weren’t particularly reputable sources though, so I’m going to keep looking… ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/17 "2004-02-29T01:05:04Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Or, if you prefer, do a bit of googling on the topic. I have been. As **Mangetout** noted above, the signal-to-noise ratio on this topic is extremely low, due to its very nature. I’ll keep looking, but I’m afraid my head’s going to explode trying to process all the contradictory information out there. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/18 "2004-02-29T01:33:03Z")
[Well, there’s this:](http://books.nap.edu/books/0309071550/html/25.html#pagetop) > [@](#): > > Cannabinoids are produced in epidermal glands on the leaves (especially the upper ones), stems, and the bracts that support the flowers of the marijuana plant. Although the flower itself has no epidermal glands, it has the highest cannabinoid content anywhere on the plant, probably because of the accumulation of resin secreted by the supporting bracteole But it doesn’t say where in the plant the precursors are made (see next page), which could be very important to the outcome of a graft. People _did_ get high off the hybrid, but then hops is also a bit of a euphoric, and Oregano works for some people too. I doubt that anyone’s done the actual research needed to untangle what, if anything, goes on in the leaves of grafted hops plants. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-natural-menthol-cigarettes-by-grafting-plants/231641/19 "2004-02-29T01:36:11Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > People _did_ get high off the hybrid, but then hops is also a bit of a euphoric, and Oregano works for some people too. I suspect that may be about as close to the truth of the matter as we’re going to get. Thanks. Wonder if I can get a research grant? 😉