Are there any other uses for the tobacco plant other than for ingestion by people?
There are other uses dating back to the 16th century, but the most recent study had shown that the chemicals in tobacco maybe a factor in preventing Parkingson disease. This study, done on lab rats, has shown that the tobacco compound is a derivative of naphthoquinone. Naphthoquinone works by interfering with on enzyme of the brain that breaks down the neurotranmitters.
Recall seeing a TV program [sorry, too long ago to even remember the name, let alone dig up a cite] and a biologist claiming that there is more and better protein in tobacco plants than in soybeans. Supposedly high quality proteins can be isolated, but all the nasty, tobacco-y stuff come along with it. Still he said, it could be done but at the time the cost was prohibitive. I wonder if Archer Daniels Midland knows about this?
Being a native Floridian, I’ve had a few run-ins with some less than friendly marine life. Stingrays, for example. When I got stung the first time as a kid, my uncle pulled some tobacco out of the discarded cigarette butts littering the beach, spit in it, and put it on the wound. Stopped stinging right away.
Rubbing wet tobacco across a car windshield will make raindrops run off, if you’ve run out of Rain-X®.
Many years ago, a friend was a horticulturalist at a university. He worked in the greenhouse, making sure that all the plants that were needed for lab work were happy and healthy.
He grew a lot of tobacco in the university greenhouse. Apparently, tobacco either reacts to certain stimuli in consistently predictable ways, or it has certain characteristics (or something, I’m no botanist) that make it an ideal plant for beginning botany students to study.
Again, I’m not sure of the details (as I said, I’m no botanist), but for those, I’d recommend getting in touch with the greenhouse staff or a botany professor at a university and asking what makes tobacco a good plant for study. I just remember the many trays of small tobacco plants that he was always taking to the lab or bringing back from the lab, especially at the start of the year when the new botany students would start their studies.