Our snuff
Our snuff master
Javier
“I was born here in Brazil, but we moved to Venezuela when I was less than a year old. I lived there for 28 years. I had my first contact with ancestral medicines from the hand of the taitas in Colombia and later we got to know the medicines of the Piaroa, in Venezuela. Then I went back to Brazil and contacted some masters who work with the ancestral medicine of snuff, with them I learned to understand what snuff means, how it works and heals on a physical and spiritual level. Later I began a career in pharmacy, which I have not yet finished, but it has helped me a lot to understand more deeply the pharmacological and chemical part of ancestral medicines. The scientific perspective has allowed me to have a much deeper knowledge to elaborate medicines combining tradition and science. I come from a naturopathic family, my father is a beekeeper with more than 35 years of experience and was always in contact with natural medicine, plant medicine. Because of that I had a connection with nature and plants from a very young age. Today we are among the best snuff producers in the country. Thanks to this commitment, study, respect and ethics I can say that I have the joy of producing one of the best snuffs, deeper and with more presence in Brazil.”
The snuff situation
What is happening here in Brazil with medicine is scary. It is scary in the sense that there is a proliferation of ruthless people who are appropriating its use and taking advantage of the sensitivity of people who are seeking healing and making profit from it.
So, many of those snuffs you see on websites that say: “the real snuff of the Amazon”, how can you know that this is true?
I can tell you that 75% of those snuffs sold on those websites are pure fallacy.
I have customers here who, when I don’t have snuff, or I’m traveling, prefer to wait until I get back to buy it from me instead of from other people. And I, with that, I do not thank myself, I am only grateful for the opportunity to have reached this point thanks to people who showed me paths and knowledge. And, on the other hand, I have been deepening and perfecting because I am a scientist. So, what happens to those snuffs? They are trash snuffers. There are some brick factories in Acre and other states where they use wood to generate heat to bake the bricks. They use tons of wood of any kind, even rotten, in the kilns. Many people go to collect these poisonous ashes and sell them as snuff. Buying snuff is a delicate matter… you have to be cautious, because it is a medicine that enters your body and you have to know where it comes from.
It is therefore important to disseminate this information, without appearing rude, petulant or defamatory, with balance.
