Tobacco smoke enema

The tobacco smoke enema, an insufflation of tobacco smoke into the rectum by enema, was a medical treatment employed by European physicians for a range of ailments.

Tobacco was recognised as a medicine soon after it was first imported from the New World, and tobacco smoke was used by Western medical practitioners as a tool against cold and drowsiness, but applying it by enema was a technique learned from the North American indigenous peoples.^[1] The procedure was used to treat gut pain, and attempts were often made to resuscitate victims of near drowning. Liquid tobacco enemas were often given to ease the symptoms of a hernia.

During the early 19th century the practice fell into decline, when it was discovered that the principal active agent in tobacco smoke, nicotine, is poisonous.