Nukini Rapé – Piri Piri

More about Nukini Piri Piri Rapé Snuff

Piri Piri (Justiçia pectoralis) has traditionally been added to virola and other psychoactive snuffs. It is known in Brazil as Trevo Cumaru because it contains coumarin that gives it its vanilla-like smell. In Brazil some of the tribes like the Nukini and Kuntanawa use it in rapé production. In rapé it gives a pleasant meditative effect accentuating the tobacco vibration and adding a lovely flavour. It is a small low growing plant. It takes a lot of plants to collect a small quantity of the herb. In Peru there are different herbs that are called Piri Piri, this is just one of them.

This delicate smell and its supposed medicinal qualities are the reasons healers use it in teas, baths and a wide variety of applications. These range from spiritual, medicinal, to more mundane ones. Justicia Pectoralis is known as a natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory and is considered beneficial for the respiratory system. Tribal use it since immemorial times in the treatment of head and body aches apart from using it to prepare a wide variety of magical potions.

Justicia Pectoralis in the tribes

The Yanomamö use Justicia pectoralis as an aphrodisiac for women, and in their snuffs. In Colombia the Kofán Indians make a decoction of a related species which they use to treat the symptoms of old age. The Shipibo say that the plant awakens the spirit of work in humans and brings good fortune in fishing. As you can see it has a wide ranging number of uses from region to region and tribe to tribe. Cumaru Trevo is used from the northern parts of South America all the way up into Mexico and the Caribbean and is known by an extensive variety of names.

More about Rapé…

Use with respect and care; it is a tobacco product and can be habit forming!