grand fir sickness

[TheKid]

ok, call me crazy, but i like to taste sap from time to time. usually in deciduous trees. today i got to prune some grand firs (one of my favorite trees)-just removing a few low limbs. i LOVE the smell of these trees. so i thought i'd take a small taste of the sap contained in the many "bubbles" on the trunk. wow, what a mistake. the first sensation was, wow, that was stupid, what an awful taste. then I became nauseous, and kind of weak feeling. the smell i loved was slowly making me feel sicker, every time i smelled it. could barely eat lunch as my pants were covered in sap and the smell was overpowering. i only put the tiniest bit on my tongue. now, as i type this, i'm still covered in sap and the smell brings back some of the nausea (if only in my head). are these trees toxic somehow? i guess i flew too close to the sun, as my groundie said. keep my mouth closed, though birch sap is kinda tasty.

 

[Adkpk]

That's just a great post, Kid. Let us know if the effects are lasting. Be a shame to loss the love of one of your favorite smells due to this taste test.

 

[Burvol]

ok, call me crazy, but i like to taste sap from time to time. usually in deciduous trees. today i got to prune some grand firs (one of my favorite trees)-just removing a few low limbs. i LOVE the smell of these trees. so i thought i'd take a small taste of the sap contained in the many "bubbles" on the trunk. wow, what a mistake. the first sensation was, wow, that was stupid, what an awful taste. then I became nauseous, and kind of weak feeling. the smell i loved was slowly making me feel sicker, every time i smelled it. could barely eat lunch as my pants were covered in sap and the smell was overpowering. i only put the tiniest bit on my tongue. now, as i type this, i'm still covered in sap and the smell brings back some of the nausea (if only in my head). are these trees toxic somehow? i guess i flew too close to the sun, as my groundie said. keep my mouth closed, though birch sap is kinda tasty.

I have been cutting 90% White Fir lately, and it does have a very, very strong aroma, one of the most potent for sure. My chaps and corks will probably forever smell like it. I don't mind it, at times when limbing I'll nick a pitch bubble and get some light spray on my safety glasses, and I'll have to stop and clean them off with a little spit or saw gas. There is a healing property to it though. A light cut or scrap in the field can be treated with a little bit of FRESH, white fir pitch cut out of a bubble as close to the top as possible. You do not want anything to do with the old stuff near the butt at all. Cut the bubble off with a pocket knife and you have a little "nature's own" medicine packet. You turn it over and it looks like a little piece of medicine you poke through the packet. Apply a little on, and you will notice swelling and tenderness go down right away. Call me crazy, but it works. It is the fresh, really light, thin sap that you want to use. I used some on a tiny limb wound next to my nose last week in fact. Just be careful not to use too much or in deep wounds that would need to be irrigated for stitches, but the fresh, light sap washes away really easy with a little lever 2000 I have found.
Wasn't turpintine used as an atiseptic at one time? I think it was. Pretty much the same stuff.

Oh, I forgot to mention, it does make your mouth and tounge tingle a little bit, I'm sure everyone's system is a little different.

 

[TheKid]

well, i've recovered.the "sickness" only lasted through the day.upon going through clothes for the laundry a few days later,i found my shirt and pants from the grand, grand fir day and the smell hit me like an unleashed stub-cut-mmmm good, grand fir smell. seems my "sickness" had only been temporary, thankfully...