There are over 300,000 edible plants and herbs. That’s a mouthful. Each plant and herb has its own unique profile of flavors, textures, and nutrients, evolved over eons to thrive in specific conditions and climates. 

We’ve got a library of herbs, but the human race has only checked out a handful. We’re missing out on the wisdom and stories contained in those thousands of volumes gathering dust on the ecological shelf. We’re so obsessed with Daniel Steel that we miss the Sherman Alexies, T.C. Boyles, Kurt Vonneguts that could blow our minds to Kingdom Come.

Why?

No, it’s not taste nor nutritional value. Most of what we eat comes down to practicality, handed down from tens of thousands of generations of farmers. The plants we consume have evolved through thousands of years of cultivated selection, chosen by agriculturalists for the most palpability, the greatest nutritional value, the highest yield for the hoe. 

It also comes down to plant sex. We eat the plants and herbs that happen to be sluts – the ones that will sleep with just about anybody. Plants that depend on a unique species of insects to pollinate are tougher to grow in the abundance required to feed the world’s population. Most food crops are pollinated by a wide variety of insects, not just one species, so they can grow abundantly in a wider variety of climates. Maize, rice, and wheat, for example, are grasses that rely on wind for pollination. 

Okay, let’s not kink shame here – they’re the polysexual studs of the plant kingdom. They’ll get it on with everybody – hence our most commonly eaten plants grow in abundance.

Crops like wheat, rice, and maize didn’t just feed people; they feed economies. They became the focus of breeding programs, scientific research, and infrastructure development, leading to the Green Revolution of the 20th century that dramatically increased food production but also entrenched these few species in our dietary canon.

No matter how bold our food grows, it’s still reading Danielle Steel before bed. Culturally, we are creatures of habit and tradition. Our cuisines, rich and diverse as they are, are tributes to our ancestors’ ingenuity within constraints. 

But those constraints no longer need to define us. We now have the knowledge and means to explore beyond the familiar. We live in an age where we can be adventurous if we choose. Read the plants of Vonnegut, Sherman Alexie, T.C. Boyle and free your mind. Sample the kiwano, star fruit, and gooseberry at your local farmer’s market. Flavors await.

When it comes to smokable herbs, most Americans can only think of two: Cannabis and Tobacco.

But there are so many more herbs that are wonderful to smoke, a concept that ancient Indigenous Native Americans were quite familiar with. Mugwort, Rose Petals, Damiana, Catnip, Lobelia, Vanilla Bean, to name a few. When white people first encountered indigenous people smoking “tobacco,” the effects were far stronger than what you’d expect from a Marlboro. They were likely mixing in serious psychedelics as smokable herbs.

“Some records of early observers who described the drunken behavior of those who smoked tobacco are puzzling,” Francis Robicsek points out in Smoke: A Global History of Smoking. “How could the N. tabacum plant, which is smoked today by millions without any of these effects, have made the Indians ‘intoxicated,’ behave ‘foolishly,’ ‘lose their judgement,’ ‘fall down as if they were dead’ and ‘invoke demons?’”

The origins of Bear Blend first began with a conversation our founder, Bear, had with Tis Mal Crow, a Native American root doctor and herbalist, while working on an organic farm in Meigs County, Ohio.

“Funny you call that Tobacco,” Crow said as Bear rolled up some American Spirit.

“What do you mean?” Bear responded. 

“When I was growing up, Shamans had their own blends of tobacco, which were really all these different herbs.”

Bear’s mind was blown. He realized there was a cornucopia of smokable herbs growing right outside his bedroom window. He began experimenting and mixing up different herbs with his tobacco. Through years of experimentation, he developed the blends of Bear Blend as both supplements and alternatives to Tobacco and Cannabis. 

The wide variety of herbs is like a good record collection. You get bored playing the same top 3. It’s best to rifle through and find those deep-cut gems, the ones you almost forgot about, and put them on the spinner to take you to a different galaxy.

Each herb, with its own cultural and historical background, tells a story of the people and places it originated from. Rosemary might evoke the sun-drenched hills of the Mediterranean, while cilantro brings to mind the vibrant markets of Southeast Asia.

Break out of your funk. Taste and smoke the herbs you haven’t tried before. Life is rich. When it comes to both your soup pot and your pipe, adventure is the cure for culinary boredom. Celebrate through ritual, spiralize the spiritual, and sanctify the sacred. Carpe Diem your dreams to Kingdom Come.