The Sneeze Lab (Working on finding the perfect sneeze powder)

[Stimuli]

So, I've been having a problem lately (if you count the last 5 years as "lately" 😅). Namely, the access to chhinkni and other sneeze-causing powders. 

In order to get hold of this powder, I've basically had to befriend a guy in Poland, who has a friend in India, and it's a whole ordeal to get hold of it basically. 

It has therefor become my mission to make the perfect sneeze powder from scratch and in my mission to do so, I have "reverse-engineered" Chhinkni down to it's content:

Menthol

Eucalyptus

Camphor

Some random filler (I believe it might be bark? 😅) 

So, why I'm writing this is that I was wondering if anyone has been tinkering with this, and if so, if you have any advice or ideas about this? 

[Céline]

that sounds interesting I might do thew smae thing but isnt the coldness from menthol the main sneeze part of it. we might be able to create something more effective then chhinkni?

 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Céline said:

that sounds interesting I might do thew smae thing but isnt the coldness from menthol the main sneeze part of it. we might be able to create something more effective then chhinkni?

 

I think there is a lot of potential in recreating chhinkni from scratch, and potentially making a better product. I know elsewhere on the forum someone was asking if there was such thing as a "chhinkni spray", and this might be key in helping create that. Not only that, but by messing with the ingredients, it might be possible to create chhinkni blends for specific sneezes, like one that helps with creating big sneeze build-ups, or others that help create big sneezes. There are so many possibilities!

[PapaBear70]

Ohh.. I'm definitely liking the idea. I've never considered what the individual ingredients are. I always knew it had some menthol but that's it. But trying to make some from scratch is very intriguing.

At the very least, I'm picturing someone standing there trying to make this awesome powder and inadvertently keeps sneezing because of his/her sensitivity to it

[kathleenh4656]

3 hours ago, PapaBear70 said:

Ohh.. I'm definitely liking the idea. I've never considered what the individual ingredients are. I always knew it had some menthol but that's it. But trying to make some from scratch is very intriguing.

At the very least, I'm picturing someone standing there trying to make this awesome powder and inadvertently keeps sneezing because of his/her sensitivity to it

@Papabear70 😃

[PapaBear70]

44 minutes ago, kathleenh4656 said:

@Papabear70 😃

My imagination wanders at times 😉

[Stimuli]

23 hours ago, Céline said:

that sounds interesting I might do thew smae thing but isnt the coldness from menthol the main sneeze part of it. we might be able to create something more effective then chhinkni?

 

 

18 hours ago, MrMrMrManManMan said:

I think there is a lot of potential in recreating chhinkni from scratch, and potentially making a better product. I know elsewhere on the forum someone was asking if there was such thing as a "chhinkni spray", and this might be key in helping create that. Not only that, but by messing with the ingredients, it might be possible to create chhinkni blends for specific sneezes, like one that helps with creating big sneeze build-ups, or others that help create big sneezes. There are so many possibilities!

 

17 hours ago, PapaBear70 said:

Ohh.. I'm definitely liking the idea. I've never considered what the individual ingredients are. I always knew it had some menthol but that's it. But trying to make some from scratch is very intriguing.

At the very least, I'm picturing someone standing there trying to make this awesome powder and inadvertently keeps sneezing because of his/her sensitivity to it

 

13 hours ago, kathleenh4656 said:

@Papabear70 😃

Thank you all for showing interest in this! 😇 I just took my time to go through the ingredients (Thankfully, Chhinkni has the ingredients written on the bottle, albeit in a really, really small text 😅)

This is what I was able to decipher:

Item:	Latin name:	Form of item:	Amount for 1 gram, in mg:
Barg Tibbat	Skimmia Laureola	Leaf Powder	124
Kalfal	Myrica Nagi	Powder	154
Sandal Safed	Santalum Album	Wood Powder	338
Kafur	Cannamomum Camphora	Extract	110
Sat Podina	Mentha Pipertta	Extract	11
Rogan Niigiri	Eucalyptus Globulus	Oil	264

The left-most text is what I presume to be the "original name" of the item, which I in turn presume to be one of the Indian languages. 😅

My next step is to buy a mortar since I'm guessing that'll come in handy, oh and a scale that is able to go down in to milligrams along with the ingredients that I was able to decipher which seem to be:

Sandal wood, Camphor extract, menthol extract and eucalyptus oil. The problem is that I'm unsure what the following are:
1, Skimmia Laureola

2, Myrica Nagi

Those seem to be some regional herbs and I'm not sure how important those are. 😅

Edited February 11 by Stimuli

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Stimuli said:

Sandal wood, Camphor extract, menthol extract and eucalyptus oil. The problem is that I'm unsure what the following are:
1, Skimmia Laureola

2, Myrica Nagi

Those seem to be some regional herbs and I'm not sure how important those are. 😅

Alright did some research. This is what I got from doing some googling:

1. Skimmia Laureola:

Skimmia laureola is an evergreen Shrub growing to 1.5 m (5ft).
See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 7 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf all year, in flower from April to June. The species is dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required). . The plant is not self-fertile.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil. It can tolerate atmospheric pollution.

The leaves are used in the treatment of smallpox[240]. The smoke produced by burning them is said to purify the air[240].

 

2. Myrica Nagi

Myrica nagi is an evergreen Tree growing to 12 m (39ft 4in). It is in leaf all year. The species is dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required). and is pollinated by Wind. The plant is not self-fertile.
It can fix Nitrogen.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid and neutral soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

The bark is antirheumatic, antiseptic, aromatic, astringent, carminative, ophthalmic and stimulant[146, 158, 194, 240, 272]. It has proved useful in the treatment of fevers, asthma and coughs[240]. The juice is applied to treat rheumatism[272]. Mixed with ginger, it is used as a rubefacient in the treatment of cholera[240]. The juice of the bark is taken internally in the treatment of catarrh and headaches, and is applied externally to cuts and wounds[272]. A decoction of the bark is used in the treatment of fevers, asthma and diarrhoea[272]. This decoction is boiled to form a gelatinous mass that is applied as a poultice on sprains[272]. Combined with the bark of Quercus lanata, it is used as a decoction in the treatmnt of dysentery[272]. The juice of the unripe fruit is used as an anthelmintic[272].

 

Hope you found this helpful!

[Stimuli]

10 minutes ago, MrMrMrManManMan said:

Alright did some research. This is what I got from doing some googling:

1. Skimmia Laureola:

Skimmia laureola is an evergreen Shrub growing to 1.5 m (5ft).
See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 7 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf all year, in flower from April to June. The species is dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required). . The plant is not self-fertile.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil. It can tolerate atmospheric pollution.

The leaves are used in the treatment of smallpox[240]. The smoke produced by burning them is said to purify the air[240].

 

2. Myrica Nagi

Myrica nagi is an evergreen Tree growing to 12 m (39ft 4in). It is in leaf all year. The species is dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required). and is pollinated by Wind. The plant is not self-fertile.
It can fix Nitrogen.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid and neutral soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

The bark is antirheumatic, antiseptic, aromatic, astringent, carminative, ophthalmic and stimulant[146, 158, 194, 240, 272]. It has proved useful in the treatment of fevers, asthma and coughs[240]. The juice is applied to treat rheumatism[272]. Mixed with ginger, it is used as a rubefacient in the treatment of cholera[240]. The juice of the bark is taken internally in the treatment of catarrh and headaches, and is applied externally to cuts and wounds[272]. A decoction of the bark is used in the treatment of fevers, asthma and diarrhoea[272]. This decoction is boiled to form a gelatinous mass that is applied as a poultice on sprains[272]. Combined with the bark of Quercus lanata, it is used as a decoction in the treatmnt of dysentery[272]. The juice of the unripe fruit is used as an anthelmintic[272].

 

Hope you found this helpful!

Ooh that's helpful! 😍 I am guessing that Skimmia Laureola in this case isn’t as important but that Myrica Nagi is somewhat important as a anticeptic (bacteria killing) to naturally preserve the powder 🤔 

Now the trouble is; Where do I find these things (within northern Europe 😅) 

I am confident that I can find Sandal wood, Camphor extract, menthol extract and eucalyptus oil but the two last ones are a bit harder to find 🤔 I'm thinking about whether they can be replaced by something else that has similar properties 😄

[Stimuli]

Alright! Went wild and bought the following stuff:

1, A scale that is able to messure down to milligrams. 

2, a mortel. 

3, camphor extract, peppermint extract, eucalyptus extract and Sandal wood chips (all according to the ingredients list) 

Now we wait for it all to be delivered. 😎

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Stimuli said:

Now the trouble is; Where do I find these things (within northern Europe 😅) 

I am confident that I can find Sandal wood, Camphor extract, menthol extract and eucalyptus oil but the two last ones are a bit harder to find 🤔 I'm thinking about whether they can be replaced by something else that has similar properties 😄

The answer: you can't find them in Northern Europe.

I know for a fact that Skimmia Laureola grows around India, and I would assume that Myrica Nagi also grows around that area well. My best bet would be to just do some searching for them online. I'm sure some Online Indian spice shop probably has them for sale. Although be warned, some spices, especially exotic ones, can be expensive to buy on their own.

[Stimuli]

Another update:

Since the Skimmia Laureola and Myrica Nagi are difficult to find, I decided to find some other alternatives. 

My hypothesis for Myrica and Skimmia is that they're only there as a natural preservant/filler since most of the ingredients seem to be strong essential oils and "scented sawdust" (wood powder 😅) which seem to be the sneeze-causing ingredients. 

Thus, I have decided to experiment with other herbs and in this case my mind settled on Sneezewort (which, aside from an incredibly Harry Potter-esque name, actually does cause sneezes. At least the dried flower does) so I have ordered a plant hoping that it's flowering when it arrives 😎

[kathleenh4656]

Great ideas everyone, but I don't need anything to help me sneeze or anything other than what I've purchased legally or any more visits to doctors offices in case anything backfires.

I believe I'll stick with black pepper or Chinkni.

[Stimuli]

Alright! Now all the things that I have ordered has arrived! 😇 Gonna see what the best way to grind down Sandel Wood is, as I tried yesterday and struggled with turning it from wood chips to powder 😅

Regardless of which, I may soon have my first batch of homemade chhinkni 😎

[PapaBear70]

Very Interested to hear how this ends up. Like a comparison to the manufactured version. Not that a good fresh batch of the original isnt potent enough, lol

[Stimuli]

Update:

I have now had time to mix the ingredients together and tried the powder (twice). 

Before we get into the results, I'd like to jot down my method:

I began by grinding down the Sandel wood chips in a pepper grinder (since the chips were essentially hard as rock and the perfect size for a pepper grinder). 

I then put the resulting powder in a mortel and ground it into a finer powder. 

After that, I mixed the Sandel wood powder together with my replacement for Myrica and Skimmia, namely ground white pepper and Turmeric powder (Had no idea what to replace the actual ingredients with so I went with that 😅). I made sure to meassure the exact amounts so that it matched the ingredients list on the chhinkni bottle. 

I then put all the dry ingredients into a cup and dripped in the oils, again meassuring the exact amounts in accordance to the ingredients list. I mixed it all together as best as I could using a spoon. 

At this point, it smelled almost exactly like real chhinkni so I thought that I might have gotten close to the original recipe. I put the resulting homemade powder into small containers and eagerly tried sniffing some, which leads me to;

The results:

A big disappointment 🙃 It didn't make me sneeze. (I did sneeze around an hour or two after sniffing the powder) but I tried again the next day (today), and today it made me sneeze perhaps 3 times after maybe 2-5 minutes after inhalation. 😅

I am unsure as to whether the sneezes were caused by the success of the recipe or because I snorted powder just in general. 😅

The conclusion:

It was far from the best to say the least BUT! The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I didn't use sneezewort. I have received the pots for sneezewort but the plants are essentially sprouts at this point and definitely not flowering right now so... Once those flower (and apparently it is the dried flowers of the plant that can induce sneezing), I will try replacing the tumeric/pepper mix with dried sneezewort flowers. 😅

I may experiment with other ingredients as I have plenty of all the other ingredients however, in which case I'll update in here. 

[Eights of Spades]

dang too bad it wasn’t effective.  keep trying!  definitely curious if sneezewort actually works.  someone on another thread suggested the kalanchoe plant juice.

[PapaBear70]

I've seen short clips of kalanchoe juice drops being put in someone's nose. From what I've seen, after a short delay, it seems to cause repeated sneezing for a short time. At least as effective or maybe even more so than chhinkni.

I'm just not sure of any negative effects it could have, so I'm not sure I'd ever try it

 

[NiceName]

Really interesting topic!