Cubeb Essential Oil Health Benefits
We all love adding black pepper to our food. Even the smallest speck brings it to life and adds incredible taste. But have you even thought of any other uses for black pepper, other than its traditional culinary benefits? Well, let me ask you something else. Have you ever heard of Cubeb or Cubeb essential oil? Probably not. Well, they’re pretty much the same thing. Cubeb (Piper cubeba) is a small plant, native to Java and Sumatra. It goes by many names such as Java pepper, shital chini, kabab chini, and tailed pepper.
Similarities with Black Pepper
Let’s look at that last one for a moment. The reason it’s called “tailed pepper” is because it looks exactly like black pepper. The difference is it has a stalk or “tail” attached to its dried berries. Other than that, it has pretty much the same gray to black color and the same pungent, acrid, and slightly bitter taste as black pepper. However, the one thing that really sets cubebs apart is its essential oil: cubeb essential oil.
How is Cubeb Essential Oil Made
Cubeb essential oil is obtained from dried cubeb berries by steam distillation. This colorless to light green oil has a characteristic spicy odor and an acrid taste. It’s added to a lot of soaps and fragrances, especially products that include cananga, clove, or rosemary because Cubeb essential oil goes quite well with them. Aside from its aroma,
Benefits of Cubeb Essential Oil
Cubeb essential oil is used for various therapeutic purposes thanks to its unique content of sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpene alcohols and small amounts of monoterpenes. It’s used for things like helping with fertility problems, reducing flatulence, curing dental and oral infections, opening up and decongesting respiratory airways, and enhancing detoxification. Cubeb essential oil is also great if you have a persistent cough, indigestion, stomach problems, or abnormal bowel movements. Let’s get into more details about its uses.
Helps with Fertility Problems
Cubeb essential oil helps with a lot of reproductive problems thanks to its natural aphrodisiac properties. Ancient Arabians utilized these properties for centuries and considered Cubeb essential oil absolutely vital for a healthy reproductive system. It’s been praised quite a lot in the Unani, which is the Greek medicinal system. It was noted to help with problems like infertility and impotence. It’s also a natural aphrodisiac that can help drive up libido and fight loss of sexual interest.
Erectile Dysfunction
One of conditions Cubeb essential oil is most commonly used for is erectile dysfunction. There are a lot of different drugs that can help with erectile dysfunction but the problem is that they’re all synthetic and full of chemicals that have major side effects on your heart and blood pressure. That’s why having an effective, natural alternative like Cubeb essential oil can come in handy.
Cubeb Essential Oil and Gonorrhea
You might also be surprised to learn that Cubeb essential oil can help with gonorrhea. It’s effective in every stage, not just at the beginning. It’s also used in fighting other types of STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) which means when it comes to your reproductive health, there’s practically nothing that Cubeb essential oil can’t do for you.
Flatulence
Flatulence is uncomfortable and annoying. You constantly feel like everyone can hear your stomach or intestines rumbling and roaring like a train engine. In some cases, it can be quite painful, too. There are a lot of off-the-counter medications that you can get from your local pharmacy but they’re not always guaranteed to work. On the other, you can definitely rely on the carminative effects of Cubeb essential oil.
Its natural anti-gas properties can help relieve your flatulence in no time. It gets rid of bloating, flatulence, and any painful gases that build up in your gastrointestinal tract. It’s quite effective. However, if you’ve been getting flatulence a lot recently, then you might have chronic flatulence which is something that is better supervised by a doctor.
Helps with Dental and Oral Infections
There are two very important encyclopedias that hold the secrets of Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine. These are the Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita. Both of them mention Cubeb essential oil as being a powerful oral cleanser that can help treat various dental problems. Of course, back then, this use was discovered through trial and error.
Antiseptic Antimicrobial and Astringent Properties
People who took Cubeb essential oil noticed improvements in their oral and dental problems. Today, thanks to science, we now know that Cubeb essential oil can do all of this thanks to its powerful antiseptic, antimicrobial, and astringent properties. It can effectively eliminate the harmful pathogens that cause halitosis or bad breath, bleeding gums, plaque and cavities. We’ll get to how you can use Cubeb essential oil as a gargle for your dental and oral problems in a bit.
Decongests the Respiratory Tract
Cubeb essential oil is amazing when it comes to respiratory tract problems. But don’t take my word for it. Take the word of an expert physician and botanist like Nicholas Culpeper. He deemed Cubeb a fantastic remedy for getting rid of phlegm deposits, relieving bronchitis, reducing asthma attacks, relieving congestion, and fighting cough and throat infections. Add a few drops of Cubeb essential oil to your diffuser or to your vaporub and massage gently to your throat, back, and chest. All you respiratory problems will go away in no time.
Detoxification
Cubeb essential oil helps your body naturally detoxify itself. That means it helps it get rid of all the harmful materials and byproducts that are formed on a daily basis. Along with these toxins, our bodies excrete extra salts, uric acid, cholesterol, and fats. It’s important that these remain below a certain level because too much of them can lead to heart and kidney diseases. Luckily, Cubeb essential oil helps with the excretion and detoxification processes, which means it helps protect our kidneys and heart.
Other Traditional Uses for Cubeb Essential Oil
- Helps with skin rashes and inflammations.
- Soothes throat infections such as laryngitis and sore throat
- Relieves asthma, hay fever, bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchi) and also pharyngitis.
- Tonic for the heart meaning it improves its functioning significantly.
- Helps with mental and emotional disturbances.
- Speeds up wound healing.
- You can add the oil to food to stimulate your appetite, enhance you digestion, and get rid of dysentery and flatulence.
- Cubeb essential oil has been praised in fighting problems of the reproductive system such as prostate infections, vaginitis, and cystis.
Inhaling Cubeb Essential Oil Recipe
You probably get it by now: Cubeb essential oil is amazing. The best part is that it’s also extremely easy to use. No matter what your condition or problem is, even if you’re just lazy, there’s a method of application that’ll suit you. For example, you can inhale Cubeb essential oil by adding 3 drops to a bowl of hot water and breathing it all in. On the other hand, if you fancy an antiseptic gargle, cool it down and add a few drops of Cubeb essential oil. Cubeb essential oil can also be used to increase libido. All you need to do is add 3 drops of it to another 3 drops of olive oil and then massage them onto your body.
Safety Precautions with Cubeb Essential Oil
With great power comes great responsibility. That applies to Cubeb essential oil just as much as it applies to Spiderman. You have to keep in mind that this oil is quite effective and extremely powerful, which means that if you don’t dilute it before use, it might cause you some problems. That mainly applies to topical use on your skin, but if you’re someone who has a particularly sensitive stomach or gut, then it might bother them, as well. That’s why it’s always a smart idea to dilute it with some carrier oil.
Using Cubeb Essential Oil With Other Oils
Cubeb essential oil goes especially with Ylang Ylang, Galbanum, Lavender, Rosemary, Black Pepper, Allspice, and most other spice oils. Most oils can lose their health benefits when mixed with others but not this one. Compatibility is always a problem in the world of aromatherapy because not all oils are like Cubeb essential oil; some just refuse to be mixed.
Don’t Use Cubeb Essential Oil if You are Pregnant
If you’re a pregnant mother or someone who is nursing, it’s important to avoid using Cubeb essential oil. It’s not particularly dangerous or anything but some of its powerful components can be transferred to the baby through the placenta or milk. You’re better off waiting a bit before considering Cubeb essential oil. It’s also worth mentioning that when you’re pregnant, pretty much everything is off limits so something as strong as Cubeb essential oil isn’t too far-fetched, is it?
Not Safe for Persons With Kidney Disease
Another thing you should know is that people who suffer from any kind of kidney disease should be careful when using Cubeb essential oil. You should also try not to get it in your eyes. Other than that, Cubeb essential oil is pretty safe and is quite miraculous if you ask me. Who would’ve thought that something that comes from tiny dried up berries could cure so much? Try out Cubeb essential oil today and you’ll become a fan in no time.
