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Freebases are not particularly water soluble. Active compounds are usually taken orally / rectally / nasally / intravenously as the salt due to salts having a high water solubility and the body being primarily water based - e.g. look at the back of any pack of medicine and it'll say ... hydrochloride or ... sulphate or ... phosphate etc.
People only freebase things like cocaine to smoke it because the boiling point of the salt is much higher than that of the freebase. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.52.251.187 (talk) 20:44, 27 May 2012 (UTC)
Does Betel need a disambiguation? I always type it in looking for info on the Areca nut (betel nut). It seems betel refers to the chew or the nut as often as the leaf of P. betel.
Has betel plant really originated from Malaysia and then taken to India and Indonesia?
This needs to be verified.
TV 19:49, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
There is mention made of betel being used in Papua New Guinea by Don Watson in "Recollections of a Bleeding Heart" (ISBN 0091835178, page 631).
Bertko 07:41, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
Do you have a peer-reviewed reference for the information regarding the action of lime on the absorption of betel nut sublingually? Thanks
You take about 2-3g betel -not more! - in powder or small pieces of the nut together with 0,5g lime. --Fackel 00:23, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
"The best Betel leaf" is subjective. Best in what regard? --Dgerton 01:17, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Betel is commonly used in Bhutan. It is mentioned often in "Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan" (ISBN 1-57322-118-X, pp 114, 115) and its use is demonstrated in Travellers and Magicians (2003) the only film shot in Bhutan. --Dgerton 01:17, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
About the accuracy of statement 'originated from Malaysia', I searched in the internet and I found two website that informed:
1. In http://www.pnm.my/sirihpinang/sp-asal.htm (a Malaysian web):
'Ianya dikatakan berasal dari India, berdasarkan cerita-cerita sastera.'
'According to literature, this came from India.'
In the same website, in http://www.pnm.my/sirihpinang/sp-dongeng.htm, there is a folktale in Vietnam about the origin of betel plant.
2. In Indonesian health ministry's web: http://www.depkes.go.id/index.php?option=articles&task=viewarticle&artid=27&Itemid=3 :
'tanaman yang berasal dari India, Sri Lanka, dan Malaysia ini'
'this plant originated from India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia'
So, I suggest either:
1. we add India, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam besides Malaysia as the place of origin;
2. change the origin of the plant to: 'South and South east Asia'; or
3. do not state the origin of the plant because we don't have a very accurate reference about the plant's origin.
Guswandhi (talk) 17:46, 29 December 2007 (UTC)
are there any dangers related to chewing betel leaves?
I have introduced Burma as one of the countries where Betel is widely consumed. When I was there, I was told that this reddish plant was Peper Betel. Am I right? Is it also Betel? Thanks in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.54.195.20 (talk) 17:08, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
Contempt can be ignored or made mild by Europeans, but from Asia we see this differently. In the citation it does say "The natives chew these nuts all day" and "and chewed by the natives. They stain the lips and teeth red and also the excrement, they are hot and acrid when chewed. " this is certainly not what someone from Indonesia would write about the leafe or the nut. Kampong people58.10.80.244 (talk) 06:05, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
It seems logical to me to merge Sirih leaves into this article as that article discusses the medicinal properties of Betel leaves, which is covered in a subsection of the Betel article. Davidelit (talk) 12:25, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
I think this is an unsupported claim. I found some English references to this, but they didn't seem very reliable. I could not find any such Indonesian references. Especially the part "almost all women" seems very bad style to me, and is not verifiable. eco_mate (talk) 12:45, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
Can someone please provide us with a correct pronunciation of "betel" in both English IPA and Pronunciation respelling key. Thanks. Dreammaker182 (talk) 17:23, 19 October 2010 (UTC)
Pronunciation: /ˈbiːt(ə)l/
What kind of idiot suggest that betel leaves are "an addictive psycho-stimulating and euphoria-inducing formulation with adverse health effects". That happens only when its taken with tobacco. In fact betel leaves are helpful in digestion. Its the contents of the paan that decide if it is harmful or not. Don't spread your prejudices and correct that article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.223.100.30 (talk) 09:19, 24 November 2012 (UTC)
Regarding the above paragraph, I noticed that there does not seem to be any discussion whatsoever of the health effects and benefits of, or the chemicals contained in, the betel leaf. I must say, regarding the above commentator's comment on "spreading prejudice," it is difficult for someone like me, who is not knowledgeable about betel leaf, to get anything but a negative impression from the article, despite the fact that the article does not state that betel leaf is harmful on its own. Does anyone have information on the uses of betel leaf alone, or on its uses other than in paan? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.107.200.70 (talk) 01:31, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
I have no stake in this game and am just learning about it. But from what I've read about the constituents, it sounds like most of the effects are from the nut, and that the leaves just provide eugenol and some similar substances to make it more palatable, rather than having any additictive / stimulative properties of their own. Is this correct? Then if so why is this whole article about the combination of the two? I came here wanted to learn about the plant itself (was curious about relatives of black pepper), not about all of the medical details of the combination with a totally unrelated palm nut, wherein said other species is the primary element of effect.
-- 213.176.153.100 (talk) 15:07, 6 September 2013 (UTC)
The citations for the Etymology section are unsatisfactory. An unregistered user has recently changed the source language from Malayalam to Tamil, without changing the citations.
So we have no reliable source for this. I will leave the text showing Tamil with appropriate warnings for the cited sources. When someone has access to the full Oxford English Dictionary, or a to similar academically-rigorous source then please adjust the text as necessary and add a full citation. Verbcatcher (talk) 18:20, 19 November 2014 (UTC)
Etymology: Probably immed. < Portuguese betel (Varthema 1510), betele, formerly also vitele, betle, betre, < Malayalam vettila (in Tamil vettilei; compare Sanskrit vîti ‘betel’).
I have removed almost all the informatino to do with chewing of Paan/Areca Nut/Betel Nut (which all involve Betel Leaves but are not the same thing). This information is all contained on the page on areca nut so it does not need to be here. Additionally it is only tangential to the subject of the Betel leaf itself, which is interesting as a plant on its own and also has culinary uses (I would love it if someone has good sourced information on that, I've eaten it but don't know much about the use outside Australian haute cuisine). There are several links to the information about Areca nut and Paan chewing which (including the ironic mention several times that it should not be confused with the Betel nut, which the article was doing before this major change). As it stands the article could do with more information about the botany of the plant and information about its use in food, or other uses not involving tobacco or Areca nut. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.56.218.250 (talk) 00:06, 27 October 2016 (UTC)
Basic information to add to this article: does it produce flowers and berries/fruits? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 23:31, 22 May 2021 (UTC)