Actually my tobacco experience is from the time in my 70s childhood when all the moms at the swimming pool were roused occasionally from glamorously smoking and tanning themselves, by intermittent shrieks of “Jimmy let the air out of my water wings again!!” and “I got stung by a beeeeeeee, waaaaah!!”
The latter was always solved by the closest smoking mom, waving you over with her lit cig while rummaging in her bag for a fresh one, which she instructed you to peel open and get the tobacco out of. Then she’d tip a little of whatever was in her glass into the small pile of shreds, and place this poolside poultice on your bee sting. Worked like magic! No more itch, no more swelling, and definitely no more pain Jimmy, however, needed constant sorting
@Gerald_Nickel Hahaha, they’ve been known to follow me too I guess you have to worry about that Colgate getting into your eye though
You may be right @Semaphore about the burn helping the sting pain and vice versa
@Eva I wonder if it is a combination of champagne and tobacco mixed together that soothed? lol know I’ll have to pick up a pack of tobacco too for beekeeping hahaha Sorry mum, they told me it would help
Sorry, I can’t recommend unreliable guess work about the hive tool temperature waiting for who knows how long to heat up in the smoker while the venom takes effect.
You only need to use a bite away once after a sting and you would never forget to have it with you. The result is instantaneous.
Regards
A spoon dunked in very hot water worked a treat for me last time I got stung at the very top of my forehead. Thought I’d be going to work looking like the elephant man but ended up hardly swollen and no itch. I thought it was close to miraculous. My previous stings have been dreadful.
A spoon heated in boilingwater would cool down to 60c pretty quick I think. It sounds a doable option.
Isn’t it marvelous how potent bee venom is? They are such amazing little fellows. Punch above their weight. I always find it amusing an insect the size of my little fingernail can have me running and flailing my arms like a lunatic.
Excited to be able to add to the bite away effectiveness discussion.
Got stung in the ankle while inspecting a neighbour’s hives today.
Found cross combing big time due to the frames not spaced correctly.
Long story short, got stung and wasn’t able to attend to it due to the commotion.
By the time I was able to apply the bite away, at least 30 minutes later, I had a rash going up my leg half way to the knee and started feeling my palms and soles of feet itching.
Applied the bite away to the sting site 4 times, and for good measure, applied it twice to the Centre of the rash too.
By the time I got home, the rash was gone.
Now hours later, no rash and it doesn’t look even my foot/ankle will swell up.
So, even if applied later, it’s still effective.
I think bad frame spacing is more often the cause of cross combing and associated issues. Frame spacing is so fundamental but often overlooked. A few months ago I was asked to look at a hive and found bridging comb everywhere. It had 7 frames with 1 left out to “make more room for the bees”. The harvest was a heap of bees wax.
It is interesting that the bite away can still work with effect after 30 minutes. I swell so quickly I have to put the job on the ‘back burner’ to use my ‘bite away’ straight away,
Cheers
Hi Peter. I’m surprised the bite away still worked, even though had started a systemic reaction already.
More sold to it than ever now.
Actually used it half heartedly, thinking it’s too late. And the heat hurt more too. But the result speaks for itself.
Must have been one of the worst stings I ever had. Had ‘hives’ only once before.
All good now. Hardly any swelling still and no rash. Stopped in its tracks. Awesome.
You’re right @Peter48 that using a hive tool heated with a smoker could be risky, but I took @Webclan’'s post to be tongue-in-cheek - more in the Magyvering spirit of beekeeping than true advice
I actually like @cathiemac’s idea, heating a spoon in water. But out in the field, unless you have a hot flask of tea on you, and a spoon, even that’s a luxury.
Not everybody has a bite away or it could be forgotten at home or out of battery power.
Knowing a slightly uncomfortable heat applied to the sting can save you a lot of discomfort later allows for situational inventiveness.
I can confirm this too, both for bee stings and for mosquito bites. I got bitten in the night several nights this week, and a quick application in the morning stopped the itch for about 6 hours. I had to repeat it, but now all itching has stopped. I get very bad reactions to mosquito bites, so this is an enormous relief for me. In the past, even high (prescription) strength steroid and antihistamine creams were only partially effective. This is a much better treatment.
I’ve tried the bite away now with one bee sting on my shoulder:
Use it about 5 times in row, along with an antihistamine, and I still got swelling… went away after about 5 days from memory…
Have also tried it with mosquitoe bites, and they still swell and get really itchy
It seems I am developing an allergic response to mosquitoes now… or these Sicilian mosquitoes are just terribly bad. We have the tiger mosquitoes as well, and they seem to be brutal. I used to be able to use natural mosquito repellant in Australia and it worked, but now I have to use chemicals to keep them at bay
Maybe you a very sensitive, even more so than I am. Sorry that the Bite Away wasn’t successful for you.
Some of the natural mozzie repellent in Aussie is very good but some are no more effective than wiping water on your skin. If you recall the one you preferred I could post you a bottle. I have been told the Sicilian mosquitoes are like 4 engine war time bombers.
Regards
Jimmy, however, needed constant sorting 
I guess you have to worry about that Colgate getting into your eye though 
Sorry mum, they told me it would help 
and 
situation
