Moxa is a special “cigar” used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for heating acupuncture points.
Where to Buy Moxa
You can buy one in your local TCM shop (if you have a Chinatown, you will have such a shop for sure). And if you can’t find one locally it shouldn’t be too hard to buy one online. Often it’s referred to as “Acupuncture Moxa“. Some are better than others. And the “Smokeless Moxa” version is probably the best.
If you can’t get any, you can use a normal cigar.
How to Use Moxa
Light up moxa and bring it close to the points described earlier in this article. Keep it at distance of about 1cm (?”) from the surface of the skin. See how it’s done on the following figure:
Make little circular movements above each point slowly coming close to the skin until you feel a burning sensation, at which point you should move moxa away.
Typically you should repeat this procedure 3-5 times on each point/area that needs to be treated.
Tags: Acupuncture, moxa, TCM
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A friend who is a Chinese medicine specialist describes a case where a patient of his used a tobacco cigarette instead of a moxa stick and became very sick and collapsed.
It is probably not safe to use a cigar which you mention.
That is because it is a “Special” cigar, and specifically the “Cigar” part was put into quotations, because it is Cigar-like and not, actually, a cigar in proper format. It is a traditional Chinese mugwort herb which plays an important role in the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Mongolia. Suppliers usually age the mugwort and grind it up to a fluff; practitioners burn the fluff or process it further into a stick that RESEMBLES a (non-smokable) cigar. This is called “Moxa”, and they can use it indirectly, with acupuncture needles, or sometimes burn it on a patient’s skin.