Whether it's chewing dry, soaking in alcohol, or smoking, they all stimulate or even damage the taste and olfactory systems. Chen Zhou wouldn't try these unless absolutely necessary.
Of course, he knows a thing or two about the uses of tobacco leaves.
In the early years, when tobacco regulation was lax, elderly folks in the countryside would plant tobacco in their own vegetable gardens to dry and smoke as pipe tobacco.
Besides drying it for self-use, the residue from the pipe could treat mosquito bites, and soaking tobacco leaves in water for ingestion could treat colds from wind and cold, all well-known folk remedies.
After all, tobacco leaves are a type of Chinese medicine with a warm nature.
Most warm-natured Chinese medicines can treat colds, which isn't obscure knowledge.
If the tobacco leaves were nearby, he might have tried soaking them in water to drink.
