I have read that the raw leaf is poisonous if eaten. Don't know the extent or truth of that. I know that dogs like to chew on the stems and bits that fall on the floor, and I know that FX Smith's Sons sells bales of stems to pigeon breeders, cause apparently pigeons like to nest in the stuff; so you wouldn't think it could be that bad. Plus. of course, people gnaw on chewin baccer.
But the real reason I'm posting is, if you want glue from the grocery, there's always fruit pectin. Works okay but tastes a bit of bitter citrus. Or you can go to a craft store and get cellulose glue. That's essentially cellulose glue. Works well, sticks better than pectin, and best of all it's tasteless. Safe as the day is long, which's why teachers use it in kindergarten for crafts. Wallpaper paste is cellulose too. So is bermacol, which is what they use in FXSS's cigar factory. Same stuff; different names. They mix bermacol thinner for machines than what hand rollers do. Doesn't take much. About what fits on the tip of a pallette knife mixes into a thick clear jelly in a little wee Tupperware pill cup. That much lasts me a month. Nothing wrong with cellulose glue at all.
Just sayin', there's quicker and cheaper ways to skin the cat when a guy can't find xanthan.
Then there's always the example of deluxestogie from the FTT forum. Absolute encyclopedia of knowledge about tobaccos and cigars, that man, grows and cures his own leaf, all sorts of varieties you never heard of, been rolling his own cigars for 30 years, never uses glue at all. Rolls 'em, licks e'em, smokes 'em, just like that.