Start with about 1/4 of that and adjust to taste. Dry herbs are much stronger than fresh ones, but it can be hard to give exact amounts as substitutes. Best to use less and adjust than to use too much and be stuck with an over spiced dish :)
Yes, it's perfectly safe to smoke sage. It won't give you very much effects though. Maybe a high for 2-3 minutes. (depending on how much you smoke.) It own't give you very many effects more of when you eat it.
Sage, fresh
Equivalents
1 tbsp chopped, 1 tsp dried
12 leaves = 1 tsp dried
1 tsp dried sage would be equal to about 2 tsp fresh sage Use dried if it will be cooked with the dish for a longer time. Use fresh more towards the end of the cooking.
While it does depend on the recipe, often times fresh sage can be used in place of rubbed sage. Less fresh sage will be required for a recipe that calls for rubbed or powdered sage.
A sprig of fresh basil is left to the cook to season by taste. A sprig of basil could mean more than a leaf, as in the stem and a leaf or two of each.
There are ~68 sprigs per bunch and each bunch equals 1/2 cup chopped, so there is approx. 6.8 sprigs fresh per each teaspoon dried.
I am sorry but you can't turn dried sage int to fresh thyme...
A general rule would be to wash all fruit, vegetables and herbs. They grew in locations covered with pesticides and herbicides and maybe bird or animal mess. The product has been handled by the picker, the delivery system, the staff of the store. Bacteria such as Listeria may be present. As they say, better be safe than sorry
Dried sage refers to the dried leaves of the sage plant. The leaves are then ground to a powder. So they're, basically, the same thing. Fresh sage leaves, however, are an entirely different matter.