Basil perhaps is blind at first after choking smoke (7)
I believe the answer is:
potherb
'basil' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both things that one consumes for nourishment as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'is blind at first after choking smoke' is the wordplay.
'at first' indicates taking the first letters.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'choking smoke' becomes 'pother' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letter of 'blind' is 'b'.
'b' after 'pother' is 'POTHERB'.
'perhaps' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for potherb that I've seen before include "this for season" , "Flavouring plant" , "sage?" , "Vegetable for flavouring" , "Plant grown for culinary use" .)