Why does cinamon make you choke?

For self-protection: The human body has developed many protective reflexes over the millions of years, to keep us alive. We automatically gag and cough if we swallow something the wrong way. If we were to try to inhale or swallow some ground up dry wood fibers, our reflexes would cause coughing, choking, and gagging to try to save us. Cinnamon powder is the ground up bark of cinnamon trees... So not to be played with.