Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

I think you must mean Smilax.  You can see by the distribution maps from the USDA Plants Database that there are several species of Smilax that grow in Georgia.  I suspect that the agriculture department meant one of the following  Smilax bona-nox (saw greenbrier),  Smilax laurifolia (laurel greenbrier), Smilax rotundifolia (roundleaf greenbrier), Smilax glauca (cat greenbrier), Smilax smallii (lanceleaf greenbrier), Smilax tamnoides (bristly greenbrier) or Smilax walteri (coral greenbrier).

Whichever Smilax species it might be, I could find no entry in any toxic plant database for any species in the genus Smilax.  The Botanical Dermatology Database lists the only possible injury from any Smilax species as being a mechanical injury from the thorns.  Indeed, concoctions of the roots have been used as folk medicines for various skin diseases as well as to make the drink sarsaparilla.  It is also used as a dietary supplement to increase strength in the belief that the body converts it into extra testosterone.

You obviously had a reaction to something but I suspect it was not to the Smilax itself.  As I see it, there are several possibilities:

1)  You came in contact with another plant growing with the Smilax that caused your dermatalogical reaction, e.g., Toxicodendron pubescens (Atlantic poison oak), Toxicodendron radicans (eastern poison ivy), or Toxicodendron vernix (poison sumac).  Breathing smoke from burning Toxicodendron species would cause a reaction in the lungs.

2)  The Smilax that you came in contact with had been treated with some sort of herbicide that caused your reaction.

3)  The agriculture department misidentified the plant and what you had was one of the poison oak/ivy/sumac plants listed above.

If you discover that your plant is, or is mixed in with, poison ivy/oak/sumac, you might like to read about ways to control it.