Smoking: Indian Style

Every smoking society has its own lingo and culture associated with smoking. In the course of history Smoking has become an established ritual symbolizing manhood and patriarchal discourse. Indian society also displays a unique inventory of things related to smoking and the associated jargon. Thus it is not surprising to come across words akin to smoking which are commonly known to smokers and non -smokers alike. Though there are some which are exclusively used by the smokers only. In Northern part of India (the cow belt) smoking is performed through various means like age old Hukkaa (an old world tool consisting of two spherical parts one of which condenses tobacco smokes coming out of the other in water and which in turn is smoked using a pipe or stem), Biidii (dry tobacco rolled in Tendu leaf [Diospyros melonoxylon] and tied with a colored thread at the tip), Chilam (a earthen or metal bowl with stem to smoke tobacco mixed with Marijuana leaf (cannabis sativa) locally known as Gaanjaa and of course through cigarettes.

Hukkaa (Hookah) is on decline. Once considered a mark of bourgeoisie culture introduced by Arab travelers in India, it has now been restricted to rural and semi urban settings (so you can still find the good old Hukka smokers in the outskirts of Delhi and inside old Delhi). Hukkas used to be the instruments of social gathering in society where people practiced communal smoking around one Hukka. Thus we come across Hindi idioms such as Hukkaa-paanii band karnaa (meaning to outcaste someone).Today it has acquired a status of an antique piece to be displayed in the drawing rooms of the middle class.

Biidiis on the other hand are thriving despite having a tough competition by cigarettes. When you go to shop for Biidi you never ask by calling it Biidii but by calling Bandal (from English Bundle). Unlike cigarettes, you cannot buy them loose in India but you will have to buy the whole pack except you are taking it for free or you are in Kolkata where it is said even cigarettes cut in two halves are sold individually. In fact almost all famous Biidii brands are from West Bengal state of India and it is still the biggest manufacturer. Some of the famous Biidii brands are Pal, Tiin Pattaa, Shankar, Ganesh, 501 etc. Biidii smoking is also recognized with the Naxalbari movement of Bengal of 1970s and 1980s. Like the Cuban Cigars of Che Guerra, Biidiis used to enjoy the status of proletariat symbol of intoxication. Unlike cigarettes it would be improper to light a Biidii by holding it between your lips. Biidiis are going to stay in hinterlands for the days to come.

Cigarettes in India come in three sizes Kingsize, Regular and Micro. Out of these three micro-cigarettes are the most popular among masses as in other developing nations of Asia. Some of the popular brands are Classic, Wills Navy Cut, Goldflake, Capstan, Charminar , India kings, More etc owned mostly by two biggest manufactures viz ITC and Godfrey Phillips. People all over the country use different names for the same brand of cigarettes. For example in Delhi Gold Flake King-Size is known called Badi Gold Flake (as there is another micro version of the same brand known as Choti Gold Flake) whereas in South India (for example Bangalore) it is simply called King-Size. Similarly Wills Navy Cut is called Navy Cut in Delhi but in Mumbai it is known as Filter and in Kolkata it is called Wills. In the western world as cigarettes rhyme well with coffee, in North India they are usually accompanied by tea. Cigarette smoking is generally perceived to be a classy thing done mostly by rich or educated. Among the more passionate smokers, handmade cigarettes are used which are just rolled immediately for lighting by the smokers but without filters.

Smoking Quotes !

 

To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did.  I ought to know because I’ve done it a thousand times.  ~Mark Twain

 

One thousand Americans stop smoking every day – by dying.  ~Author Unknown

 

It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake.  ~Mark Twain

 

Tobacco is a dirty weed.  I like it.
It satisfies no normal need.  I like it.
It makes you thin, it makes you lean,
It takes the hair right off your bean
It’s the worst darn stuff I’ve ever seen.
I like it.
~Graham Lee Hemminger, Tobacco

 

A nonsmoker is forced to find food, but for a smoker breakfast can be a cigarette and a cup of bad coffee.  ~Brock Fiant

 

He who doth not smoke hath either known no great griefs, or refuseth himself the softest consolation, next to that which comes from heaven.  ~Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do With It?

 

Please don’t throw your cigarette butts in the urinal.  It makes them soggy and hard to light.  ~Author Unknown

 

The best way to stop smoking is to carry wet matches.  ~Author Unknown

 

Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco.
Emile Zola

 

If alcohol is queen, then tobacco is her consort. It’s a fond companion for all occasions, a loyal friend through fair weather and foul. People smoke to celebrate a happy moment, or to hide a bitter regret. Whether you’re alone or with friends, it’s a joy for all the senses. What lovelier sight is there than that double row of white cigarettes, lined up like soldiers on parade and wrapped in silver paper? I love to touch the pack in my pocket, open it, savor the feel of the cigarette between my fingers, the paper on my lips, the taste of tobacco on my tongue. I love to watch the flame spurt up, love to watch it come closer and closer, filling me with its warmth.”

Luis Buñuel

 

Never slap a man who chews tobacco

 Willard Scott quotes

 

Tobacco: Aromatic means of lining the pockets of the manufacturer, the lungs of the consumer and the boxes of the undertaker- Author Unknown

 

 

 

Why Tobacco Gives the Kick?

What is Tobacco?

Tobacco comes from the leaves of the tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica), which contain nicotine. Nicotine is a stimulant drug. Stimulant drugs act on the central nervous system to speed up the messages traveling between the brain and the body. The leaf of the tobacco plant is dried, cured and aged before having other ingredients added to manufacture a range of tobacco-based products. For example, cigarettes (including some herbal cigarettes), cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and wet and dry snuff.

 

What Tobacco Does?

Nicotine is highly addictive and acts as both a stimulant and a sedative to the central nervous system. The ingestion of nicotine results in an almost immediate “kick” because it causes a discharge of epinephrine from the adrenal cortex. This stimulates the central nervous system, and other endocrine glands, which causes a sudden release of glucose. Stimulation is then followed by depression and fatigue, leading the abuser to seek more nicotine.

 

Immediate Effects?

Soon after smoking, chewing or snuffing tobacco, the following effects may be experienced:

• initial stimulation, then reduction in brain and nervous system activity
• enhanced alertness and concentration
• mild euphoria
• feelings of relaxation
• increased blood pressure and heart rate
• decreased blood flow to body extremities like the fingers and toes
• dizziness, nausea, watery eyes and acid in the stomach
• decreased appetite, taste and smell.

Tobacco Dependence?

People who use tobacco tend to develop a tolerance to the effects of the nicotine in the tobacco very quickly. This means they need to smoke more and more in order to get the same effect.

With repeated use of tobacco, the risk of dependence on nicotine is high. Dependence on nicotine can be physiological, psychological or both.

People who are physically dependent on nicotine find their body has become used to functioning with the nicotine present and may experience withdrawal symptoms when they reduce their nicotine intake.

People who are psychologically dependent on nicotine may find they feel an urge to smoke/ Chew/ Snuff when they are in specific surroundings, such as at the pub, or in particular situations such as during their lunch break or socialising with friends.

Research has shown that smoking is often associated with different roles and meanings for smokers, including:

• social roles—such as enjoyment of the company of friends, the drinking of coffee or alcohol, and promoting social confidence and feelings of independence (particularly for young women)
• emotional roles—caring for the self, such as helping to deal with stress and anxiety, weight control and providing “companionship”
• temporal roles—such as connecting the flow of events or time in the smoker’s day, providing a break from work or activities and relieving boredom.

What’s in a Cigarette Smoke?

There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke. Many of these chemicals are poisonous and at least 43 of them are carcinogenic (cause cancer). The three major chemicals in tobacco smoke are:

• Nicotine—the chemical on which smokers become dependent
• Tar—which is released when a cigarette burns
• Carbon monoxide (CO)—a colourless, odourless and very toxic gas that is taken up more readily by the lungs than oxygen. Smokers typically have high levels of CO in the blood.

This may be why smoking is sometimes referred to as the most difficult drug to give up !

 

The story of smoking…!

The peoples of the pre-Columbian Americas first used tobacco. Native Americans apparently cultivated the plant and smoked it in pipes for medicinal and ceremonial purposes. Christopher Columbus brought a few tobacco leaves and seeds with him back to Europe, but most Europeans didn’t get their first taste of tobacco until the mid-16th century, when adventurers and diplomats like France’s Jean Nicot — for whom nicotine is named — began to popularize its use. Tobacco was introduced to France in 1556, Portugal in 1558, and Spain in 1559, and England in 1565. The first successful commercial crop was cultivated in Virginia in 1612 by Englishman John Rolfe. Within seven years, it was the colony’s largest export. Over the next two centuries, the growth of tobacco as a cash crop fueled the demand in North America for slave labor. Here is short history! Enjoy

6000 BC Tobacco starts growing in the Americas. Tobacco in its original state is native only to the Americas.

1000 BC People start using the leaves of the tobacco plant for smoking and chewing. How and why tobacco was first used in the Americas no one knows. The first users are thought to have been the Mayan civilizations of Central America. Its use was gradually adopted throughout the nations of Central and most of North and South America.

1493 AD Rodrigo de Jerez became the first European smoker in history. One of Christopher Columbus’s fellow explorers, he took his first puff of the New World’s version of the cigar in Cuba. When he returned home he made the mistake of lighting up in public and was thrown into prison for three years by the Spanish Inquisition – becoming the world’s first victim of the anti-smoking lobby!

1532-1595 Sir John Hawkins: first English slave trader, he made three expeditions from Africa to the Caribbean in the 1560s and is the most likely candidate for being the first to bring tobacco to England.

1541-1596 Sir Francis Drake: the first sea captain to sail around the world may have been the man to introduce tobacco to England.

1542-1591 Richard Grenville (cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh): another contender for being British mariner who introduced tobacco to England.

1552-1618 Sir Walter Raleigh: erroneously thought to have introduced tobacco to England. He did, though, popularize it in the court of Elizabeth.

1565 (approx) First shipment of tobacco reaches Britain.

1565 (approx) First shipment of tobacco reaches Britain.

1566-1625 King James I famously published his treatise,
‘A Counterblast to Tobacco’ in 1604. In it he described the plant as ‘an invention of Satan’ and banned tobacco from London’s alehouses. Later he had a change of heart, and ‘nationalized’ the burgeoning tobacco industry in England and even reduced tobacco taxes.

1595 Tobacco, the first book in the English language about tobacco, published.

1596-1645 Michael Feodorovich: the first Romanov Csar declared the use of tobacco a deadly sin in Russia and forbade possession for any purpose. Tobacco court established to try breaches of the law. Usual punishments were slitting of the lips or a terrible and sometimes fatal flogging. In Turkey, Persia and India, the death penalty was prescribed as a cure for the habit.

1600 Tobacco production now well established in the New World. Despite being banned by His Holiness Pope Clement VIII, who threatened anyone who smoked in a holy place with excommunication, smoking was becoming increasingly popular with Europeans.

1830 First Cuban seegars (as they were then known) arrive in London. Sold by Robert Lewis in St James’s Street in 1830.

1832 First paper rolled cigarette. It is widely believed that the first paper rolled cigarettes were made by Egyptian soldiers fighting the Turkish-Egyptian war. Other historians suggest that Russians and Turks learned about cigarettes from the French, who in turn may have learned about smoking from the Spanish. It is thought that paupers in Seville were making a form of cigarette, known as a ‘papalette’, from the butts of discarded cigars and papers as early as the 17th century.

1856 First cigarette factory opened. It was in Walworth, England, and owned by Robert Golag, a veteran of the Crimean War.

1858 Fears about the effects on smoking on health first raised in The Lancet

1900 Smoking jackets and hats have been introduced for gentleman smokers. After-dinner cigar (with a glass of port or brandy) is now an established tradition in turn of the century Britain. Cigarettes are also a part of life.

1914 Outbreak of World War I sees cigarette rations introduced. Smoking hugely popular with soldiers in battlefields of northern Europe and cigarettes became known as ’soldier’s smoke’.

1932 Zippo Manufacturing was founded in 1932 by George G. Blaisdell. He developed the Zippo cigarette lighter in late 1932.

1950 Evidence of a link between lung cancer and smoking published in the British Medical Journal. Research by Professor (now Sir) Richard Doll and A Bradford Hill.

1992 Nicotine patches introduced.