Question: “What is in a beedi (bidi) Indian cigarette?”
Why Do I Care: While buying cigarettes in a local shop in Little India, Penang, Malaysia, we stumbled upon packs of beedis. We used to smoke beedis in Chicago back when we were teenagers, and haven’t seen them since. In a cloud of nostalgia, my buddy bought a pack and we smoked some. It became clear, that these were not simply made of tobacco, but some other leaf that we couldn’t identify. We asked ourselves is there even tobacco inside? There was only one way to find out; write it down and look it up.
Answer: According to Wikipedia, beedis are made of a little bit of tobacco wrapped in Tendu leaf. Although they are smaller, they contain more nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide. Part of the reason for this is the Tendu leaf in non porous, so there is less air mixed with the tobacco. The Tendu leaf is high in these carcinogens as well. I also read of the struggle of the Tendu leaf farmer. They struggle.
Conclusion: Personally, I could take them or leave them. No pun intended. I prefer my good old rolled up tobacco, but the price is right here at 1 ringgit per pack (about 30 cents), compared with 11 ringgit for a pack of my tobacco. Worth the switch? Maybe to fund the continuance of my adventures.
Links:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bidi.html
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