The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Tobacco use is high and varied in India. Both smoked and smokeless tobacco is used in various forms as diverse as the heterogeneity of the country.

Tobacco is smoked most popularly as bidis (sun-dried flaked tobacco rolled into a dry tendu leaf). Cigarettes are the second most popular form. Others are cigars, cheroots (tobacco leaf role), chuttas (also smoked ‘reverse'), dhumtis (tobacco rolled into a plant leaf, smoked ‘reverse' occassionally), pipes, hookahs (water pipe), hooklis and chillums (clay pipes).

Smokeless tobacco may be chewed, eaten, gargled or applied. The most popular form of smokeless tobacco is gutkha (mix of areca nut, tobacco, ammonia, magnesium carbonate) which is commercially prepared and eaten. Other edible forms are tobacco with betel quid, with areca nut and slaked lime, mainpuri tobacco (with slaked lime, chopped areca nut, camphor, cloves), mawa (shavings of areca nut with slaked lime and tobacco), khaini (sun-dried tobacco and slaked lime), chewing tobacco and Snus (sweedish snuff). Tobacco is applied (dentrifice) as mishri (roasted tobacco), gul (pyrolysed tobacco), bajjar (dry snuff), lal dant manjan (toothpowder), gudhaku (tobacco with molasses) and creamy snuff (tobacco toothpaste). Tobacco is also gargled as tuibur (tobacco water).

The products can also be divided as i) industrially manufactured, ii) small-scale cottage-industry, iii) vendor-produced iv) user-made. The latter three make up the bulk.

All these forms of tobacco are addictive. None of them are safe. Smokeless tobacco use is more common than smoking in India and the variety of products pose a challenge for tobacco control.