Beedi
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Image:Beedibundle.jpg
A beedi (from Hindi बीढी, pronounced "bee-dee"; also known as bidi or biri) is a thin, often flavored, Indian cigarette made of tobacco wrapped in a tendu (or temburini; Diospyros melonoxylon roxb.) leaf, and secured with colored thread at one end. Beedies are smaller than regular cigarettes, but more potent. Because they do not have a filter and are wrapped in nonporous leaves, a smoker needs to inhale more often and more deeply to keep them lit. One beedi produces three times more carbon monoxide and nicotine, and five times more tar than a regular cigarette.1 Tobacco content in beedies is 10-20%, and, unlike regular cigarettes, beedies do not contain added chemicals. Like all tobacco products, consumption can cause various cancers.
Beedi-rolling is a very important cottage industry in India. The process of rolling a beedi is very similar to that of a handmade cigarette.
Beedies have long been popular among the poor in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and India who can not afford regular cigarettes. In India, 800 billion are smoked every year.
[edit] In the West
There is much controversy surrounding beedies in the West, as many groups claim their fruity flavors (such as strawberry, chocolate, and mango), as well as their cheap price per pack ($1-$3.50 in the U.S.), attract children to smoking. An additional factor may be their availability in Indian food markets, which due to their ethnic clientele and ostensible focus on food, drink and provisions (and typical omission of alcohol products), are usually under the authorities' radar. According to a 1999 survey by San Francisco's Booker T Washington Community Service Center, 58% of high school students in the city had tried them and 31% smoked them at least once a month. 70% of packs purchased contained no warning labels, and about 40% did not contain tax-paid stamps, contributing to their low cost.2
[edit] References
Note 1: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, November 3, 1999, pp. 1806-1807.
Note 2: Bidi Use Among Urban Youth — Massachusetts, March-April, 1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report September 17, 1999; 48(36):796–799.de:Bidi eo:Bidio fr:Bidî ru:Биди fi:Bidi sv:Bidi
