India and
Central Asia have a number of native preparations of
tobacco, many of which are chewed or placed inside the mouth, rather than smoked:
Betel is frequently used in these products, as is
slaked lime. There are a number of languages represented below; unfortunately, my sources do not distinguish them,
Chewed:
- paan. Betel nut, mixed with lime and catechu and sometimes tobacco. It is sweetened with sugar, wrapped in a betel leaf and chewed. It is often perfumed in various ways. Also known as a betel quid.
- gutka. Essentially the same thing as paan, but sold dried in little baggies without the betel nut. In 2002 India imposed a ban on its production and sale, because of the large number of children found to be developing oral cancer after using it.
- kiwam. A flavored tobacco paste used for chewing.
- pati. Tobacco chewed with betel.
Held or rubbed in mouth:
- khaini. Ball of tobacco mixed with slaked lime, held in the cheek.
- mawa . A mixture of betel nut and tobacco with lime water.
- mishri. Powdered, near-burnt tobacco, favored by poor Indian women for cleaning the teeth.
- gudakhu. Similar to mishir but sweetened with molasses (which is also used in smoking tobacco in Arabia). Sold in tubes as a kind of toothpaste.
- shammah. Tobacco mixed with any of various mineral substances and held inside the lower lip.
- naswar. Similar to shammah, often flavored and colored with indigo.
- nass. Similar to shammah, with cotton seed oil added.
Smoked: