Forms of Tobacco

Traditional or Sacred Tobacco

The tobacco plant has been used in a sacred way by American Indians for over 18,000 years. There are over 60 different species of the tobacco plant.  Various types are still used traditionally by many tribes--often in prayer, offerings, or gifted to elders and others who share wisdom or prayers. While it does contain nicotine, traditional tobacco is not processed with the same cancer causing chemicals of commercial tobacco, nor is it used in the same way as commercial tobacco! Thus, it does not pose the same health risks.

Smoking Tobacco

Cigarettes: Can be hand rolled or manufactured. Manufactured cigarettes consist of shredded or reconstituted tobacco that is processed with hundreds of chemicals, of which over 40 are known to cause cancer. Cigarettes can be filtered or unfiltered.

Cigars: Any roll of tobacco that is air cured or fermented with a tobacco wrapper. Cigars come in many sizes and shapes, Cigars deliver more carbon monoxide per gram of tobacco burned than a regular cigarette. One cigar contains as much nicotine as almost three packs of cigarettes. Smoking causes similar diseases as smoking cigarettes.

Pipes: Can be made of briar, slate, clay, or other substances. Tobacco is placed in the bowl and inhaled through the stem or sometimes through a water filled chamber.

Hookah: A water pipe that originated in West Asia. Tobacco is heated by charcoal and the tobacco smoke passes through a water-filled chamber, cooling the smoke before being inhaled by the smoker. Preliminary research indicates that hookahs increase carbon monoxide and nicotine exposure and are linked to heart disease. Hookahs are becoming popular in the U.S. particularly among college students and young adults.

Bidis (Beedies): Hand rolled cigarettes containing a small of tobacco. They are available in a variety of scents and flavors that hide the harsh taste of tobacco. Bidis are unfiltered and deliver a high yield of tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and other chemicals compared to manufactured cigarettes. Studies reveal that more than 325,000 children some as young as ten years old, work in the bidis industry in India. Bidis are widely used in India, where they are known as the "poor man's tobacco" and are popular among young people in the U.S. as well.

Kreteks: Clove flavored cigarettes that are made in Indonesia. They contain a range of exotic flavorings and a chemical called eugenol tat has a numbing effect.

Smokeless Tobacco

Betel Nut: Areca nut, the seed of the fruit of  the original palm, is thinly sliced and mixed with a variety of substances including lime paste and spices such as cardamom, coconut, and saffron. It may be wrapped in the leaf of the piper betel plant giving it the more common name betel nut. It s used both alone and mixed with tobacco. Areca nut is used by an estimated 200-400 million people, mainly Southeast Asian, Pacific Islanders, and those from India. Chewing betel nut has been found to cause pre-cancerous changes in the mouth that can lead to oral cancer.

Paan: Otherwise known as betel quid, paan is a mixture of small pieces of areca nut combined with several other ingredients, sometimes tobacco, and then wrapped in a betel leaf and chewed. Paan is commonly used among South Asian communities.

Paan masala: Ready made packets of paan that may also contain sweetening or flavoring agents.

Snus: Moist, smokeless powder tobacco,which is also manufactured in small teabag-like pouches, and placed in the mouth to use. Snus traces its origins to Sweden where it is mainly sold.