GONE ARE the days of burning obsession with premium brand low-tar cigarettes which lent a cowboyish toughness to leaders of refined taste.
Those styles fumes have been blown away by raw tobacco.
In good old Lucknow, a drastic decline in the sales of smuggled low-tar cigarettes in the recent months has its underpinnings in an emerging inter-state trade of raw (unprocessed) tobacco popularly known as zarda in the purest form—the latest and potentially far more dangerous option than supari mixed with zarda getting popular among high-society tobacco users.
About a year back, imported low-tar cigarette brands were popular among the high-society youth who bought cartons of their preferred brands from departmental stores selling a range of imported items.
While cigarette sales for the Indian brands are soaring, imported low-tar cigarette brands are virtually going out of the shelves of the local panwallas as chewing pure tobacco coming from parts of Madhya Pradesh is being chosen for the high it provides compared to even myriad gutkha brands available in the market.
Analysts in the know of the tobacco trade dynamics in the northern region say that the consumption habits for raw tobacco had also seen a drastic shift from ubiquitous chuna (lime) mixed with zarda to chewing tobacco in the purest form in smaller doses.
{{/usCountry}}Analysts in the know of the tobacco trade dynamics in the northern region say that the consumption habits for raw tobacco had also seen a drastic shift from ubiquitous chuna (lime) mixed with zarda to chewing tobacco in the purest form in smaller doses.
{{/usCountry}}Even the khaini the most potent addiction is on the list of the users which was earlier considered uncouth to be had in high society social circles is getting acceptance as funky. The medical fraternity had already warned that addiction to raw tobacco could considerably harm users at an early stage while warning that tobacco abuse in any form was anyway dangerous.
The small packets of zarda which are arriving from the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh are sold for Rs 2 in 5 gm packets in that state are available in the city with panwallas for as much as Rs 5 to 6 per 5 gm packet as its users were found to be only from the affluent class looking for new options to get high on tobacco addiction.
A high-level of nicotine dependency among smokers is being considered as the basic reason behind popularity of raw tobacco where the abusers are looking for higher nicotine doses in raw tobacco which is not possible with cigarettes.