Tobacco News

The tobacco control bill 2009 may have gone through parliament but, in some villages of remote Sakteng gewog in northern Trashigang, tobacco is cultivated for self-consumption.

Villagers said that it had been a part of their tradition to grow and consume tobacco for personal consumption. “It’s mainly for self consumption and not for sale,” said Yeshi Zangmo of Thrakthri village. She chews tobacco.

Some miscreants wiped out all her plants and she had come to report it to the tshogpa (village representative), who is also her son.

Yeshi lives in the mountains above the Thrakthri School. There are a few tobacco growers there.

Pema Wangdi from Sakteng prefers to light up. First he dries a fresh tobacco leaf in a fire. After it becomes brittle, it is crushed and rolled in a dry leaf of any tree. “It taste better in a leaf, paper pains your throat,” he said, releasing the smoke from his nostrils at a go. “It’s much stronger and cleaner than the tobacco you find in the market,” he said.

When Kuensel tried to take a photograph, he hesitated. “Won’t the government take action against me?” he questioned.

Pema has been smoking for more than a decade now. “Why buy when it’s available in your own community?” he said, adding that most brokpas enjoyed the local tobacco.

According to him, the practice existed in other parts of the country, but it’s not known why it disappeared.

“My parents used to chew and sniff this kind of tobacco,” recalled a soldier from Kheng Goshing, who is currently working in Sakteng. “It’s no more grown there now.”

The neighbouring villages like Thongrong also grew tobacco once. Villagers said that the availability of ready and cheaper imported tobacco eventually led to the demise of the local cultivation.

The seeds of tobacco plant that their forefathers once cultivated, they believe, came from India. The villagers also talk of a legend of how tobacco came to earth.

“It’s similar to an eggplant sapling but without any thorns,” said Tshering Phuentsho, recalling his childhood when his parents used to chew the plant. “It was grown like any other vegetable in the garden.”

“Most of us chew, knowing that it is a sin to do so, but the habit’s hard to quit,” said Khee Tshering from Thongrong.

Those in Joenkhar do not grow tobacco but they consume what’s brought from Tawang through Sakteng.

According to the tobacco control act, anyone, who cultivates, harvests, manufactures, supplies or distributes tobacco and tobacco products in the country, will be penalised according to the penal code.

By Tshering Palden, June 9th, 2010, kuenselonline.com