i rcall a post where a member mentioned ordering bidi’s & commenting on the service & also how problem free the service was. Anyone eal; with padiki.com ?
I don’t think this would be legal today. I do like beedies though, and for a while my local Indian store had them, but the last 2 times I was there, I did not see them, anywhere, even under the counter. I didn’t ask though. It’s been a while since I smoked them. Kinda want to get them again myself.
Those things are weird to me.
Technically, these seem more like a cigar than a cigarette.
Well it’s a leaf, not a paper…
Damn, now I want some beedies.
I had these before. I find them rather weak in the flavor department, but not bad.
anyone know what kind of leave that is on the bidis. I haven’t had any in a longtime. I remember kind of likeing the bidis. Used to buy them at the indian grocery in town then at my favorite tobaco shop. I’ll check if some of the stores still sell them around here (big indian population because of the college).
Bidis are all natural tobacco wrapped in a tendu leaf and secured with a thread. They are no longer available for sale in the US. They were banned a while back to “save the children”. I’ve smoked bidis for over 20 years and found them to be quite safe and enjoyable, if smoked properly and in moderation.
I suspect they may still be around somewhere. I remember reading they were banned because they were linked to child labor, but I think some companies cleared themselves of this.
The ban had nothing to do with child labor. The ban is about “flavored” cigarettes that appeal to “children”. Bidi smokers knew in advance when the ban was going into effect, and stocked up accordingly. Much like with snuff and pact.
All the bidis were not “flavored” though. Most not.
Ah yes, I remember bidis; a local wine shop used to sell them. I’d have them now and again. I must share this with you though; an excerpt from a Charles Bukowski poetry reading in Redondo Beach, CA, 1983, available on CD as “Charles Bukowski: Hostage.” “Oh…do I have to explain this? This is not dope. Ok, you know what it is.” (audience member: “What is it?”) “An Indian cigarette called a Sher Bidi. The lepers roll them for uh…for nothing. (laughter) Just to feel good doing something, you know, while you’re…(pantomimes leprosy). Leper rolled that one did a lousy job. (Tries to operate lighter)…and the guy who made this lighter…must’ve been another leper…”
Leper jokes make baby Jesus cry.
I’ve found them in ME and GA. I think they roll camel dung in those things. Nasty. Bukowski is the man. I will have to check out that cd.
Bidis are traditionally made by millions of Indian home workers, usually destitute, to obtain a few rupees for food. However “Big Tobacco” has struck in India.A bill was put forward (might have gone through by now) to ban these poor sods from making beedies on health and safety grounds (the workers health and safety, nothing to do with the product itself). Evidently they are only to be produced under factory conditions. This will prevent millions of the poorest Indians, mostly women, from earning a crust. The idea of Indian factories being a place of health and safety beggars belief!
I asked a clerk at an Indian mall nearby about Beedies. She said that they could not get them any more. They did have the tobacco with silver flakes in it (Paan Masala I think?). They also had some snuff.
Yeah, my local Indian shop did not have any. I didn’t ask, but they used to be on the shelf, and they wern’t. They also did have those cans of tobacco with the flakes, and other kinds in the cans. I think these are spit tobacco. I didn’t get any though. I like bidis, and would have gotten a pack.
I thought about getting a can, but I really don’t need any more vices.
I used to smoke Bidis occasionally, but found I was getting an allergic reaction to the leaf they roll them with. (My tongue started swelling up like a balloon!) Still disheartening to know that they’ve been affected by the current wave of anti-Tobacco fervour. Before anyone notices it, every adult pleasure will be strictly regulated or banned outright if society keeps going in this direction.