@transistor “tastes like nag champa smells” yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss!
@petersuki: Did you cook that one up? Do you know the ingredients of it? If you made it, where did you get the betel leaf.
WTF~ what is that @petersuki I’ve never seen something like this… Did he boil the betel nut up right there and then just toss it in there? That stuff is gonna be hardcore.
cstokes. There’s a high class paanwallah a couple of miles away. I asked for 4 pieces of traditional Ghutka. It took around 10 minutes for the wallah to prepare it. I got four pieces with two types of tobacco and some RMD. What you see is the traditonal Gutkha with paan. This photo shows the neat quid intact. I would strongly advise against this stuff. The RMD is the instant coffee style, loaded with slaked lime and probably very fine powdered tobacco. Very irritating to the mouth and any sore spots. Used frequently I would say that major damage would be more or less inevitable. Above, in this thread, people are wondering what you do with the hard pieces of areca, betel nut. There may be polite ways of using this stuff, but my view is that you just grind away at them until they disintegrate. This is a heavy version of snacking on nuts. Your teeth will take a beating. As the quid losens up it drops these pieces which are constantly chewed until you have effectively chewed your way through the quid. Blended with the pieces of betel nut are spices and tree bark style herbs. You make your way through a taste fantasy. After about an hour and a half the quid is macerated and you can suck the spicy juices out of it. The whole quid takes between say 2.5 to 3 .5 hours to chew your way through. The flavours are blended to change as you go along. The mouth has to deal with hard pieces of betel nut and the other spices. It is very abrasive and this effect is worsened by the presence of the slaked lime - you just keep grinding the spices and betel down. My mouth is sore from yesterday. I dread to think what would happen if this were a regular habit!!! The mind is alert but not particularly concerned, if you follow. The effect is that the urge to keep ‘doing things’ is dimished and one is content simply to say, look out of the window… Complex actions such as playing an instrument, or tennis, or reading a book are fine. Quite a good stimulation but a horrible price to pay, in the first place, and obviously, mainly in the mouth. This stuff has the reputation, probably fully justified in my view, of ruining your gob and probably causing other serious damage. Children use it in India from an early age, - candy coted areca…
Sorry. same photo. Hopefully THIS photo shows the intact quid.
Trust me, this will not be a regular habit. Just interested.
It’s not something you want to do all the time. You’ll probably feel the same when you do it.
Personally I collect tobaccos from all over the world so thats why i am very curious. This is one of the last i havent been able to get. But i have some on the way so i guess i will have to find the next one. Maybe black bull…
Just got a package containing a 100g tin of Pan Parag and 50 2g RMD pouches. I’ve stuck some Pan Parag in and it’s very interesting… it’s made my check and gums a bit numb, and has a very interesting taste. So, I can recommend http://audiorec.co.uk/Product.aspx?subid=301&curr=0 to anyone in the UK who is interested. The dispatch time was a little lengthy, but I got it in less than a week after my order.
“So, I can recommend http://audiorec.co.uk/Product.aspx?subid=301&curr=0 to anyone in the UK who is interested. The dispatch time was a little lengthy, but I got it in less than a week after my order.” of course, they dont ship to continental Europe… this sucks.
@Prismaster that’s odd, the Help sections states that “OVERSEAS SHIPPING: Shipping Cost to countries other than the United Kingdom would depend on the weight of the package and destination. All orders are mailed through the Postal Services in the UK and INDIA. Order received under REGULAR SHIPPING will be dispatched by ordinary Air Mail or international “Sign For Service”, where customers will be issued with tracking number. However, we do not take responsibility for customs duty levied on the merchandise dispatched.” It looks like http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/ would ship, but the postage costs are insane.
Just stuck some of my RMD in. The pieces are smaller, and there is more powder than in the Pan Parag. It is also far stronger tasting, and much more bitter than the Pan Parag I had this morning. It’s got me salivating much more rapidly. Not bad, just different. I can see how this might become addictive, what with the strong flavours and the repetitive chewing motion. Best keep my usage under check. Also, I found this rather interesting and informative article earlier in the day… http://www.epistola.com/sfowler/scholar/scholar-betel.html
Thanks for posting that article, Spam. Good read.
I just read it too. I learned more from that one article than I had in 20 years since I heard of betel. Very clarifying. Thanks.
Yeah, it’s really difficult to find information about its usage in English. I might as well throw my two pence in… Though I’ve only had two quids (assuming I can apply that term to loose paan masala, rather than something wrapped in a betel leaf) this is how I do it; Gather a small amount in your hand, then pinch it and place it between your gum and cheek. Then, wait a little while, 10 minutes or so, so the bits of nut soften up. One might need to spit a couple of times in this period. After the nuts have softened up periodically chew on the pieces and place the resulting mush back between your cheek and gum. What I’ve managed to find on the internet seems to suggest I’m doing it right. The initial taste is strong, and bitter, with a hint of the spices added, and the menthol provides a cooling or numbing sensation. After some time, and some chewing, the flavour described in the article - a mysterious dark sweetness - starts to come through. Spit as needed and discard as and when you please. Enjoy the clean, slightly exotic aftertaste.
Almost everywhere in the world has an Indian community. I got the traditional quids pictured above in Tooting Bec South London.
That was a damn good read!
I just want to add my thanks for posting the link to that very interesting first-person account, Spam. I had wondered if the claims for areca nut made by the so-called “medical authorities” were as overblown and fear-mongering as those made for smokeless tobacco. That article seems to indicate such may be the case. But of course, one has to consider all perspectives.
I don’t know about betel on it’s own, but I have seen a number of studies here and there online that seem sound, and demonstrate the betel nut/tobacco combination to have a particularly bad effect on health, with a high rate of oral cancer amongst users. I’ll need to look into it, but I do seem to recall at least one study that was conducted based on hospital data from across India, which gives me reason to believe the claims.
From the little research I’ve done the betel tobacco combo seems to be pretty bad for oral cancer. It’s also sometimes cited as the main reason that when people talk about oral tobacco causeing cancer they technicaly aren’t telling lies.